Help needed for fix

[Matt Day]

I'm in the process of making a table and made a boo-boo. I'm made some walnut accents in the legs (picture below) and put the mortises for the accents at all the same elevation, rather than staggering them. Oops. I've cut the mortises in the correct location already, but now I have (2) 3/8"x3/8" holes I need to repair.

I think some kine of plug that covers over the hole, or maybe a small inlay of some sort? Any suggestions? I guess I could accent it even more by putting a 3/8" band around each leg? that might be too much though...

[Mike Lipke]

Hammered copper band?

[Matt Day]

One thing that came to mind was to fill the hole then inlay a 2009 penny into each hole.

[harry strasil]

how about just making some more stubs with tenons an inch or so long and further accent it, ie, make it look like you planned it that way.

[Dick Strauss]

Matt,
Could you use the extra mortises to add more walnut to your "sun" pattern?

1)You could either drop another stick in toward the center at 90 degrees to the other pieces.

2)You could also add a stick at an angle such that the stick terminates at the joint near the "sun" in the center of the design. You'd want to make a short tenon that was at some angle to partially fill the mortise.

Try to draw it up and see if you like it. Sometimes a mistake turns into a nice design opportunity!

[Cary Falk]

I think I would put a 3/8" inlay around the inside of the opening to cover up the mistake.

[Mike Henderson]

If I understand where you cut the mortises incorrectly, they're on the inside of the legs. I'd carefully select some matching wood and make a plug for the holes. If you match well, the repair will not be noticed.

Mike

[Matt Day]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Below are some ideas I had. I think I'm leaning toward either the penny or the band of walnut. I need to think about possibly a different type of band, quantity, thickness, etc too.

[Robert Reece]

The one that runs directly with the top accent. I'd move it down so it lines up with the bottom accent. That way, none of your accent pieces hit the band on the leg.

[Matt Day]

Problem is that where the band is shown is where i made the mistake, so I need to cover it up. I could add a band or two to balance it out, like below.

[Jon Stinson]

I think Robert meant move just the band that touches your accent piece, not both of them

And I think it's looks good that way too

[Robert Reece]

I meant to move the one band that touched the walnut accent piece. However, I like the four bands too. So I'd either do four, or just the two with one high and one low.

I think I like the band better than the penny, although it's an interesting thought.

Edit: looking at it again, I like the two bands. One high, one low, neither touching accent pieces. Draw that up and repost a pic.

[Matt Day]

as you requested;)

Thanks so much for the input, now I'll have something to show SWMBO:D

[Alan Schwabacher]

Before you cut in for a band, what about extending the horizontal walnut pieces so they are mortised into both legs? It would make a different pattern than you had originally planned, but it could work well.

By the way, if I did this, I'd half-lap the walnut where pieces cross.

[Matt Day]

I thought about doing that Alan and thank you for the suggestions Alan, but I want to keep that pattern. The mortise and tenons are already cut and glued up too.

[Steve Jenkins]

I agree with Mike about just patching them. carefully match the grain and if the crossgrain line looks like it will show up, chisel the mortise into a diamond shape then patch. A joint line at an angle across the grain is much less noticeable than one at 90 degrees to the grain. at just 3/8 though I think you will be ok.