J Daddy posted:Before you glue the steps on : drill a 1/16 inch hole in both parts to support the joint with brass rod.
I like the idea of hidden stiffiners. I once bought a dining room table and six chairs cheap because one of the chairs had a broken leg. The set had cabriole legs and the thin part was less than 5/8" diameter. The seller had tried to glue the broke leg twice. I soaked the broke ends in acetone till I had most of the glue out and reglued it. Then I spent several hours aligning a foot long 5/16" drill bit to run up the leg from the foot. After boring the hole I epoxied a bicycle axle in the hole. We eventually gave the set to my sister and she is still using it. Back around eighty five I bought an Ives steam loco that had a broke pilot and used a similar trick. You can buy long skinny titanium screws from surgical or dental supply houses. These things are really thin and come in lengths up to 2 or 3 inches. I drilled several holes through the broke pilot and after attaching it with JB weld and allowing time to cure I used the holes I had predrilled to act as guides to drill another 1/2 inch into the pilot deck. I drilled out the initial holes in the part that broke off about half way through and countersunk the heads of the screws. After the repair I could hold the loco by the pilot. In todays world I bet you can find titanium or tungsten carbide surgical screws online. j
