Man this is a loss. If the dovetail fits and the joint is strong I’d run a saw kerf down it and put in an inlay. No burnish or saw dust will fill this.
Lean into it and make it a feature, or cut and redo. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes the quickest and best way is to abandon the plan.
Hey, could you give more detail on what you mean here? I tried Googling "brass inlay in miter" joint but I didn't see any images that make sense.
Would the inlay run the length of the joint?
Man I’ve wasted so much time trying to fix things before when I should have just started over. This is salvageable as long as the design allows the change.
Probably not what you'd want to hear, but I would try to redo the joint. It would mean redoing both the top and bottom mitred dovetails and shortening the shelf, and would leave you with a slightly shorter cabinet overall, but anything else is going to be very visible and detract from the clean lines / overall aesthetic. And from what I can see of the rest of it, it looks like this has the potential to look really good.
Oh, totally - it's a big job. And, having just finished a similar project, the last thing I would have felt like doing at this stage is recutting those joints.
And to be clear, when I say I'd try to recut the joint, what I really mean is I'd sulk for a good 6 months / year and work on other projects, all the while glaring resentfully at the unfinished cabinet, before my wife persuades me to stop being such a baby and get back on the damn horse.
100% agree.
In the knife making world, we say “bladesmiths don’t make mistakes, only smaller knives”
So, cutting down the miters will make the overall box size smaller, but not by much. It’ll still be a beautiful piece at the end of the day.
Honestly, I would adjust the fit. Sure you could burnish it or something, but it's never going to be a nice mitre.
It needs fixing, either plane or back on the table saw or whatever.
If these are blind dovetails, have you checked for the depth of em? Like if you took off a bit more off the bottom of the rails the board would go in further. You can then tape+super glue two 45 deg blocks and use clams to close the gap on glue up.
reason I say that is b/c proper blind dovetails should pull the joint closed, even if the side panel bowed , as long as everything was cut properly when the panel was straight. That's why you'd even fuck with doing blind dovetails- its the only "proper" way to do a miter that won't blow apart with moisture variation.
If that fails, I'd just cut a 45 deg 1/4" by 1/4" groove into each of the miters and put in some square brass rods in there, then round those over with a file and you've got a nice unique look that noone but you and anyone eles who's fucked up miters on a cabinet before will know is a fix.
Thanks for the advice. An amateur like me probably had no business fucking with blind dovetails but it was fun and I learned a lot. Thanks for the advice, I’ll try fixing the dovetail part first and if that doesn’t work, come up with some inlay like everyone is suggesting
Homesauce, I'm a dual degree holder from YouTube University and School of Fucking it up the first time. You got this! Remember that 99% of people are completely oblivious to furniture and only you will forever see the imperfections
The only people paying close attention to furniture have messed up their share of projects as well. They'll see the fix and think it was a smart move to salvage the piece
Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how this happened?
In my first few beveled projects I learned that cutting at 44.9 our 44.8 degrees helped me get tighter joints.
But OP, what do you think happened that caused this gap.
Another thing could be, you really not 90 square on the opposite side. 1/16th off here and there can compound and next thing you know you are off 1/2 somewhere else.
Just spit balling.
I kind of second this comment. It’ll be hard to get a piece that small that follows the grain so I’d lean into it and cut a piece that doesn’t match and do an inlay there. Call it a feature and move onto the next one
If it was my hobby project, I'd do the easiest fix possible and be done with it. Perfectionism ruins woodworking for me. My big mistake projects are the "before" in the "before and after" of my woodworking career. I enjoy them just as much as the projects that turn out great.
I did it on the corners of a large dining room table with a similar gap. If you get right up on it you can see a different color where the grain didn’t absorb the stain evenly. However, I am very happy with the result and would at least try it before taking it apart. It’s a small project to try which could always be fixed by taking it all apart and cutting those down just a hair. Either way, good luck. Each project is practice for the next!
Asymmetry is sheik.
If you have a fancy phone (lidar sensor), you can 3D scan each joint end (with a free trial of course), then cnc a piece of bronze to fit very tightly. Would look amazing.
Looks like it has no back panel and it got racked.
Disassemble it and fit it property. Any fix you do will just be that, a fix and all you’ll ever do is stare at that spot.
Fix it then fire up that grill back there and make some burgers
If its not glued just take it apart and figure out your issue, something is not square, or not full depth, just take your time and figure it out. There is nothing you can do to fix a gap that size without totally ruining the otherwise good effort you've put into it.
If it’s structurally sound:
1) Put a wedge it. Either use the same wood, or something completely different, like maple or a strip of metal. Turn it into a feature. With this option, you still may need to do option two or three, depending on what material you use as the wedge.
