I recently got a text from a neighbor (Ashley) saying: “No rush, were not entertaining any time soon but we would love to have our dining room chair repaired.” To which I replied, “How broken is it…?” It was really broken with a vital section missing. I figured I could not make it any worse.
I started early Saturday morning and finished it on Sunday I’m happy to say that it’s standing on its own 4 feet. During the build I came up with some new techniques and did some drastic cuts which meant some drastic rebuilding. Look in the gallery for notes on how the build went, as I tried to document each step.
Chair as received 
Ethan Allen, all hard wood construction 
saw guide to cut off the broken leg section 
used a pull saw with guide 
oak board that will replace the top section of the leg 
cutting to size 
glueing up 
interesting clamp to hold leg in place 
cutting off the top section of leg 
cutting 45 degree slot 
finished top section now to join with leg 
cut the mortis with the dominio 
matching mortis 
dry fit the mortis and tenon 
glue up (overnight) 
all attached 
cut a mortis in the leg (note how the orginal build used dowles) 
matching mortis (this took time to line up) 
glue 
more glue 
used a mallet to drive in 
clamped up 4 hours 
I could only mortis and tenon one section 
the side rail would need another method 
trip to Woodcraft to get a Kreg Jig 
drill and bit wouldn’t fit 
so run to Lowes for the 90 degree 
two important holes needed two new tools 
mahogany stain 
it stands, note the broken section on the bench 
Leave a Reply