Chair leg question

[Michael Gibbons]

My BIL and his family recently moved back to Michigan from Illinois. During the move one of the legs on one of his chairs was broken due to shifting in the moving van (and because the guys jammed it in there). I need to turn a new leg. I already have the original one off the chair. I'm wondering should I find the angles of the holes for the stretchers and drill them before I turn the square blank round and fill them with a dowel for turning to decrease any chance of tearout?


..........Thanks, Mike

[Bill Grumbine]

Michael, for all the chair legs I have made, the holes have been bored after the fact. Of course, most of the time I am not the one boring them. But even when I am, drilling holes at angles like this in a square block before you turn it can lead to heartache. I would imagine there are those who do it differently, but that is the way most of the chairmakers I know do it as well.

Good luck with it!

Bill

[Michael Gibbons]

O.K. Bill, I'll give it a go. Thanks