D'oh!

[Nick Laeder]

I admit it, I'm a complete newb to the fine tolerances of furniture work. I'm learning as probably most here did - by making mistakes.

I am building the Tabouret out of Woodworking magazine a while back. First hand cut mortises, but I don't have any decent saws, so I used a dado blade to cut the tenons. Was cleaning them up and doing the final fit with my router plane, and I somehow went way too deep on one. I probably need to add 1/16 to each side.

How do I fix this? Can I just saw out a chunk <1/16 and glue it on the tenon cheeks? I imagine I should wait a couple of days for the glue to fully cure before attacking it again?

I need this to be good. I didn't buy enough material to scrap this whole piece (I know, another lesson learned). It's from some nice walnut cutoffs from a cabinet shop that the local woodwoorking supply house had for a buck a board. The last time I was in there, they didn't have any more. Shoulda bought the whole stock, but I didn't.

[David Weaver]

Have you got a router plane?

glue on a large piece and cut it to size. Either with a plane of some sort, or by running it back through the dado after gluing.

I don't know if that presents any danger, because I would do it with a hand tool and avoid the TS, but if you're worried about fragile glue that could let a small piece go in the TS, you could glue on the cheek pieces with epoxy to assure the glue joint is good without it having to be laser tight.

I wouldn't scrap the piece, anyway, regardless of whether you're short on material, especially if the tenon is buried. Fix it and call it a save if it's not visible and won't affect anything in the long run.

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on the gluing more material on to fix the problem.

You have learned a few things here. Maybe the most important is to buy all you can when a good deal on wood shows up.

jtk

[Larry James]

Nick,

Gary Rogowski has a video series about building a small round table (Tabouret) at Fine WoodWorking's web site. He points out when cutting tenons to save the cut-off in case you have the problem you ask about.

I save the cutoffs - not that I have ever needed to glue one back on.;)

In real life I've glued cut-offs back on and it works OK.

The Tabouret is a good project, 3 different types of joinery and not much wood needed.

Good luck, Larry

[Jacob Mac]

When I screw up tenons, I just glue a shim to it. if I am really concerned about it, I will drawbore the tenon to fasten it mechanically as well as with glue.

[Robert Rozaieski]

As others have already said, glue a piece onto the cheek of the tenon and re-fit it. The piece doesn't even need to be the same kind of wood since it will be hidden inside the mortise.