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Runaway Router

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I should have known better than to keep working when I was tired. I was putting a cove detail on some coffee tables with my small router and the fence slipped, resulting in the 3 nicks in the frame. I have always considered myself an expert at fixing my mistakes, primarily through LOTS of practice because I make lots of mistakes. But this one has me stumped. The coffee table is supposed to be in our living room and it's for my wife, so I'd like to fix this without making it too obvious. I'm looking for suggestions from this esteemed group.

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As I see it, I have a couple of options.
1. I can move the fence so that I route the cove a little deeper. The deepest nick is about 7/32" so I could just move the fence that far. The only problem with that is I probably would have to re-route all the other coves so that they match. Still, this would seem to be the least obvious fix.
2. I can use a straight bit and route out a small rabbet behind the nicks, then shape another piece of maple to fit into that rabbet, glue it in and re-route the cove. The maple is pretty bland around the nicks and I have some extra maple that might match pretty well. But I think it will still look like a patch and I need to figure out where to start and stop it.
3. I can completely ignore the mistakes, sand them down pretty well and hope that no one else notices. Probably the most practical, but it would drive me to drink.

Those are the only solutions I have thought of. If you have any other ideas, I would love to hear them. If you don't have any other way to fix it, let me know which of the 3 choices you think would be the most successful. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Dave
 

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#2 ·
Gouge it several more times in a random pattern along the edge and call it a "design feature" it might actually not look that bad.
 
#9 ·
The pictures are rotated 90 degrees to the left, sorry. On the first picture, you are looking at the side of the table and the nicks are on the side of the front leg. The second picture is showing the bottom rail on the back of the table. It's actually sitting on the top of the second table, where I didn't make any mistakes, but it is probably a little confusing. Can't replace any of the wood because it is all frame for the table and M&T together. The fence didn't really slip - I did. I'll have to check my router bits, but I am actually thinking I might have a Roman ogee bit that might over route the mistakes. That's an idea I hadn't really thought of.
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well you'll see a patch and it will look just like one unless you use a different wood. Router out the bad cuts with a straight bit and do the same for all similarly oriented pieces. Then use a contrasting wood to fill and then make some kind of design choice regarding the profile you will make. Other than that, it's increasing the size of the cove unless an ogee will work, but it would have to be pretty large to compensate for the errors.

Edit: Looks like you're already incorporating some contrasting wood, so that would be my choice.
 
#15 ·
First, carve out (straight bit) the oops up to only a hair past the oops each way, and glue in a patch of the same type of wood, then sand/plane and rout to match. If that turns out to be too obvious, carve out the patch, and try one of the tips suggested above, or…

Mill the entire element down past the oops (probably past the cove too), then glue on a strip to restore the original dimensions. Rout the cove again. The glue line might just end up looking like a deign feature.
 
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