This particular piece of wood was a bit of a surprise. From the outside there was virtually no sign that such an ugly knot lay beneath the surface. I chose this particular piece of wood because it had a gentle curve to it that matched the curve of the seat. As I planed into it from the side you could start see what caused the grain pattern and once I cut the the curve to the seat the full extent of the weakness was revealed.
The easiest thing to do and possibly the smart thing to do would have been to throw the piece out and start over. I was rather sold on the grain though and the wood still seemed to have a lot of strength to it. I decided instead that I would try my hand at a dutchman. The concept is simple. Remove the ugly bits and replace with new wood. Since this was the seat support I needed to make sure I was improving the structure and not weakening it. I put a simple angle on the ends to ensure the piece was trapped and made sure I only went deep enough to replace the bad wood.
After a bit of cleanup with my block plane and my Stanley 20-1/2 on the curve and the patch was complete. It will be on the inside of the bench so the only way you will see it is if you crawl underneath. I should know within a few years whether this was a good idea or not. Luckily the bench will be just across the street so if anything goes wrong I'll get to try my hand on what will be a very complex repair.
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