What's the best way to re-drill a screw pilot hole?

[Kalimna]

Greetings all,
In the ongoing saga that is my Hal Taylor chair build (piccies and run-through to follow at some point....), I need to re-fit one of the rockers to the legs.
Unfortunately, I have already drilled the pilot hole for the screw joining the rocker to the legs. And due to the nature of the 'repair' and lack of screws that work around corners (sort of), I will need to drill a new hole in the end grain of the leg base.

Obviously I will need to fill in the old hole, but what might be the best way to do this, ensuring future strength etc?
Two options I have considered would be to fill the hole with epoxy and re-drill through that, or to pack out the hole with either a dowel and glue (epoxy or titebond, but am I right in thinking that epoxy is better at gluing to itself than just about anything else?) or some other wood (such as toothpicks) and glue....

I know this is a fairly simple problem/question, but I really dont want to mess this up again!

Cheers,
Adam

 

[TheTiddles]

Can you hide a cross-dowel?

Aidan

 

[Kalimna]

Aidan - No, I don't think that would work (in my head, at any rate!), as I would have to drill a further hole at right angles to the axis of the leg, which would then need another dowel/plug to hide it. And I think this might weaken the leg further? Plus my home-made-dowels havent been particularly clean so far....

Cheers,

Adam

 

[OLD]

The fixing will experience mostly compression forces and will be glued to the rocker so glue and plug with same wood.

 

[ondablade]

My vote from what i understand of the situation would be to clean up the hole as needed, and then as Old says glue (with PVA) a good fitting dowel/plug in the same wood into it. Once dry then drill and screw again.

I'd avoid epoxy, as it's hard and tough enough that it would probably divert the drill, especially if you fill the hole with it.

Screws strip out of end grain more easily than in other directions, so my instinct would be to go for a good long one, to carefully size the pilot hole to compromise between grip and splitting, and to not tighten it too hard...

 

[bugbear]

Screws strip out of end grain more easily than in other directions, so my instinct would be to go for a good long one, to carefully size the pilot hole to compromise between grip and splitting, and to not tighten it too hard...

+1

When I was doing this, I experimented in scrap to find the compromise. It was quite critical, so I was glad I did.

BugBear

 

[Setch]

I'd recommend getting a plug cutter and filling the hole with a plug with the grain in the correct alignment. It'll glue better into the hole, and take a screw better as well.

 

[diarmaid]

I'd recommend getting a plug cutter and filling the hole with a plug with the grain in the correct alignment. It'll glue better into the hole, and take a screw better as well.

+1

 

[Kalimna]

Thanks for the replies folks - much appreciated.
The consensus seems to be glue in a piece of wood of the same type, and re-drill through that.
The hole in question is a 4mm x 45mm (approx), so Im not sure a plug cutter would work so well? I do have a dowel plate with a 4mm hole, so will use that instead.
Given that the instructions for the chair suggest a little epoxy on the thread as the screw is driven home, that is why I had thought using epoxy would be preferable to PVA/titebond.

Cheers,
Adam