[Holland]

Good Afternoon,
In the process of painting a 12' long bookcase/cabinet job I had to respray this center piece due to a couple of runs in the upper area. Prepped it all and was get ready to paint and I tripped and knocked it off the sawhorses. Now I have the crack you see, no other damage. . This was a glued and screwed joint. I wasn't sure how I was going to repair it but I knew I needed to sand it so I started there w/320 but in my frustration and haste I over heated the paint and went from bad to worse. Very disappointed in myself and now not certain the best way to repair so it doesn't crack on installation.

Icing Body Polyester Body Fill works well for smooth, shallow repairs. Sand and repaint.

edit: polyester remains somewhat flexible, unlike bondo. However, and “flexing” of the joint will crack almost any filler. Can you brace it during installation? Or, paint is after install?

 

[Holland]

End to long grain glue joints cannot be reglued without cracking again unless they’re spread open, the old glue is removed, followed by regluing, and clamping. End to long grain glue joints are particularly problematic and prone to cracking due to the stile’s longitudinal wood movement being only a small fraction (~ 1/10 th) of rail’s tangential wood movement at the joint.

Great answer.