Making a Crack Disappear
When I was gluing up the top panel for my nine-drawer dresser, I noticed early on that I had a problem: both ends of the boards I was using had small splits near the ends. I didn’t have enough excess length to be able to cut them off; like it or not, a few of these little cracks were going to end up in my finished top.
As luck would have it, while that panel was sitting in clamps I took off for Weekend with WOOD. There, in a class about tips for using dovetail jigs, Jim Heavey shared a trick that he uses to save the look of a joint that’s structurally sound but has a bit more gap in it than he’d like. (Nice to know I’m not the only one who has that problem!) Jim didn’t swear us to secrecy, so let me show you what I did.
 The crack — a small split on my top piece toward the edge. |
This is what it looked like initially. The split is about 2-1/2 inches long and is just shy of 1/16″ wide at its widest point. This is the least objectionable-looking of three such splits, but it’s the only one on the top face where everyone will see it. |
 After applying some glue and wiping it into the crack. |
First, I drew a thin line of glue (ordinary Titebond III) over the crack and then wiped at it with my finger until it spanned the gap. I didn’t try to fill the gap’s depth, mind you — all I did was create a sort of film just at the surface.
|
 After sanding a few seconds with a random orbit sander and 100-grit paper. |
Next I grabbed my random orbit sander, which already had a 100-grit disc in it because I’d been sanding the panel to smooth out slight proud spots in the seams. I deliberately turned off the shop vacuum so there’d be minimal dust collection and just sanded over the wet glue for about 5 seconds. |
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Voila! As you can see from the last photo (click to zoom in), the split has just about completely disappeared. The dust from the sander got into the wet glue and created a near perfectly color-matched wood filler.
I’m sure there are downsides to this technique. For instance, there is probably some glue in the wood pores around the crack that may become highly visible when I apply a finish. (We’ll find out soon enough on that score.) I also doubt this would be as effective with a much larger crack, unless maybe you used a gap-filling glue that doesn’t foam up as it cures. But it certainly seems to be working well for me here.
Thanks, Jim Heavey!
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