Shopsmith Forums

I have an oak pedestal table that I a rebuilding. One of the 4 legs had a crack about 3/4 through it so I have it glued and clamped back to together with a good quality wood glue.

I want to strengthen the leg by using my shopsmith to horizontally bore 4 holes perpendicular to the crack and about 1 1/2 inches past the crack then insert and glue 5/16" hard wood dowels to strengthen the leg. The leg is made of 3 pieces of 3/4" oak glued together. I am planning to drill the dowel holes on the outer 2 oak pieces because the center piece has a hole where the lag bolt goes through to connect the leg to the pedestal.

Any advice from you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated!

The photos seem to show the crack running parallel to the grain of the piece.I would try to drill the screw holes diagonally across the crack starting from the lag screw hole side and running about 45 deg into the lower piece in the photo. A shallow counter-bore at the starting point will put the head of the screw below the wood surface and not interfere with mounting the leg later. Make sure to groove the dowels to prevent hydraulic lockup of the glue.
Bill V

Thanks! I’ll give that a try.

I would be inclined to screw from the bottom of the leg with a counterbored/clearance hole to the crack and a pilot hole into the upper piece. Shallower the c'bore the better.

The screw holes would be smaller than dowels and therefore weaken it less.

I think in this case perpendicular is preferable from both a process and strength vantage.

I have a Kraig Jig set so I think that will work and I like the idea of smaller holes compared to dowels.

Appreciate the help.