Domino flumix repair?

[GAKnothead]

Greetings!  Yet another reason to not work beyond first yawn - - the other eve, while beginning to edge join two 3/4" red oak boards, I drilled three Domino mortises exactly on the horizontal mark.  Unfortunately, I failed to notice the vertical slippage, leaving variable thickness bottom walls down to about 2mm.  I know.  How could he not notice? # $ & !  The good news is that the mortises seem to be square to the board edges.

The project is a child's rocking pony; rough treatment is anticipated.  Significant previous joining effort already expended on this particular part, and space is tight.  Do I dare cut correct mortises again in the same area, or even through the repair plugs?  Barely enough room betwixt the wanderers.  Alternatives?  I recall someone advocating using a tennon half the thickness of the board, so I had drilled for 10x50s.  These are wide slots.  Wondering about slicing a tennon diagonally to create wedges for a tight repair fit?

Many thanks to all for your past/future contributions!  8)

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Good morning GAK,
Unless I misunderstand your project (not unlikely ), you are using Dominoes to connect two boards at their edges to form a wider board.  In this usage, the domino doesn't really play much of a structural role.  The true strength comes from the long glue surface on the two edges.  If you have already glued the pieces together and they are reasonably flat, I would just declare victory and move on.  If the mortises in board 1 do not match the mortises in board 2 preventing a successful glue-up, then I would fill the errant mortises with glued dominoes and saw/plane them flush when they have dried and start over.

Using dominoes for edge jointing may help you improve the alignment of the boards (or it may not - its almost a religious schism among woodworkers).  Personally I don't use them for that purpose, a little care and finagling during glue up works just as well.

Hope this helps.  How about some pictures of the project and that collection of woodworking stuff?

 

[GAKnothead]

Thanks, Jessee!
Not quite simple long grain to long grain edge joining here.  Already Dominoed/glued-up two boards into one for the pony neck.  Next, I made a diagonal cut in another previously Dominoed/glued-up three part pony body board and was about to join that edge (mostly end grain) to the long grain of the neck board when the mishap occurred. 

The pony plan actually calls for three 2.5" x 3/8" dowels here.  Might that now be the best choice?

Yes, the neck board is also connected to the head board. ;D Sorry, couldn't resist. DW has the camera out of town this week.  My "stuff" is relatively late model; no antiques/heirlooms.  Thanks again!

 

[Jesse Cloud]

OK, but once you get your camera back you gotta post a pic, I'm dying to see this thing!

If your mortises are not well placed, I would simply glue dominoes in to fill the void, then trim them flush with the board to get back to square one. 
I would much rather use dominoes than dowels if strength and endurance is an issue.  I suspect the youngster will be twisting the neck of the poor horsey and dowels don't handle that well unless you have a lot of them very precisely placed. 

You won't get much strength from gluing end grain, so use the longest domino you have!

 

[GAKnothead]

Thanks again Jesse.  Your project seems a tad more challenging.  Perhaps I'll be ready for something like that after a "tad" more experience.  If the stars align just right, my granddaughter's horse will be ready for photos very late on Christmas eve.

For now, "Rocking Horse, Large" athttp://www.familytraditionwwp.com/products.htm will have to do.

 

[GAKnothead]

[attachthumb=#]Here's a photo of the real genuine artificial animal -- finished just in time for gifting, in spite of me, and appropriately named Domino.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

What a cute horse!  Oh, to be 5 again!

Dave R.