I posted earlier how I cut unneeded mortises in four table legs. Well today I started fixing this error. I decided to cut the motises and plug them with bow-tie keys. The legs are white oak. The keys are walnut.
Now the mortise.
Gluing it in place.
Protect the sides and cut with a flush saw.
Well shoot, this didn’t work too well. The saw dug in. I had trouble controlling it’s path. I’m sure it’s operator error. Unfortunately it may be too deep to sand. I’m not sure how I’ll fix it. (suggestions welcome)
When I’m stumped I move on. Below is the second mortise to repair. I cut the mortise with a little more care. I made a clean shelf for the key to rest upon.
It fit better so I glued it in place.
This time I used a block plane to make it flush. Then sanded by hand. Looks a lot better.
This is how I’ll make the last two repairs.
BJ
4 comments so far
Bogeyguy
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548 posts in 2582 days
#1 posted 10-31-2013 02:15 PM
use a scraper to clean up your saw wound on the leg.
-- Art, Pittsburgh.
bobasaurus
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#2 posted 10-31-2013 02:48 PM
I would hand plane it down with a small plane that won’t have to flatten the whole leg. Failing that, a scraper as bogey mentioned. If it’s still too deep, mix some walnut dust and glue to make a putty of sorts, then sand flush when dry.
-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)
a1Jim
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#3 posted 10-31-2013 02:59 PM
This is a great idea for hiding the extra mortises .Repairing after repairing is just part of woodworking .
BJODay
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#4 posted 11-01-2013 02:19 AM
Bogey and Allen,
I showed it to my wife. She sanded it down to being almost unnoticeable. She is much more patient than I am with a sander.
On the last two pieces, I’ll use a plane to get close, then try a scraper for the last little bit.
Thanks for the tip
BJ
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