Repairing a timber door stile

[MickBee]

I was over-enthusiastic in planing a door stile. At the top, I have taken off 8mm too much, reducing to the correct amount 150 mm below the top. The door stile depth is 34mm (exactly the width of hardwood strip available from a local DIY shop.)

Is it practical to cut 8mm into the stile at 150 mm below the top, to make a rebate and then infill with hardwood strip? If so, any tips on the best tools & techniques to use? Or is there a better way? (The door is a non-standard size and matches the style of the house, so I don't want to buy a new door if a repair is possible; the door is painted, so joins will be covered.)

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[MickBee]

In case anyone has (or inherits) a similar problem and wants to know, I have filled the gap with Milliput epoxy resin putty (rather than infill with hardwood as I first considered) and it appears to have worked. I used hardboard strips covered with polythene as "shuttering", and after it had set I carefully smoothed it by hand with a Surform plane and sanding block.

To help adhesion, at the deeper part I had put in a few tacks with their heads exposed, so that the putty could grip round the heads. The instructions state that Milliput is not intended as a thin layer adhesive, and I was worried that it would not stick to the wood, particularly where the layer thinned to nothing, but so far so good.

Of course, the best thing would have been to avoid the problem by being cautious with the power planer ("measure twice and cut once" etc.)