Help with Blown out Mortise on Sjoberg

[Philip Florio]

Hi,

I hope someone can give me advice, I'm a newbie who made a stupid mistake!

I bought a Sjoberg 1660 workbench from Rockler. Two of the Mortise and Tenon joints for the legs were over-sized, the tenons length were over 1/10" over-sized. I hammered it in and it blew the side out. I chiseled out the other one. The pictures will show by not much, but even though it doesn't seem to be weak I want to be assured that the joint won't give out in the future plus it's right under the vise.

So I'm looking for advice on how to secure this. I found a plate. that is 1/16" thick. I was figuring on using a plane to level the blow out and then chisel a mortise 1/16" for the plate.

BTW, as I mentioned I bought this from Rockler, I'm happy with their service, I received it in less than 1 week and they did a great job in reinforcing the box. I originally bought the workbench from tool-corral.com. If you're interested read my review of this online store and be warned.

Thanks,
Phil

[Andrew Williams]

How hard would it be just to replace the rail and re-chop the mortises? Did you glue the tenons in already?

[Pete Bradley]

Looks like pine 2X lumber in the photo. You blew the end grain out , but it wasn't very strong to begin with. If it's already glued, I'd just put a couple of pegs through the tenon (being careful not to get too close to the end again). If it's not glued, I expect you can pull the tenon, trim it down, glue in the chunk you blew out, and reassemble with a peg.

It doesn't look very beefy in the picture no matter how it goes together, so give it a try and a later project can be some heavy duty legs.

Pete

[Philip Florio]

I didn't glue the joint since the fit was so tight.

I was just figuring on a quick repair. Maybe over the winter I'll make my own legs. For now I just want to get into other projects. The bench was the last item for my workshop.

Phil

[Matt Meiser]

I agree with Pete--you couldn't have lost too much strength. I'd just drill and pin it with a hardwood dowel and do the other legs while you are at it. I would definitely NOT use the metal plate as a chisel, plane iron, or something else will surely find that.

[Philip Florio]

Thanks Pete and Matt,

I'll go with the dowel fix. I didn't think about the metal clamp doing damage to tools.

Glad I asked!


Phil

[John Lucas]

I would contact Rockler and see how they will handle it. One of the reasons I like to buy from Rockler, Woodcraft, LeeValley, McFeeleys, Highland and others is that they always want to take care of me...even if it is a workbench that is large. I suggest you send a pic of the part and ask for them to have mfr supply a replacement.

[Philip Florio]

Thanks John,

I took your advice and sent an e-mail to Rockler.

Phil