A dutchman is a precisely fitted block of wood glued into a recess to replace a knot, damage, or a miscut joint. The carpenter routes or chisels out the defective area and shapes a matching patch, matching the grain direction and wood species to make the repair as invisible as possible.
Heard on the job
I routed the hinge mortise on the wrong side of the door, so I had to glue in a dutchman and start over.
Insider tip
A well-executed dutchman is a mark of a skilled tradesman who knows how to recover from an inevitable mistake gracefully.
Also heard as
- graving piece
- patch