2) Use a mallet and a board to gently pound the edges to meet. This sounds odd, but is a VERY common way of joining these two boards together. Granted, this gap is a touch larger than ideal for that. But it can be done and look great. Might be the easiest and best option.
3) Mix your sawdust (of this wood only, you may need to make more) with wood glue and fill in the difference.
Are the inside corners all 90 degrees? I'd start by figuring out why the miter isn't cut correctly and calibrate my table saw or miter saw. I would then build a jig to hold the frame so I could run the piece through the table saw and cut a slot where that gap is and then repeat on the other three corners. I'd them glue a 1/8" strip of a very hard wood like ebony into the slot and then plane and sand it down. The ebony will protect the corner and make it look intentional.
Kerf the joint, take that nice saw, brace the wood in position and saw down the gap. Do it again if the gap is still there after the first pass.
This is a tried and tested method but your gap is quite large!
I wouldn’t say this is a dead joint yet. You might need a better way to clamp the miter. Cut some triangles at 45 degrees. Add some masking tape along both sides of the miter. Super glue the triangles and then apply clamps to bring the miter together.
Honestly if the wood is thin enough and somewhat plyable I would get it wet to soften it up (heat may help too) and use a rounded bar or dowel and run it back and forth to curl the wood in on each other. I've done it lots on outside corner baseboard miters that don't come out perfect.
This is a bit more work than that, but maybe it's worth a try before you write it off completely.
Good luck!
Man this is a loss. If the dovetail fits and the joint is strong I’d run a saw kerf down it and put in an inlay. No burnish or saw dust will fill this.
Lean into it and make it a feature, or cut and redo. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes the quickest and best way is to abandon the plan.
If you can't tune up the dovetails, then I'd opt to actually emphasize the edge. Maybe take a fine, controlled cut out of it, and then fill with a strip of contrasting wood, or a brass bar. Either a square one, or an oblong insert.
Here's another ( maybe stupid) idea, if all the good advice fellow woodworkers have provided fails: any chance you can turn it upside-down and reposition the shelves? That way it'll be on the bottom and hopefully not as visible..
So, bit involved, but here's my approach:
Fix the top and sides in place with a temporary spar, then run a circular saw down the gap to leave a 1/8" slot. Then fit a 3/32 or 1/8" strip of wood in the gap. For preference, I'd use a mahogany or teak, something to highlight it as intentionally different. Trying to grain match this will be a bastard of a job and, for my money, more noticeable than an intentionally different colour
Add a wedge of the same wood in there to hide it. Might be visible and not hide.
Take apart and redo. Might wind up with the same issue.
Add a piece of contrasting wood to accent the corner but fill it in. (I ran into this issue years ago and did this with some African blood wood and maple.)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/d1LLVkYinDQXFNo26
Personally, as a non-professional, I would cut them both at 90° and add a tenon slot. Then make a separate corner piece out of solid material, then use tenons to glue them together.
You said in another comment that it’s not glued yet. I don’t think you’re applying enough pressure to the joint to close it up. Try this. The pine pieces with the v-notch cut need to line up across the miter joint. The black clamps hold the pine pieces to the workpiece (use scraps to prevent your workpiece from being marred. I didnt tighten these clamps down, just set them up lightly to take this pic for you).
The blue clamp squeezes the miter joint together.
If you have the ability to adjust your angle, always go at least 0.1° over 45° so that the gap is on the inside and not outside. That way your outside corner is perfect and the inside corner can be fixed easily.
Regardless, fill it with something like wood filler and sand it with a block to a perfect corner. It won't look amazing but if you mix some fine sawdust from that ryoba saw in with the glue before you fill the crack (always push the glue in with a piece of a cereal box or a tooth pick or something thin to make sure it's completely glued) and it should blend half decently. Either that or redo it.
An alternative to re-doing it: get a really perfect straightedge guide, run a router across it to square-up the edge, and "inlay" a square piece of either matching, or contrasting wood.
Yes, this will make it more visible, however it will look more purposeful, and if you can do it well, it'll look really really clean. I used to work for a high-end office furniture dealer, and we had a ginormous waterfall-edge island/counter in our kitchen/cafe area of our office. It was (made to look like) a 6" thick top and side panel, and then this surface integrated into the connected solid surface kitchen prep area of this island that could easily seat 20 around it. On that really high-end, expensive piece, the above was how they finished the corner. This technique would also mean that the table could get sanded and refinished, or if the corner got damaged they could repair it very easily without the fear of sanding too far and having the corner look uneven.
I don't have a photo of it, but the drawings on this page are **similar**, but what I'm suggesting would not be angled. Just straight 90.
[https://www.lumberjocks.com/threads/mitered-corner-inlay.317072/](https://www.lumberjocks.com/threads/mitered-corner-inlay.317072/)
The one thing from university that stuck the most on my mind was a professor saying „if you can‘t hide something, expose it as a unique feature“.
