How do I fix a wobbly arm?

Hide glue is the traditional approach for loose joints. Clean out the old dried glue first. A local restorer can knock the joint apart cleanly. Don't use modern expanding glues. They swell and damage the surrounding timber, making future repairs nearly impossible.

We inherited a dining set from my grandmother and one of the armchairs has a cracked back leg, is it worth repairing?

Dining chairs take a lot of backward pressure. A cracked back leg is a structural issue that needs proper attention. A competent cabinetmaker can splice in a matching piece of timber. They will match the grain and colour so the repair blends in. They often use old wood from their timber store.

Can I re-cover a drop-in seat?

Drop-in seats are straightforward to lift out and re-cover. You pop the frame out from the underside of the chair. Keep the original horsehair stuffing if it is still sound. It lasts longer than modern foam and maintains the correct profile for the period. You just need calico, your top fabric, and a staple gun or upholstery tacks.

I have been looking at different dining sets online but I am struggling to understand why some have two armchairs and some have none at all?

Sets evolved over time. Early domestic setups often had one armchair for the head of the household. By the nineteenth century, sets routinely included two carvers. Sets with no armchairs often belonged to smaller parlours or have simply lost their carvers over the decades.

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Antique Carver Chairs

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Antique carver chairs are dining armchairs traditionally placed at the ends of a table, defined by their open arms and slightly larger proportions compared to matching side chairs.