Need Opinion on Door Rail Fix

[Mike Goetzke]

I'm working on an entrance door. After assembling the frame I noticed I had chip out in one corner of my curved top rail. I couldn't believe it - I made three passes and used mock stiles on the ends to prevent just such a thing:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Projects/Entrance%20Door/Profiling%20and%20Panels/IMG_0220.jpg

I can think of four options to fix it (one wasn't my idea):

1) because I'm making sidelights I will have an extra piece of sticking that I can trim and fit.

2) I can trim the rail about 1/4" and re-do the stick cut but this will only leave me a little over a 1/16" for trimming the door top (although my door is extra long at the bottom.

3) Cut some sticking from another piece.

4) totally re-make a top rail.

Since I had nothing to lose I did #1:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Projects/Entrance%20Door/Profiling%20and%20Panels/IMG_0227.jpg

(actually from a few feet away the fix is not as noticeable as the photo shows)



Any honest opinions/help appreciated.


Thanks,

Mike

[David DeCristoforo]

This is not uncommon, especially with corse grained woods. My usual fix is to joint a flat on the end of the rail, glue on a small piece of wood with the grain running the same direction and reshape the rail. Not to be overly critical, but your patch has the grain running in a different direction than that of the rail which is going to really pop out under finish.

[Mike Goetzke]

This is not uncommon, especially with corse grained woods. My usual fix is to joint a flat on the end of the rail, glue on a small piece of wood with the grain running the same direction and reshape the rail. Not to be overly critical, but your patch has the grain running in a different direction than that of the rail which is going to really pop out under finish.

Great idea David. Yeah, I know the patch had mismatched grain but thats how it looked at the coped end.

Mike

[Mike Goetzke]

David - I used your fix. I was lucky I still had the curved top cutoff and I sliced a piece off that was right under the chipout. I used a dremel to shape it a bit and guess what - it tried to split down a weak grain line. This was probably a good thing. I split it open and glued it. I then cope cut the end - I only moved the router fence about 1/16" per pass. Then I stick cut it using a guide pin at all times.

If I get any better than this I may have to quit my day job :D :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/mbg/Projects/Entrance%20Door/Profiling%20and%20Panels/IMG_0229.jpg

[David DeCristoforo]

Sweet... nice fix. Much better than the first one! Should not be noticeable at all.