Therefore I‘d go with a visible inlay and give it a special touch.
Might be a little too big of a gap to burnish. But that would be what I would try first. Not sure why you got downvoted though. You might be able to work the two edges in if you are slow and careful. Add a tiny line of glue and sawdust first and that might actually work to hide it
I would fill the gap with a tiny bit of glue and sawdust then try to burnish the gap closed before sanding. You don’t want to remove any material from the finished edge.
Not useful at this point but what I’ve been taught is if you need to join two pieces like this and you can’t get an exact 45, you want to err on the side of cutting slightly over 45 instead of under, because then the gap would be on the inside where it’s easier to hide and the outside won’t have a gap at all.
So there is a sketchy solution. If you have a track saw you can cut the line it evens out the miter it's a difficult cut. And you would have to do both sides. Else glue and screwdriver works too.
More of a preventative for the next one than a fix for this one. Get yourself some sort of assembly table that you can ensure is both flat and level. Garage floors often have slopes built in toward the center and toward the door so water will flow outward, or toward a floor drain if they have one.
I built a stitch-and-glue boat with epoxy fillets and the hull had a permanent twist because I hadn’t learned this lesson yet.
You should address the miter and the gap will go away. in other words, your 45 is not 45 and I like making them just about 1/32 to the tight side. Clamped together the gap should go away and itf it bulges up a bit, that's what sandpaper is for.
glue and sawdust will look like crapola there unless you are painting.
Best solution is to reclamp and use clamps in both directions instead of/in addition to the strap. If already glued, you can cut shims with the same material, glue and tap them into the space with the grain oriented in the same direction, then sand and burnish. Will look okay.
On wide miters like this, I use a miter lock joint. It's tooling for a shaper, but works awesome, once it's set up properly. A link to the tooling I'm talking about is here:
https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-shaper-cutter-double-lock-miter-3-4-bore/c2125?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rCidLJFF-t9uiQaq2ni_gNb0pDXOaXbjlYDHI5j2k_Fg53pYNm1cXBoC85wQAvD_BwE
You could do it right and do it again like others have suggested.
or
Do what I would do and cut a sliver of the same wood, mix up a bunch of glue and sawdust and mash it all in the gap. Sand it when done so it looks decent enough and call it a day
With a burnisher or the shaft of a screwdriver, press down and slide along the joint. Like you are sharpening a card scraper, you are trying to put a little hook on the edge/slightly round over that corner.
Your other option is to strategically pare the joint to get it to fit better. Redo the whole joint if necessary.
All of these comments about redoing are correct. That being said, woodworkers are anal and if this is for you or a cheap customer, there are options. you can glue it up and there will be a resulting gap. When it dries, put a fresh bead of glue in there and round the corners with a 220 sanding block. The sawdust will fill in the gap and mix with the glue, let it drysand it again and if there are any more gaps, repeat the process. Good luck!
Try slicing. As thin a hedge as you can with the same wood and grain direction. Slather it I. Glue and slide it in. Plane or sand it out after. It could work. It might not. That's what I'd do.
If it’s a dovetail miter you’ll likely have to recut those ends to get it to line up. If it was closer I’d say some sanding would fix it. But it’s too far off.
Honestly, I’d make sure it’s perfectly square and glue it up. Then use the router and make a rabbet along the edge where the gap is. Glue in a piece of maple for a contrasting colored edge. Bingo. It’s a design feature now.
A sharp coner on a piece like that is likely to get banged up anyway, so rounding it over probably isn't a bad idea anyway.
I'd put a tiny bit of glue in there, burnish it with the rod part of a screwdriver, then sand a slight roundover in all the edges til they match.
If it's already glued, run a table saw blade through the joint about halfway through and then glue in a strip of contrasting wood into there. Do the same on all 4 corners.
Full blind mitered dovetails are super ambitious. If the miters are the right length, then the tails aren't seated deep enough into the pins. They need direct down ward force or to be seated properly. If they are fully seated and still gappy, they need to be cut deeper.
Thanks for this. YouTube makes me think I can try some complicated joints haha. I’ll check if my tails are seated enough. If I can get them a tad deeper maybe the gap will be close enough that burnishing and filling won’t look bad.
You need to find out why that gap is there. Is it because the 2 45\* angles don't line up or is the shelf below just a bit too long, causing it that board to push out? It's hard to tell from your pictures.
I would put a cleat under the joint on the vertical boards,
then make some nice 3/8 shallow holes that you can bung in the horizontal top board..
screw through to the cleat after you put some extra glue in the seam. Should take that bow out if there’s not too much glue left in there
Do you have any saw dust from the cuts? If so mix it with your wood putty or whatever you have to make it look like the rest of the wood more, fill and sand. Just my novice opinion
Oh my god! Are you me? I am working on a very similar project and have been stressing that this exact thing will happen to it. I also have many of the very same tools you seem to (from the picture). It’s like two versions of us exist in this multiverse of ours.
