Bedside tables (nightstands) - Part 8 - Repairing a stretcher

Whilst glueing up I noticed there was some breakout at the shoulder end of one of the stretchers that would need repairing. As I was in the middle of the glueup this would have to wait until the glue had dried.

This is the view of the top of the shelf support stretcher where
it meets the leg. You can see the missing wood which would be
clearly seen when the piece was finished.

I inspected the problem and found that some of the wood had broken away on a previous operation and I just hadn't noticed it. Ordinarily I would have remade the part and trashed the flawed part  it meant I had to make running repairs.
I always keep cutoffs from a project until the project is complete for this reason. Any flaws can be repaired with pieces from the same tree and will not be that noticeable when finished.

There were several veneers that had been sliced from previous operations and I found one veneer around 1/16" thick which was ideal. The first thing I did was to square off one end. To do this I applied some blue tape to support the fibres whilst cross cutting on the table saw. I could have done it by hand with a hand saw and shooting board but the TS was handy. Then I measured the inside dimension between legs where the veneer was going to go. I applied some more blue tape to the veneer and struck a pencil line.

Cross cutting the supported end of the veneer on the table saw.

I then cross cut the veneer on the TS close to the line. I then went through a process of sneaking up on the cut until it fitted perfectly between the legs.

After sneaking up on the cut the piece fit precisely between the legs

 Then I simply glued the veneer to the stretcher with some Titebond II Dark and held it in place with yet more blue tape. I should really buy shares in 3M and Scotch as I get through masses of blue tape. This was then left to cure overnight.

Blue tape clamping

The next day I removed the blue tape and used a block plane (the Stanley #130 is ideal for this type of work) and chisel plane to trim the overhang flush. It was then finished off by using sandpaper on a block to re-establish and blend the roundover.

Using the #130 to remove excess

Trimming with the chisel plane

The results were really good and the tearout was no longer seen. I still had a void to fill and did this with some sapele dust mixed into some CA glue. The filled void would be covered by the lower shelf and would not be seen on the final project.

The repaired stretcher shelf support now looks ok

A sliver of wood at the joint remains but
can be removed with a scalpel.