Rodent-chewed deck repair

[patrick corry]

I'd like some opinions here. I have a 1957 Old Town 50#er in the shop. Other than having lovely D-shaped mahogany outwales, there's nothing remarkable about the canoe. It has Ash decks, one lobe of which has been chewed by some sort of rodent. I have several ideas about cutting out the damage and gluing in a repair but I wonder if there are other approaches I should consider.

Here is the deck and a pattern I made prior to any cutting. The deck still has some varnish; not yet removed, and I'll likely also repair the tip with a scarfed-in bit of Ash to replace a bit of rot on the underside seen in the following picture.

My first thought is to cut parallel to the grain (fore and aft blue line) to hopefully mask the glue line, but that means removing a significant bit of the deck. The cut could also be made on a bevel (red line)- thereby increasing the glue surface but still retaining the parallel glue line on top of the deck. The obvious downside to that is that the end grain appearance of the deck has an increased joint line.

Or, I could cut at a random angle on the top surface, either a straight cut or bevel but it seems the downside here is the very obvious glue joint line viewed from the top which is way more obvious it seems to me than the 'parallel' joint.

I wonder if there are other alternatives I haven't thought of?

 

[samb]

Replacement would be my choice.

 

[Gil Cramer]

Replacement should be quite simple for an unbent 15' deck.

 

[Dan Miller]

I’d be replacing it myself.

 

[dtdcanoes]

Pat .....the lines . You're killing me with the lines. It looks like his painting Tangent to Something ?

 

[patrick corry]

OK... 3 for 3 from the brain trust to replace. I have a bit of curly Maple on hand so here are couple of in-progress photos. I may have some Ash which would be more appropriate, but the Maple might have a bit more character. We'll see as the refinement progresses. These decks are flat on the bottom with about 3/16 crown on top.

If I use the Maple, it will likely receive a treatment with nitric acid wipe, then heat, followed by Tung oil for finish like this paddle:

 

[MGC]

Indeed, replace, but keep the old one around. That birds eye will be an upgrade.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Good call, Patrick!

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Is that a Stanley No.1?

 

[patrick corry]

Is that a Stanley No.1?

Oh boy... I wish. No, it's a Stanley #3. I like admiring my planes so I let 'em show in pictures!! From the top down: #5,4,3,2 All Type 11 although the #4 has a Type 12 (tall) front knob.

My latest, and less common, a #2 I was lucky to find locally!

Thanks for noticing ! Haha.