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I inherited a c. 1920s dining room table and chairs that my mom grew up with. We’ve stripped, repainted, replaced screws and re-glued them twice. The only problem is that the chair legs wiggle and eventually become unstable.

Is there some more robust approach to making these chairs more sturdy and less prone to wiggling apart? It is okay if it involves additional wood or hardware.

Pictures of the chair below.

chair frame looking from below

up close view of joint from below

up close view of joint from above

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  • 1
    Those screw don't look like they are full driven home. Have you drilled proper pilot holes for them? Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 8:16
  • 3
    Two potential issues come to mind immediately, the screw holes and the M&T joints. So are some/all of the screw holes wallowed out? If so we have some prior Q&As for that. And did you check the structure for loose mortise-and-tenon joints? It's those that form the basic structural integrity of a chair, and as a result every single one must be good and tight for the chair to be strong enough to withstand use. Also, are the diagonal braces glued and screwed or just held in by the screws — both approaches are used, it's not vital to glue but it does add to strength if they are.
    – Graphus
    Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 10:04
  • @MartinBonnersupportsMonica I don’t know why the screws aren’t all the way in but they were out in by my late father in law who as a contractor probably sank a million screws in his life - just mostly not into furniture, I suspect he was trying to keep these from going out the other side. The broken joint is missing screws, so perhaps that is why it was the weak link. Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 15:48
  • @Graphus most are glued and screwed. The joint that broke had no screws, I suspect left out by accident. This would explain the immediate issue of the broken chair, but all the chairs have room to improve with respect to stability. Commented Mar 24, 2023 at 15:55
  • 3
    use shorter screws and make them tight. that would help.
    – bowlturner
    Commented Mar 27, 2023 at 12:41

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