Hiding flaws

[Craig Fisher]

Does anyone have any good advice to hide a few flaws? I'm a newb when it comes to fine wood working. Now I'm straight ADDICTED to greene and greene but I'm struggling some with ebony inlays.

So I cut the dado, cut the inlays, thought it was perfect, glued it in, and now there's a very small (but noticeable if you look) gap between the wood and the inlay. Maybe a 1/16-1/32 of an inch but the problem is....I know it's there. Will finish hide this after a few coats or does somebody have another technique?

I did go down to WoodCraft to ask advice and they turned me on to this gap filler with a activating spray. Works great after sanding but it leaves a bit of a dark line to it. Fine if using darker wood but I'm using african mohogany and it'll be visible. Maybe I just have to go with a darker finish to hide it?

Any help would be appreciated.

[rmac]

Can you post a picture of the problem? To me that gap sounds a little bit too big to hide successfully. I would consider removing the inlays and doing them over. That's extra work, for sure, but you will be glad you did if this is a major project that you have already invested a lot of time in.

I had to do exactly that with several of the ebony plugs in this table. I drilled out the bulk of the ebony with a small drill, then cleaned up the holes with a chisel (just like I did when I cut the mortises for the plugs in the beginning).

-- Russ

[Craig Fisher]

OMG that's a sexy table! I'm actually waiting for that class to start. I feel pretty lucky that the Greene & Greene god, aka Darrell Peart, lives about 10 miles from me and teaches that class as well as the blanket chest in the near future. Already bought my place in those two classes.

I hadn't considered routing out the the ebony...that's actually a great idea. I could probably get the template perfectly over it again and reroute and put a better sized inlay in place. When I get back to the house, I'll take a couple hi-res pics and post them up for your thoughts and whether or not it's "saveable".

Thanks for the advice. I love this site!

[joelav]

This may or may not help and it could be terrible advice, but it works for me. I've used plugs a few times and had similar issues. I decided to treat the plugs like mortise and tenon joints. I leave a shoulder on the plug so it will hide any gaps. I could get a few plugs to fit exactly, but could not do it consistently. This method worked for me.

[rodger.]

Sometimes a wax stick is all you need for repair. Rub the wax into the repair area, and buff it out.

[JohnnyNoName]

Could you tap in and glue a wedge?

Jonathan

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[Trip]

i once used west system's black tint with 207 -- the resulting color is a dead-on match with the ebony plug and its shine also resembles polished ebony.

[Craig Fisher]

All great ideas my wood working friends! Some I've never even thought of that I'll file in the memory banks. I just took rmac advice and chiseled everything out. Luckily it was only one strip of ebony and not a bunch of plugs. So happy I did because the result were awesome in the end after a little blood and sweat.

[Pbmaster11]

Check my thread out... a good example of fixing a "uh oh" haha