Drilling Problem (pics)

[Jeff Craven]

While drilling, the wood around the hole was torn... :(

I'm guessing I should of used a brad point bit. This is the top of a small shoe bench that I am building. I was planning on screwing this piece down to the legs and plugging the hole with a dowel, but that won't look good now that I've messed up the hole. How would you fix this?

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3654/drill2yd0.jpg

another angle:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1439/drill1xn5.jpg

[Clifford Mescher]

My first thought would be to square it up with a chisel and peg it. Clifford

[Anthony Whitesell]

Drill the top 1/8" deep to larger diameter and use a thin fat plug to cover over the dowel. You'll have to do the same thing on all of them so it looks right.

[Geoff Potter]

Butterfly dutchman and redrill (carefully) the hole

[Lee Schierer]

You're right that brad point bits or forstner bits would have drilled a cleaner hole. I would recommend patching the hole with a similar piece of maple and drilling a new hole through it from the back side with a back up piece material that is clamped tight to the surface. In the future should you need to drill, clamp a sacrificial piece on top and drill through it first. The sacrificial piece will be the one with the tear out on the top surface and you good piece shold have a perfect hole.

If you have the option to cut a larger hole and can find a plug cutter of the right size for that hole, you can select a piece of wood with similar grain and color, then carefully cut a plug. If you orient the grain of the plug with the grain of the main board and get a good tight fit, the plug will be all but invisible after sanding and finishing.

[Frank Drew]

I'd patch it once the project is assembled. Cut a dutchman with a piece of the same, or contrasting, wood, in whatever shape you want (the more complicated the shape, though, the harder it will be to cut the recess). An elongated diamond shape is common and fairly easy to cut and inlay, and is less conspicuous than some other shapes if that's your intent.

[Chris Padilla]

Wood putty! ;)

[harry strasil]

If you still have the shavings you drilled out, collect them break them up some and mix with glue and plug around the dowel or whatever goes in the hole, spread a little glue on the top and let it dry some them sand the surface and the dust will adhere to the shavings and glue and camoflauge the repair.

[Jim Becker]

Wood putty! ;)

Umm...Chris. You know better than that! :eek: :o ;)

[Jeff Craven]

Thanks for all of the ideas... well most of them. I'm going to attempt to inlay something after I get it assembled.


Wood putty! ;)
Where is the :slap: smiley?

I certainly won't be putting any wood putty on this:
http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/7016/shoebenchqq3.jpg

[Chris Padilla]

C'mon! I gave a little wink at the end of my barb! ;)

Jeff, with some careful and thoughtful cutting and stock selection, I bet you can inlay a nearly invisible piece of maple over the damage.

If you have a bandsaw, you might consider resawing a veneer from the exact board that is damaged (maybe from the bottom?) and then using that as the inlay. You may then wish to plane both boards slightly to maintain them as the same thickness.

[Simon Dupay]

Wood putty! ;)
Nah...just sand it out.:D

[Steve Jenkins]

If you can live with the reduced thickness run it through your planer and rerout or sand the edge profile.

[Mike Cutler]

C'mon! I gave a little wink at the end of my barb! ;)



Chris

Me thinks if most folks could see the line of finish/repair products from Mohawk Finishes, You might not have needed to put the smiley at the end of your original post.;)
I helped a co-worker repair a hutch door that blew out of the back of the truck on the highway during a move, with epoxy putties.
There's a whole lot more to "Wood Putty" than what is available from minwax.

In this case though, a dutchmans patch would be the qucikest and easiest.

[Doug Shepard]

Wood putty! ;)

Geez. I smell a moderaytur recall vote comin on:D:D

[Jake Helmboldt]

Butterfly dutchman and redrill (carefully) the hole

OK, as a kraut I've been called a "Dutchman", but I don't think I'd make a good patch for that. So what the heck is a dutchman?

[glenn bradley]

For easiest, I vote to drill a bit larger about 1/8" deep with a forstner or brad-point and use a shallow plug. For a self esteem builder chisel it out square and use a G&G style peg/pillow.

[Jim Becker]

O So what the heck is a dutchman?

It's a piece of wood embedded in the workpiece as a shallow inlay. (almost never full thickness of the workpiece) You most typically notice them in certain furniture styles as a "butterfly" shape. Sometimes they are used to hide a defect or make a repair and sometimes they are used to add strength to a joint or help insure a natural crack doesn't widen. That latter one was a common theme on many of George Nakashima's tables made from slabs and flitches.

[Jeff Craven]

... chisel it out square and use a G&G style peg/pillow.
I like that idea, I just did a similar detail on the end of the stretcher's tenon.

Thanks,

[Greg Hines, MD]

I would go the other way with it, similar to the photo above. Make it a contrasting wood to highlight the plugs instead.

Doc

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

So what the heck is a dutchman?

A plug or insert of any kind that is designed to interfere with other components as in preventing threaded parts from unscrewing.

I'd guess it derives from the "finger in the dike" imagery.