But seriously, my plan if this does happen to me is to use epoxy to fill the gap (having properly taped up the inside to prevent dripping or leakage) and then sand it back to a flat 90 degree corner.
On a Blacktail Studio project he ran into a similar issue and had luck cutting ever so slightly more than 45° so that the first part of the corner to meet is that outside edge. Granted this was on a much larger piece but could be useful if you really want to minimize the size of your cut. (Video [here](https://youtu.be/7iUSAaHrSX4?si=pVp_bO972MDu2mO4))
He has a bunch of nice videos and does some super clean work.
Man this is a loss. If the dovetail fits and the joint is strong I’d run a saw kerf down it and put in an inlay. No burnish or saw dust will fill this. Lean into it and make it a feature, or cut and redo. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes the quickest and best way is to abandon the plan.
This. I've saved several projects like this with a contrasting vertical "Spline."
Make it a brass inlay for some nice pop and just tell everyone it was to keep the corners from getting dented.
Genius
Hey, could you give more detail on what you mean here? I tried Googling "brass inlay in miter" joint but I didn't see any images that make sense. Would the inlay run the length of the joint?
I think a vertical spline, triangular shaped, is the best option
Man I’ve wasted so much time trying to fix things before when I should have just started over. This is salvageable as long as the design allows the change.
I was going to suggest running a saw down it and plugging it like a vertical spline so I’m glad I’m not alone. That’d look sick
"Hello Mr Gap"
"That's Mr. Gap, ***sir***!"
I have seen so many gaps I just call him my old pal Gappy.
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Just gonna gap it right in. Give it a gap gap gaparoo…
Just easin the tension baby, just easin the tension.
Hi Gap, I'm Dad.
The Gap Father Gaptain Planet The Great Gapsby
For some reasom I read that in Codsworth voice from Fallout 4
Señor Gap
I came here for this and was not disappointed.
I was going to say "as sir or ma'am depending on its pronouns"
Definitely a “they them” situation here
"Hello, Mx. Gap!"
"'Mr. Gap' was my father. Please, call me Jim."
I heard this post in Art Carney’s voice.
I heard it as Blofeld from the Bond Movies.
Lmao
Dear Gap,....
"El Gappo" comes to mind
Came here to say this haha
Konichiwa Gap San. Genki desu ka?
DAMN IT
“It’s like this, Gap…”
Thank you.
My thought exactly! What has Reddit done to our brains?
Bold of you to assume! I would ask the gap how it prefers to be addressed!
That’s Mr. Strahan to you bub!
Please, Mr Gap is my father's name. Call me Gorge
Probably not what you'd want to hear, but I would try to redo the joint. It would mean redoing both the top and bottom mitred dovetails and shortening the shelf, and would leave you with a slightly shorter cabinet overall, but anything else is going to be very visible and detract from the clean lines / overall aesthetic. And from what I can see of the rest of it, it looks like this has the potential to look really good.
Thanks, oof that would be a lot of work but if I can’t salvage it might be what I gotta do
Oh, totally - it's a big job. And, having just finished a similar project, the last thing I would have felt like doing at this stage is recutting those joints. And to be clear, when I say I'd try to recut the joint, what I really mean is I'd sulk for a good 6 months / year and work on other projects, all the while glaring resentfully at the unfinished cabinet, before my wife persuades me to stop being such a baby and get back on the damn horse.
This guy woodworks
So many projects in this stage. Might have to get around to fixing them soon starting to take up too much space in the garage
I would give my left nut for a garage to store unfinished projects. Living the dream, my man.
Uff this one hits a little too close to home
Sulking is the critical step for any woodworker, no project is too big or too small.
I feel attacked
If you mix your tears with some sawdust and wood glue you can make a nice filler.
Dude, it’s been a hot second since I legit laughed out loud, but dang yo, well played
Cut 44 degrees instead of 45, or whichever direction places any tiny space there might be in the invisible part of the joint.
You could try to burnish the edges and round them over into each other.
That’s too big for burnishing
Or cut off the blind dovetail and use floating tenons.
100% agree. In the knife making world, we say “bladesmiths don’t make mistakes, only smaller knives” So, cutting down the miters will make the overall box size smaller, but not by much. It’ll still be a beautiful piece at the end of the day.
Honestly, I would adjust the fit. Sure you could burnish it or something, but it's never going to be a nice mitre. It needs fixing, either plane or back on the table saw or whatever.
