Ever made a dutchman? Need some help.

[Irvin Cooper]

Good afternoon.

I am in the process of building a kitchen table out of walnut. I am needing to place a small dutchman where there is a defect in a really nice board, but have never done this nor seen it done other than perhaps in one episode of NYW.

Does anyone have a resource on how to go about this, or have you done it yourself where you send me a brief writeup on it?

Thanks in advance.

Irv

[Jim McFarland]

I've made some small inlays using a butterfly template from Woodcraft. IIRC, instructions are included but not that tough to do if you've done inlays. You'll also need an inlay kit for your router, too if you don't have one.

Butterfly template:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/202...e-3673a1d190eb

[steven c newman]

Re-claimed wood TV Table i made awhile back. I marked out where one was needed, and what shape it would be. I used 1/8" thick scraps that matched the area. I laid the patch on the spot where it would go, and marked around the outside of the patch. I used a nice sharp chisel to cut around the edges, inside the lines. As I hit the chisel, I counted the hits. 4 hits, if I remember, were used. Then, I turned the bevel of the chisel down, and peeled out the waste. I went in both directions in the waste area, to get the bottom nice and flat. I checked the fit of the patch ( dry fit) and trimmed as needed. A nice blob of glue in the recess, and drive the patch home. If it sticks a bit proud of the surface, a good handplane or a sander will level things out smooth.

Shape of the patch is up to you. You can either show off the patch, or, match the grain and shape to hide the patch. I made my patches a little thick, to allow them to be planed to match the areas. Have some fun with these things.

[steven c newman]

Here is apicture of how mine turned out

[steven c newman]

Did any of these posts help out? Just curious.

[Peter Quinn]

I like to match the grain and color as closely as possible and shape them like a cats eye. Makes it less noticeable than a rectangle patch. If I'm going to bother to hide a defect, I'm going to try to make it invisible. How to do it? Make a template, use a little hinge mortising bit or top bearing flush trim bit, secure the template to the work, use a knife to score its outline into the surface, route out what you can about 1/8" deep =-. Take out the rest into the points with a small sharp chisel, maybe a small skew ground for the purpose, use the template to mark the patch and cut it carefully, use a file or sandpaper on a stick to fit it in tight, glue it on. Clamp, voila.

Oh, in walnut if the grade is country, I bury the defect in west systems epoxy and sand flush, and let it show. If the grade is select or better, no defects, I use another board! Off cuts of walnut burn real well in the stove. Walnut is real tough to match, though often you can get a patch from an off cut of teh same board if you think ahead and save that. Maybe just a little further up the same board. You could also go crazy and incorporate a decorative inlay like a flower or butterfly and just cover the defect that way.

[Steven Green]

+1 on how Steven did it. Add grain match as closely as you can and you've got a good dutchman. You can use a template and a router but I like the old fashioned way.