I need advice on the best way to “blend” a patch repair of a gouged section of maple. The attached pic shows my attempt at a repair, but I don’t like the result. I first cut a section out of the wood/damaged area in a shape that I could duplicate with a thin filler piece, then mortised out an area and epoxied the patch into place. I then sanded it flush, but the lines around the patch still show.
Is there another way to fix this or should I just live with it? The piece will be stained a darker color so I have thought of perhaps waiting until it is finished to cover with a wax crayon or faux paint a grain line.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’ve also included a pic of the piece where the wood was damaged to help understand the size and impact the damage would have on the piece. It is not very noticeable from looking at the piece a few feet but I’m concerned about the lines around the patch.
Thanks for the feedback,
Brian
Replies
Brian,
You already have done mostly all that is required. You are correct to wait until you make it all darker. My only suggestion is to use very steep acute angle like "scarf" joints to end and terminate a repair patch. Your patch has rounded ends and will be more difficult to blend into the repair.
Brunt sienna and a zillion other coloring powders are avilable for color match. Woodcraft has many, Mohawk has everything. A very tiny artists brush can be used to stroke in darker or lighter grain lines. If the artist brush painted grain lines cross the repair inlet frequently, you will disguise the repair as best you can. Only make sure your painted grain lines are exacly parallel to other adjacent grain lines. Seal all your touch up color applications with shellac before applying the finish of your choice.
Good luck pal,
Don
Hi Brian ,
I can't tell for sure from the pictures but if it's at all possible a straight edge with a router to clean up the whole run from side to side ,you probably have to clean the very ends up by hand . You could glue a whole strip to cover the entire length , that would not reveal the repair seam , me thinks .
good luck dusty
And Remember
" how good we are is how good we fix our mistakes "
Brian,
My comment doesn't have anything to do with repairing that oops! Although I'd go with the router and straight edge. What I really wanted to say is that if those are your drawer boxes waiting to recieve the front, your dovetails are backwards. Tails should be on side of box. As you have it, your relying on nothing but glue and might as well have just done a rabbet. By placing tails on side, you are creating a wedge like joint that could stay together without any glue at all. Just thought I'd mention it.
Chris
I think the dts, even in that orientation are much stronger than a rabbet as you have long grain to long grain gluing. If he used PVA or some other modern glue, I really doubt that drawer will fail in our lifetimes, or our children's.
Think about chests and carcases where the dovetails mechanical strength is only operating in one direction, despite suffering forces in two. They stay together.
The OP's orientation is not optimal, but it is anything but weak.
Good catch - I used a Keller jig to cut the DT's and I wasn't sure about the orientation.
First piece I ever made, I used a Keller jig and sure as heck - put em together backwards! My wife still gives me hell as the dresser sits in my daughters room!
Well... There's an easy cheater's solution (count me in on that crowd) to the reversed dovetail issue - just cut a thin section out of an extra boad and glue it to the front - presto! instant half-blind dovetails, and no one other than a nosy woodworker that opens the drawer will know they're reversed.
And while I think that if they're glued with PVA or Epoxy they're not likely to come apart in this lifetime, there's an historic solution should you choose to use it. A fair amount of structural dovetails on very old houses were drilled and pinned - you just drill a stopped hole through the bottom of the drawer along the axis of the dovetails, insert a wooden pin with glue, and flush cut it on the underside. It provides a mechanical lock, and they will never come apart, even if the glue fails.
I like the pin idea!
One comment on pinning dovetails (or tenons, or face frames, for that matter). You can use just about any wood, but it's a lot easier if you choose a flexible species. Ash, hickory, white and red oak make really good pins. Dowel stock is one way to go, but as you usually have to buy more than you need, and usually it's only available in a very limited number of species from a local store, I just make my own. I have a dowel plate from Lie-Nielsen that makes this extraordinarily easy - I just whittle a pin just a bit bigger than the hole, and drive it through with a mallet.
If you don't have a dowel plate, you can just rive some stock with a hatchet and whittle a pin - they don't have to be exact circles, though I would recommend at least an octagon rather than a square. Squares were driven into round holes to pin tenons in colonial furniture, but in your case you have an extra-long pin that needs to be driven in fairly close to some fragile end-grain in a relatively brittle wood (maple). I'd therefore suggest a pretty careful fit and gentle taps with a mallet to drive it in.
When you stain it the lines will be much less noticeable. If needed then darken and grain a bit for more camoflage. You could even make the whole thing look like a knot but I think you'll be better off with less painting.
What is the item going to be?
It will be a hutch that will sit on a maple desktop; it will be used to store fly-fishing lures and lure-making supplies; will post the finished product
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