4

I'm making the joint for the leg shown in the following diagram, using handtools. There are two intersecting through-mortises. A tall one (for the apron running topleft-bottomright in the picture), and a square one (running topright-bottomleft).

double mortise

I have (incorrectly) started my joint with the tall through mortise first. I should have used a sacrificial piece to occupy the first mortise hole while working on the second, but I didn't, and my chisel blow has broken out maybe a 1/4" chunk from the lower inner wall.

leg1 leg2

On the left, the overall view of the leg. On the right, inside view from right side (high-res here).

It didn't break off cleanly, so I removed the chips. On the picture on the right, I've drawn a rough polygonal outline of the breakout.

Can this hole be re-filled with something? Or should I just restart the leg? I considered making an epoxy or glue+dust fill, and re-chiselling around.

| improve this question | |
5

You don't need to repair this.

You're using a tusk tenon, so basically everything is going to be held in place by the wedge. With a different style of M&T joint, secured with glue, one could theorise that the reduced glue surface area might be an issue but it's of no relevance here.

But even if this were a glued joint I still think it's nothing to worry about. If you took apart old furniture made in the heyday of hand-tool workmanship I think you'd be surprised at how often you'd find chipout of exactly this sort this inside intersecting mortises.

| improve this answer | |
  • 1
    It also looks like the square tenon is going to pass through a second mortise (sub-mortise? meta-mortise?) in the tall tenon, so this should be nice and secure. The inside, which doesn't show, doesn't matter! – workerjoe Jun 5 '18 at 13:59
  • 1
    For the other 3 legs, I've dug the mortises in the reverse order (tall one last), and it eliminated breakout almost completely - even without a sacrificial piece. I haven't disassembled enough old furniture (yet), but that's good to hear. My fear was that the tusk would be pushing against a weakened wall and sink it in. @Joe, correct, I have to punch through another square mortise into the large tenon (forming a wood "donut"), but there will be a gap where the missing chip used to be. – ww_init_js Jun 15 '18 at 7:39
  • Yes not everyone will get the chance to see much old furniture taken apart, a more accessible way to see just how rough hidden surfaces could be in hand-produced stuff is to slide out the beam from vintage marking/cutting gauges and look inside the mortise. The edges of the mortise are basically flawless in most cases (barring damage from use) but inside can look like a beaver chewed it ^_^ – Graphus Jun 15 '18 at 12:22

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.