This is an oak chair with barley twist turnings that came in to be re-glued. While disassembling I found that one of the rear legs was cracked just below the seat mortise in the first twist.
It wasn’t broken all the way through, by putting the back in the leg vise I was able to gently bend the leg, open up the crack and force glue into the crack with my finger.
Because of the twist, I was able to drill through the crack and add a dowel to reinforce the leg. If the crack had been with the grain instead of across it I would not have added the dowel.
Next I trimmed and cleaned up the repair.
One of these days I should probably clean my shellac brush.
With a coat of shellac.
More retouching.
I got one of these ratcheting strap clamps for Christmas one year, after using it a few times I ordered three more. They are very handy for gluing chairs.
Finished
millcreek woodworking 
Cool chair. Are those casters original? They seem small and weak. Great blog. Very informative. Thanks for the effort.
peace,
Harlan Barnhart
Thank you for the compliment.
Yes the casters appear to be original, the legs were turned down to the exact size of the brass cup on top of the caster. The chair is already gone or I would take a close up picture for you.
Thank I got ratcheting strap clamps which are very handy for gluing chairs.
Hi, I have two chairs with broken barley twist poles at the back, what is the best way to repair them? Many thanks for any advice, Caron
caron, it is very difficult to give advice without seeing the damage. If the breaks are like in the post use the same method if not I need more information.