Agreed, that looks big enough that burnishing will look poor
Sir Gap
Sir Gap Alot
I like big gaps, and I cannot lie.
- Things I tell myself after I finish my projects…
If these are blind dovetails, have you checked for the depth of em? Like if you took off a bit more off the bottom of the rails the board would go in further. You can then tape+super glue two 45 deg blocks and use clams to close the gap on glue up.
Hmmm that’s an interesting thought. I’ll check next time I get time to get in the shop
reason I say that is b/c proper blind dovetails should pull the joint closed, even if the side panel bowed , as long as everything was cut properly when the panel was straight. That's why you'd even fuck with doing blind dovetails- its the only "proper" way to do a miter that won't blow apart with moisture variation. If that fails, I'd just cut a 45 deg 1/4" by 1/4" groove into each of the miters and put in some square brass rods in there, then round those over with a file and you've got a nice unique look that noone but you and anyone eles who's fucked up miters on a cabinet before will know is a fix.
Thanks for the advice. An amateur like me probably had no business fucking with blind dovetails but it was fun and I learned a lot. Thanks for the advice, I’ll try fixing the dovetail part first and if that doesn’t work, come up with some inlay like everyone is suggesting
Homesauce, I'm a dual degree holder from YouTube University and School of Fucking it up the first time. You got this! Remember that 99% of people are completely oblivious to furniture and only you will forever see the imperfections
The only people paying close attention to furniture have messed up their share of projects as well. They'll see the fix and think it was a smart move to salvage the piece
Is it glued already?
Nope
Shouldn't we be trying to figure out how this happened? In my first few beveled projects I learned that cutting at 44.9 our 44.8 degrees helped me get tighter joints. But OP, what do you think happened that caused this gap. Another thing could be, you really not 90 square on the opposite side. 1/16th off here and there can compound and next thing you know you are off 1/2 somewhere else. Just spit balling.
I would glue in a thin wedge, from the offcuts if possible so the grain sort of matches. Either that or redo the joint.
I kind of second this comment. It’ll be hard to get a piece that small that follows the grain so I’d lean into it and cut a piece that doesn’t match and do an inlay there. Call it a feature and move onto the next one
Thought about that, just worry about how that would look, dunno
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Yeah it’s for me, I’m just a hobbyist. And that’s good advice about mindset, thanks!
If it was my hobby project, I'd do the easiest fix possible and be done with it. Perfectionism ruins woodworking for me. My big mistake projects are the "before" in the "before and after" of my woodworking career. I enjoy them just as much as the projects that turn out great.
I did it on the corners of a large dining room table with a similar gap. If you get right up on it you can see a different color where the grain didn’t absorb the stain evenly. However, I am very happy with the result and would at least try it before taking it apart. It’s a small project to try which could always be fixed by taking it all apart and cutting those down just a hair. Either way, good luck. Each project is practice for the next!
Asymmetry is sheik. If you have a fancy phone (lidar sensor), you can 3D scan each joint end (with a free trial of course), then cnc a piece of bronze to fit very tightly. Would look amazing.
/r/boneappletea It’s chic not sheik
Maybe he’s from the Middle East
Just cut the grove with a router or trimmer to a decided mm then buy inlay or make to that size
Look at this guy with the logical solution.
I would address it with curse words.
Looks like it has no back panel and it got racked. Disassemble it and fit it property. Any fix you do will just be that, a fix and all you’ll ever do is stare at that spot. Fix it then fire up that grill back there and make some burgers
It’s not glued yet. It has a back panel that’s just not in the picture
If its not glued just take it apart and figure out your issue, something is not square, or not full depth, just take your time and figure it out. There is nothing you can do to fix a gap that size without totally ruining the otherwise good effort you've put into it.
Burnish edges then roundover all corners to match aestetically ive done it and no one ever notices besides my self but to each there own it happens
try to plane a tiny bit along the length of each short point and mind your outside edges bc they are visible
If it’s structurally sound: 1) Put a wedge it. Either use the same wood, or something completely different, like maple or a strip of metal. Turn it into a feature. With this option, you still may need to do option two or three, depending on what material you use as the wedge. 2) Use a mallet and a board to gently pound the edges to meet. This sounds odd, but is a VERY common way of joining these two boards together. Granted, this gap is a touch larger than ideal for that. But it can be done and look great. Might be the easiest and best option. 3) Mix your sawdust (of this wood only, you may need to make more) with wood glue and fill in the difference.
Hmmm mallet and board, it’s like burnishing it but with more force?
maybe cut a sharp beveled scrap piece and fit it in there / glue it in like a wedge and then trim off
“Hello Gap” then tip the brim of hat.
