I’m in the process of building a Chipendale style chair. The legs of the chair fit into the seat frame with a 1″ round tenon. Unfortunately, the through mortise is not perpendicular (dull drill bit caused me to force the drill which angled under pressure). In order to straighten the leg I wound up shaving the top of one side and the bottom of the other side of the tenon to angle it appropriatley. what I have now is a sloppy fit and a leg that wiggles. I though about cutting off the tenon and drilling a hole in the leg to make a floating tenon but the tenon is too close to the edge of the leg.
My questions:
Can I use a wedge and what is a reasonable amount I can expect the tenon to spread, its approximatley 1.5 inches long?
Will hide glue fill in the gap and maintain strength?
Replies
I dont think there is a really good solution to your problem.
You can wedge the tenon and make it perhaps 1/16" greater in one dimension at the exposed end but that would only be at the top of the tenon, the bottom wouldn't expand at all and, being loose in the hole, the wedging might cause the split to extend down into the leg.
Epoxy is the only glue that is reliably strong when used for gap filling, so that would be the glue for this application.
You could turn down the diameter of the existing tenon to around 2/3 of its original diameter and slip over and glue in place a drilled block and turn a new tenon on the leg but I don't know how you would get it round and at the correct off angle to the axis of the leg.
John W.
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