Glue taking up stain or finish

[Pam]

Hi, I am new to the site having been recommended by my brother who is not as good a woodworker as me.......

I have just applied Patina to my mahogany box, having filled chip outs on the dovetails with dark coloured Titebond mixed with sandings of the mahogany. The filler shows much to my disgust. Any ideas how i can prevent this in the future, other than making the perfect joint???

:lol:

 

[Chris Knight]

Pam,
Welcome to the forum.

"In glue and dust we place our trust.." then come unstuck as you have found.

A better aproach to filling gaps is to insert scraps of wood or veneer, depending on the size of the gap. It is handy to have a thin saw like a Japanese saw and saw through the offending joint line, then insert a scrap of veneer or wood, wetted with glue and matching the thickness of the saw kerf. When dry, trim with a block plane.

If you use this method and pay attention to grain direction you can get away with a lot - DAMHIKT :wink:

 

[Pam]

Thanks very much for the advice, i will try that in future as i have a Japanese saw, trouble is when the gap is tiny though and at the lower end of the joint. I am rubbish at hand sawing....

 

[engineer one]

hi pam, maybe you are approaching this the wrong way.
chris is right about using veneers, but then maybe the idea is to make them contrast to add accents to the joint.

however what i was going to suggest is that maybe you should check that your tools are properly sharp, and then with practice, you should not get
chip out depending on the wood. one thought is to mark out all the joints with a knife to cut the top layer of wood, and thus make break out more
difficult.

are your chisels properly flattened at the back. and is your saw really sharp????

lets us see what you think are big chips and we can make more constructive comments.
paul :wink:

 

[Pam]

Hi,

I have done my dovetails using a Leigh jig on mahogany which is well aged. Most of the joints were perfect but some had tear out. They say put boards front & rear but i have a hard enough job just getting my piece clamped!!!
I will try putting thin pieces in where i can get them in.
Saying all that the two boxes don't look so bad for a beginner....

 

[Chris Knight]

Pam,
Using a router, there is always the danger of tear-out on one side or the other and backing boards can eliminate this but as you say, they can be difficult to get in the clamps. A couple of small pieces of double sided tape can help hold them in position - do not use large pieces otherwise you spend ages getting it off.

Also , try to ensure you are using sharp router bits.