Patch A Chipped Wood Floor

Using only hand tools and a drill, Tom Silva makes minor floor damage disappear with a simple and effective dutchman repair technique

- Thomas Baker

TOOLBOX

portable workbench

handsaw and block plane

clamp

180-grit sandpaper

combination square

utility knife

Forstner bit and drill/driver

chisel

oil-based wood stain

wood glue

DUTCHMAN SECRETS

You don’t have to replace an entire floorboard to fix a small chip or gouge. Instead, patch it with a new piece of wood, as Tom demonstrates here, and heed his advice for getting expert results.

Match the grain, not the stain. Choose a patch of the same wood as the flooring, with a similar grain pattern.

Make the mortise fit the patch, not the other way around. It’s the smart way to get a tight fit.

Plane a slight bevel into the patch’s bottom edges. The patch will then slide easily into the mortise and still fit tightly.

Don’t sweat matching the floor stain. You can get the patch color to be close, but a perfect match? Not likely!

STEP-BY-STEP

1] Select the patch material Find a scrap of wood of the same species as the flooring—in this case, Tom used a leftover piece of unstained pine flooring.