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We acquired two of these cabinets from a friend a few years ago, and one of them has developed a large crack which we noticed while moving a few months ago, and it's grown to the point where most of the side is covered.

I was going to grab a ratchet strap to keep it together in the short term, then look at getting further help on the repair (it's a nice piece of furniture, and we don't really want to get rid of it). Is this likely to cause more damage? would you guys recommend filling the crack, or bracing it somehow (would that cause more damage and weakness)?

It's not really my strong suit, so any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: Added picture.

enter image description here

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    Can you highlight the crack in your picture. I can't tell if I'm looking at the same crack or if its part of the design. Crack often implies an irregularly wandering defect, and I don't see one.
    – Billy left SE for Codidact
    Jan 18, 2016 at 16:39

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Bad split but great situation, in being a cabinet & not a bank of drawers. However, I can't see fresh wood, which is quite odd. It's best to do this with the piece laying face-up on the floor.

You need to wood glue that. Open & prop up the split to then squirt, popsicle stick or brush a thin layer of glue on the bottom of the split. Just get as much of the split as you can manage, remove your prop & let gravity close it.

It shouldn't slide around & should align perfectly on its own, but help it if needed. Wipe any glue off that squeezes out with a rung-out paper towel, rag or sponge. Keep the door open & stack as much weight (up to 100-lbs) as you can within the cabinet door zone.

Start stacking with something long & fairly thin to span the cabinet opening, so you can wipe off any additional glue squeeze out on both sides. And, let it sit for 27-hours. You should be good to go from there, but you can also install a small (1/2-inch x 1 1/2-inch) flat drilled piece of metal (at any hardware store) to bridge & brace the old split, just under the drawer so it's not visible.

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  • Ok, so wood glue should cover it? Am I to understand that we want to put the furniture on it's back (doors up), open it up, squirt with glue, close and hold? That seems easy enough (won't be, these things weigh a ton!).
    – Jozef Woods
    Jan 18, 2016 at 14:15
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    Yeah, typically another piece like it is a good weight clamp. But yep, that should do it.
    – Iggy
    Jan 18, 2016 at 14:24
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    I would recommend what @Iggy says with this exception: you should definitely use a bar clamp or pipe clamp to squeeze and hold the repair tightly together while the glue dries. This would necessitate standing the unit up (after glue application) or using sawhorses if you must leave it on its side.
    – Jimmy Fix-it
    Jan 18, 2016 at 18:13
  • If he/she/they have them I wouldn't disagree at all & thanks for the back up.
    – Iggy
    Jan 18, 2016 at 18:23
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Was there originally a piece of molding along the bottom of that cabinet? It looks like there was, and it also looks like the "crack" is actually just the joint where two separate pieces of wood were put together to form the side of the cabinet. If this is true, I would presume that the molding along the bottom used to help hold the side pieces together. They might never have actually been glued together to begin with.

Replacing that molding may help, but gluing the sides together as suggested in the other answer wouldn't hurt, either.

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