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We have a really old dinning room set, purchased in the 70's. We got it from a outfit that refinished old furniture. One of the chairs had a sticker on the bottom of a seat that said it was from Sears 1926. Anyway the glue has given out in many of the joints and I'm taking each chair apart, cleaning, re-gluing and either waxing or spraying shellac, if the finish is gone. The pic is the bottom of one of the legs. All the legs on all the chairs look like this. All of parts are solid wood. It appears as if they were drilled out and an insert added. Is this common? What is going on and why?
Thanks for reading.

My guess is that the circular mark was made by a lathe cup turning center.

Mike

Mike907 wrote: Thu Dec 29, 2022 5:49 pm My guess is that the circular mark was made by a lathe cup turning center.

Mike

I agree. The medullary rays are perfectly aligned between the center section and the outer ring. That would be nigh unto impossible if the center section were some sort of plug.

It is possible the marks were made by a foot like this., but I would agree with the lathe center guess.

It looks like a dead center for lathe turning the leg. The dead center will burn the wood where it is in contact as the wood turns. Modern machines use live centers so the wood does not burn as it turns but the indent is there from when they were turned. Without the burn mark they are just harder to spot but they are there. I bought a flat packed small table about 15 - 20 years ago and the marks were on the legs from when they were turned.

That explains it, thanks!

I agree with the guess Chris made about the foot/pad. That could explain the glue stripping too. Without having any diameter reference for the end of the chair leg it makes identifying what made the mark harder. In the OP's picture below, if the mark indicated by the arrow is assumed to be the center point, then I do not believe it was from a Lathe Tailstock Center. That mark is off center from the circle.

_

Glue stripping???

JPG,

Maybe not glue. Maybe just the wood and the finish?

chapmanruss wrote: Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:15 pm JPG,

Maybe not glue. Maybe just the wood and the finish?

I think rays is correct.