lee733•1mo ago

Cracked a panel on a $1200 walnut slab last Tuesday

I was trimming a cabinet door for a kitchen build in St. Louis. Router caught the grain wrong and split the face right down the middle. Heart sank. Customer was coming the next day. Ended up cutting out the bad section and inlaying a matching piece with a butterfly joint. Had to blend the finish with shellac and steel wool. Took 4 hours but you can barely see it now. Anyone else had to fix a big mistake under a tight deadline?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma7681mo ago

That butterfly joint - how'd you match the grain orientation?

wren_carr1mo agoMost Upvoted

The grain matching is honestly the biggest pain in the whole process (but so worth it when it works). I actually found a trick that helped me a ton - I take a photo of the butterfly before cutting it out, flip it upside down on my phone, and hold it right up against the crack. That way I can spin the wood around until the lines line up perfectly before I even touch the router. Did that for a big walnut tabletop last month and you seriously couldn't tell where the butterfly ended and the wood began. The key is getting your grain direction right though, because if you go perpendicular you're just inviting trouble down the road.