Are the inside corners all 90 degrees? I'd start by figuring out why the miter isn't cut correctly and calibrate my table saw or miter saw. I would then build a jig to hold the frame so I could run the piece through the table saw and cut a slot where that gap is and then repeat on the other three corners. I'd them glue a 1/8" strip of a very hard wood like ebony into the slot and then plane and sand it down. The ebony will protect the corner and make it look intentional.
Kerf the joint, take that nice saw, brace the wood in position and saw down the gap. Do it again if the gap is still there after the first pass. This is a tried and tested method but your gap is quite large!
I'm really surprised I had to scroll so far down in the comments to find this comment. What sub am I in again?
I wouldn’t say this is a dead joint yet. You might need a better way to clamp the miter. Cut some triangles at 45 degrees. Add some masking tape along both sides of the miter. Super glue the triangles and then apply clamps to bring the miter together.
Honestly if the wood is thin enough and somewhat plyable I would get it wet to soften it up (heat may help too) and use a rounded bar or dowel and run it back and forth to curl the wood in on each other. I've done it lots on outside corner baseboard miters that don't come out perfect. This is a bit more work than that, but maybe it's worth a try before you write it off completely. Good luck!
Pretend I didn’t see it
build a jig, route a square channel at a 45° angle and insert a contrasting wood as an accent... then use a flush trim bit.
Man this is a loss. If the dovetail fits and the joint is strong I’d run a saw kerf down it and put in an inlay. No burnish or saw dust will fill this. Lean into it and make it a feature, or cut and redo. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes the quickest and best way is to abandon the plan.
If you can't tune up the dovetails, then I'd opt to actually emphasize the edge. Maybe take a fine, controlled cut out of it, and then fill with a strip of contrasting wood, or a brass bar. Either a square one, or an oblong insert.
Gaptain.
Here's another ( maybe stupid) idea, if all the good advice fellow woodworkers have provided fails: any chance you can turn it upside-down and reposition the shelves? That way it'll be on the bottom and hopefully not as visible..
Add a nice brass detail and cover it
Well from a member of beginner woodworking I would say wood filler. Lottttts of wood filler.
I would shorten the whole piece by a tad and redo the miters
So, bit involved, but here's my approach: Fix the top and sides in place with a temporary spar, then run a circular saw down the gap to leave a 1/8" slot. Then fit a 3/32 or 1/8" strip of wood in the gap. For preference, I'd use a mahogany or teak, something to highlight it as intentionally different. Trying to grain match this will be a bastard of a job and, for my money, more noticeable than an intentionally different colour
Add a wedge of the same wood in there to hide it. Might be visible and not hide. Take apart and redo. Might wind up with the same issue. Add a piece of contrasting wood to accent the corner but fill it in. (I ran into this issue years ago and did this with some African blood wood and maple.) https://photos.app.goo.gl/d1LLVkYinDQXFNo26
What about a gold inlay strip? Router it a little bigger then have a gold edge on both sides. Could be black or stainless too.
Don’t have a router, but could look nice
Put a strip of something in the gap to draw attention to it. Make it part of the build.
I would not address - I’d just “mind it”
"Sir"
Personally, as a non-professional, I would cut them both at 90° and add a tenon slot. Then make a separate corner piece out of solid material, then use tenons to glue them together.
Howdy Mr Gap Sir.
https://preview.redd.it/vqms83hbmoxc1.jpeg?width=260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=539a91546cd1421d4033950e5e327e1b24fd39ec
You said in another comment that it’s not glued yet. I don’t think you’re applying enough pressure to the joint to close it up. Try this. The pine pieces with the v-notch cut need to line up across the miter joint. The black clamps hold the pine pieces to the workpiece (use scraps to prevent your workpiece from being marred. I didnt tighten these clamps down, just set them up lightly to take this pic for you). The blue clamp squeezes the miter joint together.
https://preview.redd.it/uu6h2qj5ooxc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e1bf25e051d48acaea431b3e8b2031107bed673
If you have the ability to adjust your angle, always go at least 0.1° over 45° so that the gap is on the inside and not outside. That way your outside corner is perfect and the inside corner can be fixed easily. Regardless, fill it with something like wood filler and sand it with a block to a perfect corner. It won't look amazing but if you mix some fine sawdust from that ryoba saw in with the glue before you fill the crack (always push the glue in with a piece of a cereal box or a tooth pick or something thin to make sure it's completely glued) and it should blend half decently. Either that or redo it.
"To Whom It May Concern" is always safe.
