Wood suitable for hi-torque appliance (LAZ-Y-BOY!)

[skotl]

This is hopefully a first on DIYNot...

I have a LAZ-Y-BOY recliner. Excellent bit of kit, with a handle that, when you pull it, reclines the back-rest and throws out the foot stool.

Said handle was a wood-coloured piece of plastic, with an integral metal bar.
My six year old fell on the bar and snapped it (thankfully, with no injury to him) and I am now left with what we would term a "short throw, ultra-high-torque, manually-distended" arm. Or, in other words, 4" of plastic that I need to haul upon to get my favourite chair into the required position.

I need to replace the lever and, to be honest, the obvious candidate would be a length of steel pipe. That's not my ideal aesthetic solution, though.

I don't mind "honing" (oh, be still my beating heart) a piece of wood to form the handle but I'm aware that most woods will snap at the torque levels required to move the chair (and my considerable bulk) into the requisite position.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a type of wood that I could shave / hone, that would have the required longitudinal strength for the task in hand?
Thanks
Scott

 

[Burnerman]

I'd be inclined to contact the suppliers for a genuine spare part but if you really want to have a go, some genuine oak is about as tough as it gets.
I imagine there would be some sort of metal insert within the handle, which may have to be transferred to your new one.
John

 

[wotan]

Oak or Ash or Hickory, have a look in a diy shop for hammer shafts, contoured to fit the hand

Wotan

 

[skotl]

Thanks chaps.

There was a metal bar inside, which Juinior managed to snap too

So, I'll maybe look for oak, ash or hickory and try to weedle some metal into it.

Cheers