What Was I Thinking? How to Fix a Wrongly-Placed Dado

We all make mistakes – the key is knowing how to fix them. Maybe, as I did, you cut an extra dado where you didn’t want it. Rather than scrap that piece and start over, why don’t you try this simple fix? A little patch will save you both time and money.

Opps! I’m not sure what happened, but I didn’t want a dado there! Now what? A wrongly-placed dado is tricky, because you can’t cut plywood in all three dimensions like you can regular lumber. Let’s see if we can patch this mistake.

First, cut a scrap of plywood the size of your dado. Be sure to cut it across the grain, so that it will match.

Test the piece you just cut, to make sure it fits in your dado.

Use a chisel to split the plywood so that your patch will be flush with the surface of the board.

After splitting, sand down the piece you plan to use.

Carefully glue it into place. Great job! Now you can continue your project!