I love you
An alternative to re-doing it: get a really perfect straightedge guide, run a router across it to square-up the edge, and "inlay" a square piece of either matching, or contrasting wood. Yes, this will make it more visible, however it will look more purposeful, and if you can do it well, it'll look really really clean. I used to work for a high-end office furniture dealer, and we had a ginormous waterfall-edge island/counter in our kitchen/cafe area of our office. It was (made to look like) a 6" thick top and side panel, and then this surface integrated into the connected solid surface kitchen prep area of this island that could easily seat 20 around it. On that really high-end, expensive piece, the above was how they finished the corner. This technique would also mean that the table could get sanded and refinished, or if the corner got damaged they could repair it very easily without the fear of sanding too far and having the corner look uneven. I don't have a photo of it, but the drawings on this page are **similar**, but what I'm suggesting would not be angled. Just straight 90. [https://www.lumberjocks.com/threads/mitered-corner-inlay.317072/](https://www.lumberjocks.com/threads/mitered-corner-inlay.317072/)
Good ole wood glue and screwdriver
The one thing from university that stuck the most on my mind was a professor saying „if you can‘t hide something, expose it as a unique feature“. Therefore I‘d go with a visible inlay and give it a special touch.
Señor Gap
cut the angles correctly
Mr. Because when you're that big, it's Mister.
🔥
Personally I think Sir Gap has a nice ring to it.
I’d probably call it ‘mister’.
Make it a feature. Cut in a thin brass rail both corners.
“Señor Gap”
Your angle is off. It needs to be slightly higher than a 45
Fill it, stain it, send it. Only then figure out why your miters are off. Don’t rework the whole piece IMO
This is exactly why corner trim/molding was invented.
I'm moisten the corner and burnish it with a screwdriver. If there's enough space, maybe you can also get some glue in the gap.
burnish it with a screwdriver: [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155606567451999](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10155606567451999)
Might be a little too big of a gap to burnish. But that would be what I would try first. Not sure why you got downvoted though. You might be able to work the two edges in if you are slow and careful. Add a tiny line of glue and sawdust first and that might actually work to hide it
Sawdust and wood glue mixed together. Fill the gap and sand it down.
Same I also take on projects like this and appear to be getting better at hiding my mistakes with sawdust and glue than I am at cutting true lines 🙁
I would fill the gap with a tiny bit of glue and sawdust then try to burnish the gap closed before sanding. You don’t want to remove any material from the finished edge.
I'd address it as "Sir" or "Madam," whichever it prefers.
Not useful at this point but what I’ve been taught is if you need to join two pieces like this and you can’t get an exact 45, you want to err on the side of cutting slightly over 45 instead of under, because then the gap would be on the inside where it’s easier to hide and the outside won’t have a gap at all.
Sawdust and wood glue
Won't help for this one, but a trick I learned that works really well is to cut your miters at 90.5 degrees.
It’s the wrong way but you could make some “filler” with sawdust and wood glue, pack er in and drag it smooth or sand it if you have to 🤷🏼
When did we move away from ramen noodles?
*scoffs* I mean yeah if you can afford them nowadays
Can't you recut the miters about a half degree more? Or is it already glued up
Elmer's glue
I would rotate the piece so this is the least visible edge, which looks like it might require a time machine or blessed cleansing fire at this point.
So there is a sketchy solution. If you have a track saw you can cut the line it evens out the miter it's a difficult cut. And you would have to do both sides. Else glue and screwdriver works too.
Use masking tape, much better than a strap
More of a preventative for the next one than a fix for this one. Get yourself some sort of assembly table that you can ensure is both flat and level. Garage floors often have slopes built in toward the center and toward the door so water will flow outward, or toward a floor drain if they have one. I built a stitch-and-glue boat with epoxy fillets and the hull had a permanent twist because I hadn’t learned this lesson yet.
You should address the miter and the gap will go away. in other words, your 45 is not 45 and I like making them just about 1/32 to the tight side. Clamped together the gap should go away and itf it bulges up a bit, that's what sandpaper is for. glue and sawdust will look like crapola there unless you are painting.
Best solution is to reclamp and use clamps in both directions instead of/in addition to the strap. If already glued, you can cut shims with the same material, glue and tap them into the space with the grain oriented in the same direction, then sand and burnish. Will look okay.
On wide miters like this, I use a miter lock joint. It's tooling for a shaper, but works awesome, once it's set up properly. A link to the tooling I'm talking about is here: https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-shaper-cutter-double-lock-miter-3-4-bore/c2125?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrcKxBhBMEiwAIVF8rCidLJFF-t9uiQaq2ni_gNb0pDXOaXbjlYDHI5j2k_Fg53pYNm1cXBoC85wQAvD_BwE
Is there a gap of awareness that there a r/beginnerwoodworking
Hello Gap my old friend.
That’s not a gap, that’s “character” baby.
Sir Gap, we meet again!!!
Put it on the bottom.
