Saving a Tenon--need advise

[Matt Meiser]

I told Art yesterday that Bryd heads on shapers don't tear out. Well...they can grab the pieces and throw it about 6'. We got lucky and my friend was smart enough to let it go and pull his hands back. The damage on the leg wasn't deep and 99% of it came out by shifting the template ever so slightly and a little work on the edge sander. The tenon however was significantly damaged. I want to try to save the leg since there's probably about $50 worth of lumber in it. I already sectioned out the damage which didn't go all the way to the shoulder and cut a block which I just epoxied into place as can be seen below. I'm thinking of pinning it with either some hardwood dowel or a couple steel pins epoxied in. Looking for some guidance from the brain trust here.

213174

[Kent A Bathurst]

Yeee-haaa!! Ride 'me cowboy, eh? Good time to let go and back off. Very wise.

I'd put a couple hardwood dowels vertically - down through the patch into the leg as far as you can get. Then - a couple cross-ways through the remaining portion of the original tenon through the patch. If it is easier, you could come in through the side[s] of the patch at a 45* angle, down into the leg....equivalent of toe-nailing [toe-pegging?]...not sure of the dimensions there. I guess I'd be concerned about the glue joint that is end-grain-to-end grain........I'm not an epoxy guy, but with PVA, that's not something I would expect to hold.

The dowels + glue should hold you just fine, IMO.

[Matt Meiser]

OK, added some 1/2" dowels. I didn't cross-drill since I felt like drilling any more holes would have weakened it. I already trimmed it up and it fits the mortise better than before the incident.

213198

[glenn bradley]

Excellent save. Glad no one was hurt.

[Prashun Patel]

Nice save. You're the man. As a recent victim of a broken table leg, I feel intimately your sweat and pain.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Looks good. There's easier ways to fit a tenon, but whatever works, eh?