Repair broken chair leg

[Donald Sinclair]

Advice please, on how to repair a broken chair leg so that it will be at least as strong as the original.
The chair is one of 8 in a A H MacIntosh dining room suite, which has been in the family for over 50 years, so it has some sentimental value.
No brother-in-laws were damaged when the break happened. Several much heavier people have sat on these chairs with no ill effects, although the chairs do look flimsy.

 

[niall Y]

How unfortunate, ( I mean about the chairs, not the brother -in-law )
That is a nice bit of short grain there, judging by the break. It will need to be reinforced in some way when you glue it back together. You might be able to get a couple of plugged screws in each side of the dowel stretcher to perform this function. Failing this, maybe a long vertical dowel fitted into both sides of the break would be a lot stronger, though you would have to improvise some form of jig to allow you to drill this out accurately.
Best of luck

 

[TheTiddles]

Plugged screws won’t help much.
If the break is clean, glue it back together then route a slot down the length, glue a long-grain strip in.

The fault is in the design there

 

[Yojevol]

I would use a threaded rod for reinforcement. Drill oversized holes in both parts to take the bar. Hold the leg end upright and glue the rod in with epoxy resin. When it's almost set, turn the chair upside down and pour in more resin. Coat the joint surfaces with resin and slowly insert the bar until the joint is closed. Have a dry run at each stage to ensure that there's no hiccups.
Brian

 

[peter-harrison]

I'm with Brian on that one. If you can get hold of an old car or motorbike inner tube, 20-25mm strips cut from it are very useful for cramping awkward joins like that- wrapped round several times while pulling tight.