Fixing a broken mirror frame. Part 1

A family member asked if I could have a go at fixing this as it has sentimental value, so I figured I’d give it a go.

I believe it’s split for two reasons, the first is that this is cut from one solid piece of wood, so the two places where it’s cracked has extremely short grain, ie, it’s very weak.

Second, I don’t believe it was built in such a way that allowed for the wood to expand, and more importantly, contract. I think over time as the timber has continued to dry, it’s shrunk, whereas the glass has not. Something had to give way.

Clean up

First I removed the backing, then the glass. I could then remove the old repair, along with various nails and also the chain.

How to clamp it?

I first had to figure out how to clamp this unusual shape, all while keeping it on the same plane as I obviously want it to remain flat.

Below is what I came up with. I sandwiched the piece between two bars on each side, then twisted some thin rope in the centre where I could adjust the tension fairly easily. A test clamping proved successful.

Gluing

After the clamping test, I masked off any areas I didn’t want epoxy (to save myself some clean up later) and I mixed up a very small batch of epoxy resin, separated the two sides, applied the epoxy and let it set overnight.

This first step didn’t fill the void, so the next step was a thickened batch of epoxy, which I then used to fill the gaps.

What it looked like after the thickened epoxy. From the side you can see the repair obviously, but from the front it’s only visible if you know what you’re looking for. Fortunately the grain pattern is quite forgiving in this regard as it hides it well.