Shopsmith Forums

How cool would the wood look with a few butterflies pulling the cracks back together? This is something that I have actually done and yes it works.

For those who are new to this check out google and something like "butterflies to repair splits in wood".

I have a couple of templates which you could make or buy and then you need a inlay guide bushing and bit for your router. You could use contracting wood or what ever might look the best to you.

Ed

BuckeyeDennis wrote:This morning, I came up with another idea. I had been worried that if I filled the splits with sawdust (or wood flour) and glue, the glue would get smeared around and ultimately make blotches in the finish. But wait, what if for the wood-flour putty binder, I use the exact same stuff that I'll use for the final finish? Hmmm, can you do that?

Later, it struck me that Bob Flexner probably addresses that in his book "Understanding Wood Finishing". So I just dug out my copy, and indeed he does. He advises that getting a good color match is difficult if you are going to stain the wood, but I'm not staining. And I can easily make the wood flour by grinding up some Sycamore scraps with a 12" sanding disc, and capturing it in a freshly-cleaned Dust Deputy bucket.

So I think I'll give that a try on the backside of one of the cracked boards. If it works, great. If not, I can still rip and reglue.

His books are my finishing Bibles, I am not astute to all here that sleep and eat with there SS, but if Bob F suggested that do it.

reible wrote:How cool would the wood look with a few butterflies pulling the cracks back together? This is something that I have actually done and yes it works.

For those who are new to this check out google and something like "butterflies to repair splits in wood".

I have a couple of templates which you could make or buy and then you need a inlay guide bushing and bit for your router. You could use contracting wood or what ever might look the best to you.

Ed

It was a looooooooong day at work today, but am finally kicking back a bit before bed. I wasn't sure about the butterfly idea at first, but the more I think about it, the better I like it. I've always liked butterfly joints, but thought of them as table things, not paneling things.

But looking at some Google-search photos, I think it could work very nicely if I don't overdo the contrast. In my favorite photos, the butterfly was about the same color as the darkest grain in the wood being repaired. So I could use some of the darker heartwood from the straightness-challenged Sycamore boards, or perhaps some bits of cherry.

Other factors in support of that idea:
1) It would eliminate worries about future crack propagation,
2) It would be more fun than grinding up wood and making DIY wood filler,
3) I have some good vintage chisels and a couple of router planes, mostly from the Mother Of All Goody Boxes, that I have been wanting to put to good use,
4) The Butterfly joint, a.k.a Dutchman joint, was widely used by the Dutch in the 18th century to repair cracks in tabletops, and is therefore period-appropriate,
5) Many if not most of the barns in this area were built by the Pennsylvania Dutch (a.k.a. Amish).

So I think I should give it a try. But first on a scrap piece of Sycamore.

As a mentor of mine would say, "when in doubt, procrastinate, the answer will come"

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ERLover wrote:As a mentor of mine would say, "when in doubt, procrastinate, the answer will come"

Indecision may or may not be my problem ...

Reminds me of the Procrastinators Club. They never met because no one showed up at their meetings.

charlese wrote:Reminds me of the Procrastinators Club. They never met because no one showed up at their meetings.

That's because the secretary never got around to sending out the meeting notice.

Or the committee never got around to setting the date.

Or the committee never got word of it's meeting time/place.

Or . . . .

reible wrote:How cool would the wood look with a few butterflies pulling the cracks back together? This is something that I have actually done and yes it works.

For those who are new to this check out google and something like "butterflies to repair splits in wood".

I have a couple of templates which you could make or buy and then you need a inlay guide bushing and bit for your router. You could use contracting wood or what ever might look the best to you.

Ed

Is something like this what you had in mind, Ed? This one is just a test on a piece of cutoff scrap. 3/8" cherry butterfly inlaid in 3/4" quarter-sawn sycamore.
I milled the template and inlay on my OPR. I can mill the pocket either with my OPR or my new compact plunge router. Based on few test cuts, I like the OPR better for small workpieces, and the plunge router better for big ones -- like the paneling boards that got me started down this rabbit-hole in the first place.

But I'm finally ready to start on the actual paneling-board inlays. I'm going to use a couple of different sizes of butterflies, with the larger ones near the center of the split, and a smaller one near each end.

Can't tell by the one picture but watch to make sure it's not wood shake.

BuckeyeDennis wrote: Is something like this what you had in mind, Ed? This one is just a test on a piece of cutoff scrap. 3/8" cherry butterfly inlaid in 3/4" quarter-sawn sycamore.

Butterfly inlay test.JPG

I milled the template and inlay on my OPR. I can mill the pocket either with my OPR or my new compact plunge router. Based on few test cuts, I like the OPR better for small workpieces, and the plunge router better for big ones -- like the paneling boards that got me started down this rabbit-hole in the first place.

But I'm finally ready to start on the actual paneling-board inlays. I'm going to use a couple of different sizes of butterflies, with the larger ones near the center of the split, and a smaller one near each end.

Butterlies x two lowres.JPG

Looks great to me, nice job on the asymmetric butterflies, I may make myself a template like that!

Ed