Aalto Inspired Tea Cart #4: Fixing a routing mess up.

Great save BFD. Thanks for the tip, I’ll have to remember this one.

-- Martin, Kansas

Nice fix man! I tend to feel that repairs can sometimes give a piece that might otherwise appear “machine” made a more handmade quality. but I bet this one will probably go unnoticed. Great job. On another note, it’s crazy to see the close-up photos of your laminations….. man they look like a solid piece lumber. very cool.

-- Fritz Oakland, Ca http://www.muegenburg.com (dedicated to my other hobby)

Like they say, we don’t make mistakes—- we make deviations or variations.

Nice fix!

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Nice fix!

Thanks for the post

Callum

-- There is no such thing as a mistake....just a design modification Check out my site http://thetimberkid.blogspot.com/

I know your heart just sank when you saw what had happened… I’ve had that feeling before, but only once. :-)

Great save, and FritzM was right- your laminations look amazing. If you didn’t know, you’d never know…

Looking good!

-JM

-- Jarrod, Eagle Nest, NM

Hi Fritz,
I too was very surprised at how 25 pieces of veneer look almost like a solid piece of lumber. I think it was because of the glue I used. I mixed it with a lightener so the glue was almost a perfect match to the ash veneer. I also kept the flitch of veneer in order so it is in sequence which helped as well. I was prepared for it to look like Aalto’s laminated ply where you can see each layer.

Betsy and Jarrod my heart stops at least once on every project I do …oh I mean I like to build deviations or variations into every project. Thanks again.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA

Brian,

The lamination and repair look great. Will you show us how you finish it also? I recently did a similar repair (on solid oak, not lamination). I was very careful with choosing grain that looked identical. BUT . . . when I stained it, it stuck out like a sore thumb. I’m not certain what I did wrong. I thought the sanding was consistent, but it really showed—more stain soaked in around the edge of the plug. Is there something that needs to be done to keep that from happening? I didn’t have any book to consult for advice. I was able to rescue it by cutting off the edge and gluing on an entire strip, but I figured that I would try the plug idea first.

Thanks for your post.

-- "But godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

lightweightlady-

I’ve had similar experiences with patches like this. You need to seal the patch first to keep stain from seeping into the end grain exposed. I have used polyurethane to seal the plug and then sanded down to bare wood again before staining. The poly tends to seal the join between plug and original. If the fit is not real tight, though, you can end up with an unstained border around the patch that highlights the patch.

Others have suggested to me using sanding sealer but I don’t like sanding sealer. Maybe I am not using it correctly, but I always seem to get uneven staining when I use it.

Lightweightladyleftie,

Thanks for the comments. I am actually not going to use any type of stain so hopefully I will not experience the same thing. I will just be doing a clear coat finish so as to highlight the light beautiful color of the figured ash. I did test the patch with some denatured alcohol to simulate what it would look like with finish on it and it is very minute.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA