Odd. It does look as if the dowel is stuck in the front and back rails and then driven through the legs and into the tenon holding the side rails to the legs. That does not look like very strong joinery for a chair. Are there any other supports holding the thing together? I have only made one chair, Paul’s Desk Chair but I would look at a lot of chair designs before committing to mere dowels. If you look at chairs, or at plans for chairs such as Paul’s Dining Chair, you see not only mortise and tenon all around but extra internal supports besides the mortise and tenon. Maybe largish dowels will do if there are other supports as well.

Having made just the one chair, I am hardly an expert, but I bet, from the pictures you added, that the dowels holding the front and back to the sides is not supposed to take much strain. The front and back stretchers are a full three inches and are mortised in . Further, the back slat is a full 6 inches and is mortised in. That is a lot of strength. And further again, the upholstery probably adds something. Maybe that is all you need. Of course, lots of Stickley type stuff is made in oak which is pretty strong. I wonder if he was assuming oak for this chair? I find all this interesting to think about and am interested in what the more knowledgeable might say since I might try some more chairs in the near future.

Yeah.
That plywood is supposed to be curved.

Hi Bryan,

a tip that i received about bending wood is to add a bit of fabric softener (downey) to hot water before soaking the wood. this will make the wood more pliable.
there are several articles on line about this method.

don’t you hate when the mortise mysteriously shows up on the wrong face. (done that!!)

regards

Barry

Luckily you are remaking the leg with a big knot in it.

If you want to make a curved piece, laminating a few layers over a curved form would get you there. I am guessing you can resaw from looking at the photo.