[Closed] Wooden stool repair

Was it previously just glued? If so surprising although apart from when it's lifted there is unlikely to be much stress I would have thought.

Dowels sounds good, especially if combined with PU glue, although obviously PVC would be a lot less messy.

Simplest although not the prettiest (although you wouldn't see them) is use some of these on the inside of the framework.
It's not 90 degrees but the plates will pull to the angle.

^^^ I think He means these

I’m thinking of a 6mm dowel in the top of each leg, aligning to the top using marker pins, then glued

That's what I'd do. I'd glue the dowels into the top first and, if necessary to fit, make the holes in the legs slightly oversize and fill them with glue so that it overflows into the joint.

If you intend to use dowels, then buying a set of dowel markers will take the guesswork out of it and make for a more accurate fit.

A brad point drill is crucial.

Dowel markers(also called dowel centers) are extremely cheap, but what they do is incredibly sensible.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283947736827?hash=item421c9a9efb:g:sB0AAOSwsUZfDa1L

You dont need a drill guide as shown in the vid, just mark the holes you need ,say middle of each rail, and try to accurately(squarely) drill down far enough 1/2 the depth of the dowel.

Fit your markers(they are usually a snug fit so shouldnt fall out as you turn the base upside down) and position the frame to center it on the underside of the seat. Press down and that will give you a point on which to drill. A piece of tape one the drill bit will help you from drilling in too far.

Using a dowel marker(or center)

I’m with kayak. Whilst at face value that looks like a shortcut, it is IMHO the right solution as it will allow expansion/contraction of the timber. If you dowel it I can imagine the top pulling the mortice joints of the leg stretchers apart. That stool is built like a table which is a bit of a silly design. That kind of movement is probably why the glue failed anyway.

I'd thought of brackets too. The stretcher between the legs doesn’t seem that sturdy though, nor does the tenon joint into the legs. Lots of gaps.

Maybe dowels and brackets?

You would be fine with either, although with brackets theres less chance of it coming apart, which dowels can do, due to shock breaking the glue line.

with brackets though they need to be the type above with slots rather than simple holes as timber seasonally moves by expanding and contracting. It moves more tangentially than longitudinally.

You could cut a piece of wood to fit between the side supports. Glue and screw this new piece into the underneath of the seat then screw through the side supports into it.

It looks quite frightening, to be honest you should burn it

@llama - if you find that quite frightening, I do wonder what sort of childhood you had; perhaps the three bears wasn’t just a story…

Pocket hole jig, Kregg is the go to brand.

Easy way would be one screw in the centre of each stringer, sturdier would be on the inner corner of each leg, not sure if you can get a jig to go through a corner or if you'd need a single jig on an angle (normally comes as a twin jig which would be too wide)

Pocket hole jig/screw on each rail breaks the fundamental principles of timber movement that Dyna-ti is alluding to above.

To be honest, timber movement isn't nearly the issue these days that it once might have been when timber Constructional techniques were being honed.
We all live in pretty stable environments these days what with central heating etc.

On top of that, it's a tiny stool. It ain't going to expand and contract a foot or anything.

It probably broke originally because it was cheaply made/mass produced and a kids stool so gets chucked about a bit.

Screw some mending plates on the inside of the rails and go on with your life... 😉

Align the slots across the grain if you must but in this scenario, I'd bet me granny that it won't be an issue if you didn't.

I’d probably use dowels for that using the markers mentioned above.

I’d also be making a router sled and getting rid of the face. I don’t know why but that’s unsettling.

On this subject, can anyone recommend a good pocket hole jig?

On this subject, can anyone recommend a good pocket hole jig?

Kreg or UJK from Axminster.

It's a cheap stool, use a cheap repair.

Just drill through the stretchers (in the middle) and put a screw in.

Pocket holes would be my first thought. But there again, they're just about my only thought for my furniture making. I've got 3 empty boxes in my workshop - 1200 were in each box. You don't really need to invest in a jig - just carefully drill an angled hole for a one-off job.

The pocket hole jig I use is the Kreg R3. This lets you take the jig to the workpiece. The others tend to make you place the piece vertically onto the jig which can be awkward with a 2400 x 600 wardrobe back panel. I used to have the Kreg Foreman machine which was a delight to use but it needed a large work area and more importantly, it drilled from underneath so there were a few times when the holes got put in the wrong side.

I opted for angle brackets on a similar stool we had that failed in the same way