How do you perform a perfectly centered dowel repair on a table leg?

[Mike Dowell]

I repair furniture all the time, and every day as part of my business. I came across a table the other day that had a broken leg, but it had been repaired before. When I pulled it apart, I found a dowel inside, and it was PERFECTLY done. I mean, the two halves of the leg fit together PERFECTLY. How the heck did they pull that off? I mean, even with dowel centers, it's still a bit of a guessing game on something like this. Here's a pic of the leg, which was broken in the skinniest part of the leg, and broken straight across. If I had I been repairing this leg for a customer, this is not how I would have fixed this, but when I took this leg apart and found how perfectly done this doweling job was, I was blown away.

How do you all dowel perfectly when you do?

https://s28.postimg.org/pdc33aeeh/IMG_20170112_175704263.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/pdc33aeeh/)

[Mike Henderson]

If the two parts could be taken off the table, you could put each piece in a lathe (not at the same time). Once you get it centered, you can drill into the end (using a chuck mounted in the tailstock) and get very close to center. Do both parts then glue together.

Then put the repaired part into your lathe and sand down any imperfections. I note that the leg is painted and that hides a lot of sins.

Mike

[Mike Dowell]

I agree paint hides a lot, but the repair was perfectly done regardless. The two halves fit perfectly together. Pretty amazing job.

[Ken Krawford]

First of all, with my skill level I don't think it's possible to get a perfectly centered dowel repair. Here's what I've done in the past.

I drill an oversized hole relative to the dowel that I'm using. For a 1/2" dowel I might drill a 11/16" hole in each piece of the broken leg taking care to drill as close to center as possible. Then cut a section of dowel of sufficient length to span the broken sections. Turn the chair upside down and place the dowel in the hole of the leg nearest the seat. Then fill the hole with epoxy. Take care to get the epoxy only in the hole and slightly less than the depth of the drilled hole. Also try to make sure that the dowel is roughly centered in the hole. When that has cured, turn the chair right side up and repeat the procedure with the other part of the broken leg. Usually there's enough irregularities to the 2 broken pieces that you can mate the 2 pieces together nicely. Then wait for the epoxy to cure. The over sized hole allows some latitude when positioning the 2 pieces together. I've done this with a number of chair leg repairs and they've turned out quite nicely.

[Mike Dowell]

First of all, with my skill level I don't think it's possible to get a perfectly centered dowel repair. Here's what I've done in the past.

I drill an oversized hole relative to the dowel that I'm using. For a 1/2" dowel I might drill a 11/16" hole in each piece of the broken leg taking care to drill as close to center as possible. Then cut a section of dowel of sufficient length to span the broken sections. Turn the chair upside down and place the dowel in the hole of the leg nearest the seat. Then fill the hole with epoxy. Take care to get the epoxy only in the hole and slightly less than the depth of the drilled hole. Also try to make sure that the dowel is roughly centered in the hole. When that has cured, turn the chair right side up and repeat the procedure with the other part of the broken leg. Usually there's enough irregularities to the 2 broken pieces that you can mate the 2 pieces together nicely. Then wait for the epoxy to cure. The over sized hole allows some latitude when positioning the 2 pieces together. I've done this with a number of chair leg repairs and they've turned out quite nicely.I fix things like this just the way you said, only I generally use a steel rod as opposed to a dowel.

[Cary Falk]

I would take a thick block of wood and drill halfway through on the drill press with a hole the diameter of the spindle I am trying to repair. Then I would finish the hole with a smaller hole in the center with the diameter of the dowel. Insert the spindle in the hole and drill the dowel hole with hand drill.

[Charles Lent]

The few times that I have done this, the legs in question have had two adjacent (rear) sides that were straight and at 90 degrees to each other. I carefully marked both pieces the desired dimension offset from these two surfaces, then clamped each to a vertical table setup in my drill press and up against a vertical fence on the drill press table, again referencing against these two sides. After drilling the first piece, this fence and table positioning allowed me to duplicate the position on the second piece. The setup has to be done very accurately, but it can be done. But if the table and fence are not adjusted perfectly, the position error is doubled in the leg dowel hole positions since the drilling of the second piece is inverted when drilling.

Charley

[Warren Wilson]

I have never done this on a chair, but I've used the technique to drill centered holes in the end of dowels, so perhaps he used a guide block drilled half the way through to the diameter of the leg using a Forstner bit. Then, using the little mark left by the spur of the Forstner bit to find center, complete the hole using a spur bit the diameter of the dowel. If this was done on a drill press at 90 degrees (and you had a leg the diameter of a forstner bit), it should produce a perfectly-centered hole.

[Jerome Stanek]

If it was 2 pieces I would use a core box bit on each half then glue the dowel in and then glue the pieces together