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Filling gaps on butcher block glue up

18K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  CWWoodworking  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi all,

I am finishing a floating desk that I will hang on shelf brackets on the wall. It is oak, mahogany, walnut and maple, glued together as a butcher block. It is five feet long by ~32" wide and 2" thick.

Everything went well, except a few gaps that exist between the boards width-wise and a few spots where there are gaps end to end on the boards. See the pictures below.

I'm hoping to make the desk as perfect as I can so I'd like to figure out a way to close the gaps. I can think of two ways to do this:

1. Glue in the gaps and sand on the glue so the sawdust goes into to form a putty. I've used this method before with picture frames and it's worked well, however, I don't know if these gaps are too big for that. For example, if I put glue in some of the gaps, it might just run out the bottom

2. I was thinking I could use a router bit and widen the gaps and then cut a piece of scrap, glue it in, and then sand, use a hand plane to make it flush. That seems like a lot of work, but if it's the best method I'll do it.

Anyway, please let me know if you have any ideas or tips and tricks to make this less painful.

Thanks,

Nathan

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#5 ·
I would collect some very fine sawdust of the color wood you are filling the gap next to. A orbital or belt sander with a dust bag attaches is a good way to collect the dust. Then pack as much as you can into the cracks followed by some "thin" CA glue, followed immediately with some medium or thick CA glue until on more will seep in. The thin glue acts as a wicking agent for the thicker glue. After it drys if there are some voids where the glue went below the surface just apply more glue. Sand flush and the cracks will almost disappear.

That said if you are having spaces or cracks in the glue joint like that you need to do a better job of squaring up your wood and clamping it during the glue up. Most of those cracks just should not be there if you did everything correctly. Dry fitting, with clamps will show the problems before applying glue.