There's something zen about repairing a beautiful piece like this. It's like saving an old soul from certain demise and breathing life back in.
Dowels drilled out, cracks glueing up and getting ready for final glue up.
I'll show the finished product in about a week or so.
UPDATE: There was a significant piece of the broken leg that I felt would both make the heavy dresser unstable and also prone to break again. The piece was missing so I spliced in a piece of oak by squaring off the break and milling the oak. After chiseling off the excess oak, I re-drilled the dowel holes and glue-up was underway. I tried to stain the oak portion darker but I didn't have a dark enough stain so the repair is visible. Luckily the repaired part is on the back leg and on the inside portion of the leg so not visible from the front or side. Comment on what you think of this repair.
PS: I added an additional dowel to strengthen the joint between the oak repair and the original leg. You can see the lighter circle towards the bottom of the splice.
Now i'll strip the top and fill in any gouges or scratches. Hoping the natural wood is dark enough but if not, I'll shop around for a good tint to match the rest of the dresser. I'll update again once that's done.
I think it worked out well with the Walnut stain and lacquer finish.
