Any advice on how to finish this gap?

[JazzyB]

Hello,


New to woodworking and have made a chessboard and chiseled out the middle of an old table. Because I haven’t got a router I chiseled roughly a 3mm gap extra around the chessboard with the hope of filling it. I’ve glued the chessboard into this gap so that it is recessed in the table top.

I filled the gap and what with work got distracted but now I’ve come back to paint it the filler has cracked.

Just looking for some advice, My plan at the minute is to try and find some mini scotia of it exists?

Thanks for the time and help

Jon

 

[Doug71]

Celebrate the gap!

Clean out the filler, make the gap equal, it's now a shadow gap, a trendy little addition to your design and you can officially call yourself "a maker" 8)

 

[Deadeye]

Celebrate the gap!

Clean out the filler, make the gap equal, it's now a shadow gap, a trendy little addition to your design

...that will gradually fill up with dust, dead flies and crisp fragments.

 

[Chrispy]

Hello Jon, welcome to the club, as for your gap I think you need to give more information ie what os the table top made from, solid wood or man made panel if it's solid is it softwood or hardwood, how is the chess board made and lastly you say you were about to paint it, do you really mean paint or brush on a polish of some kind?
(Picture speaks 1000 words)

 

[JazzyB]

Thanks for all the help guys. I can’t work out how to post a pic so I’ll try and explain a bit better.

The tabletop is made of oak I believe. It’s been varnished in the past and I’m looking to varnish it again. I’m going to lacquer the chessboard for a gloss finish.

The chess board is made with walnut and maple, I glued the maple and walnut strips together and then cut them with a circular saw into strips and and alternated to form a checker pattern.

Because I haven’t got all the gear and used a circular saw and a straight edge it’s not 100% square.

It doesn’t notice but trying to chisel out a square that isn’t square was hard so I decided to chisel 3mm extra to make it easier and then fill the gap that was left. Until the filler cracked.

What I’ve come up with at the minute is to buy a maple flat bead that’s 20mm wide buy 5mm tall then cut along the edge the just where the curve stops to leave a right angle one side and a curve the other and then glue the right angle it all the way around the chessboard with mitred corners to cover the gap, kind of like a scotia on skirting boards.

Ive been looking for a mini scotia but can’t find any online.

Hope all that makes sense.

Thanks again,

Jon

 

[Chrispy]

Sounds like a plan!

 

[Ttrees]

Buy a hand plane and get what you need for sharpening it,
Get a straight edged piece of timber and score a line around your chessboard.
Chop this waste away with chisels and mark the now even gap, and plane the timber of your choice
to fit.
Make a shooting board for the mitres.
Install and finish down with a cabinet scraper/old handsaw filed with a single cut file.
Tom

 

[novocaine]

Guitar purfling / binding strip. comes in 1mm width and different colours. white, black, white would look good round a chess board. or they do 3 mm herringbone that could look pretty amazing.