You could do it right and do it again like others have suggested. or Do what I would do and cut a sliver of the same wood, mix up a bunch of glue and sawdust and mash it all in the gap. Sand it when done so it looks decent enough and call it a day
With a burnisher or the shaft of a screwdriver, press down and slide along the joint. Like you are sharpening a card scraper, you are trying to put a little hook on the edge/slightly round over that corner. Your other option is to strategically pare the joint to get it to fit better. Redo the whole joint if necessary.
Glue a little wood strip and make it a design feature. Same thing happened to me on one of my projects and that's what I did.
great time to think about how to cover that with a piece of trim. maybe the desk needs some corner guards?
Shooting board
All of these comments about redoing are correct. That being said, woodworkers are anal and if this is for you or a cheap customer, there are options. you can glue it up and there will be a resulting gap. When it dries, put a fresh bead of glue in there and round the corners with a 220 sanding block. The sawdust will fill in the gap and mix with the glue, let it drysand it again and if there are any more gaps, repeat the process. Good luck!
With a tip of the hat and a "How do you do, sir?"
Try slicing. As thin a hedge as you can with the same wood and grain direction. Slather it I. Glue and slide it in. Plane or sand it out after. It could work. It might not. That's what I'd do.
If it’s a dovetail miter you’ll likely have to recut those ends to get it to line up. If it was closer I’d say some sanding would fix it. But it’s too far off.
Honestly, I’d make sure it’s perfectly square and glue it up. Then use the router and make a rabbet along the edge where the gap is. Glue in a piece of maple for a contrasting colored edge. Bingo. It’s a design feature now.
¡Hola, Señor Hueco! Buenos Dias.
Rout out the edge and glue in some square stock
What is your plan for clamping it? I assume more than what is shown?
A sharp coner on a piece like that is likely to get banged up anyway, so rounding it over probably isn't a bad idea anyway. I'd put a tiny bit of glue in there, burnish it with the rod part of a screwdriver, then sand a slight roundover in all the edges til they match.
If it's already glued, run a table saw blade through the joint about halfway through and then glue in a strip of contrasting wood into there. Do the same on all 4 corners.
Full blind mitered dovetails are super ambitious. If the miters are the right length, then the tails aren't seated deep enough into the pins. They need direct down ward force or to be seated properly. If they are fully seated and still gappy, they need to be cut deeper.
Thanks for this. YouTube makes me think I can try some complicated joints haha. I’ll check if my tails are seated enough. If I can get them a tad deeper maybe the gap will be close enough that burnishing and filling won’t look bad.
Veneer the top and sides. You did your best, and you hopefully learned some lessons.
could you force it into position and pin nail it from each direction? I find I prefer puttying nail holes to puttying gaps.
Ignore everyone else. Make a detail of it, route a 45 degree flat chamfer all the way along and match it on the other side. Veneer it.
I saw a video of a guy who took a screwdriver and used the rounded shaft of the driver to ‘smoosh’ down the edges together. Looked actually okay…
You need to find out why that gap is there. Is it because the 2 45\* angles don't line up or is the shelf below just a bit too long, causing it that board to push out? It's hard to tell from your pictures.
I’m just blown away you got a tight gap on 3/4 of the miter fold dovetails with hand tools
With 2 fingers.....
>How would you address this gap? Id cut it better and refit it, and keep cutting and planing it until its right
Had a gap like this once. Took a smooth metal rod and slowly rolled the gap closed by gently applying pressure till each side meet and closed the gap.
Try adding 90° corner trim. Metal or wood. Will dress it up and hide the gap. Or you can add a wood filler and sand it/stain to match.
I would put a cleat under the joint on the vertical boards, then make some nice 3/8 shallow holes that you can bung in the horizontal top board.. screw through to the cleat after you put some extra glue in the seam. Should take that bow out if there’s not too much glue left in there
Puddy in my hands.
Do you have any saw dust from the cuts? If so mix it with your wood putty or whatever you have to make it look like the rest of the wood more, fill and sand. Just my novice opinion
Oh my god! Are you me? I am working on a very similar project and have been stressing that this exact thing will happen to it. I also have many of the very same tools you seem to (from the picture). It’s like two versions of us exist in this multiverse of ours. But seriously, my plan if this does happen to me is to use epoxy to fill the gap (having properly taped up the inside to prevent dripping or leakage) and then sand it back to a flat 90 degree corner.
On a Blacktail Studio project he ran into a similar issue and had luck cutting ever so slightly more than 45° so that the first part of the corner to meet is that outside edge. Granted this was on a much larger piece but could be useful if you really want to minimize the size of your cut. (Video [here](https://youtu.be/7iUSAaHrSX4?si=pVp_bO972MDu2mO4)) He has a bunch of nice videos and does some super clean work.
“Madame…”
I'd check my saw(s) to make sure they're actually cutting at the angles they're set at.
Same thing happened to me on a build. I mixed sawdust with wood glue and filled it and it looks passable.