Filling gaps

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The Wizard

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Chesterfield, England
I am in the process of building some garden furniture out of Cedar and have a slight problem. I have had to biscuit joint a couple of pieces to form a contoured back rest and have been left with a small gap between the two pieces. Can anyone offer any advice on the best way to fill this gap as invisibly as possible?
I think if I had been a little more carefull and generous in applying the polyurethane glue then I would not have this problem.
I have probably made things sound worse than they are, this is a very small gap but I would like to take the best action to rectify it. I am planning to finish the project with some kind of oil,new post coming in the future.

Cheers

Wiz
 
Might be best to avoid a filler of any kind - unlikely to have much longevity outdoors.
That leaves using wood - cut out a reasonable sized groove to "enlarge" the crack and infill with more cedar. Or perhaps make up a mix of cedar sawdust with some exterior wood glue and use this as a filler.
 
Aragorn

Thanks for the advice. I fancy the dust and glue idea, the gap is very small. What glue would you recommend. I have been using polyurethane for the main build but this may be very messy when I try and mix dust with it.

Cheers

The wizard
 
Yes, any filler will stand out like a sore thumb once the wood weathers.
The feature idea sounds good to me as, if the crack has some p/u glue in, it may be difficult to get anything else to stick. If you do decide to widen the crack and insert a V shaped strip of cedar use Extramite if you can as IMHO it leaves a neater glue line.
 
Veritas chair doctor glue - if you get the pack from axminster it even comes with a syringe and needles for injecting into loose joints without having to take them apart - is very runny and does an excellent job of seeping into narrow cracks, then dust over the top with sawdust. may need couple of layers if the crack is deep and takes in a lot of glue, but I've had the same problem with cherry and this hides it very nicely

m
 
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