how to fill an irregular hole?

My first thought is a router with an inlay set-up, or just a couple of appropriately sized collars. See the link below for more details - click on "Instr" in the price line.

JP

on 10/20/2007 9:25 AM largecorp said the following:

Find a piece of matching panel, and cut out a square patch bigger than the hole. Place the patch on the wall to cover the hole all around. With a pencil, trace around the patch. Cut the ragged hole square using the pencil markings. I hope this is a painted panel. Matching the wood grain will be a challenge.

You may find that enlarging the hole to make it regular will help. If it's a painted surface, to paraphrase Frozen: SPACKLE! and paint. If natural finish look for existing seams or edges and enlarge to that point. Match the wood and finish as best you can. If that doesn't do the job to your satisfaction, SPACKLE and paint. the SPACKLE kid, jo4hn

If none of the suggestions above work, hang a picture over it or move furniture in front of it..

Another option would be a contrasting/decorative panel, but I'd need more info or pictures of the panel, I guess..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Hey, thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I didn't think of just enlarging the hole to even it out. It's pretty tight quarters so even that may be a bit of a challenge, but that would sure simplify patching.

It is painted woodwork, so I don't have to worry about matching anything--or being terribly precise due to the magic of spackling.

I wish I could just move furniture in front of it, but it actually is a hole in the panel around the door, so I've got to seal it up.

Thanks again!

ds

Cut another hole above it. Install a fan and make it into a warm/cool air circulator.

Get a cat.

You know... "Make it a feature" is an often overlooked, but very useful method.

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I thought we were going to keep that quiet?

The cat would teach the OP all about it!

When a cat screws up, it just walks in a circle with the "I meant to do that" expression. We woodworkers always want to point out flaws.

We can all learn from cats.

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Can't you just hang a picture over the hole or put a chair or something in front of it?

I'm the OP and I'm glad I came back to see the suggestion "get a cat"! Pretty funny.

For closure, here's what I wound up doing. I did enlarge the hole a bit to make it close to square. I traced through the hole onto a piece of cardboard to make a rough template. I cut a square piece of wood and stuck the template on top. I used my bulging woodworker's muscles and a hand plane to shape the square, and I got pretty darn close to matching the hole.

Next I will glue and spackle, and pray to God that the cat doesn't try to get back in!

Thanks for all the help.

ds