dutchmen

[Joel S. Berson]

Same sense in OED2 as for the stone piece, with this citation: "1874
Knight Dict. Mech., Dutchman (Carpentry), a playful name for a block
or wedge of wood driven into a gap to hide the fault in a badly made
joint.".  (The earliest citation, "1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 134
Dutchman, a flaw in a stone or marble slab, filled up by an
insertion.", refers to the flaw, not the insertion!)

Joel

At 6/9/2006 04:07 PM, you wrote:
>Dutchmen are also used to fill or replace damaged
>areas in wood, although I'm not certain the "eye"
>shaped pieces in plywood are considered dutchmen.
>
> > >[a block of marble, needed to patch and repair the
> > stone facade of the
> > >Met Life building near Madison Square, was found at
> > an abandoned
> > >quarry]
> > >. . . it ultimately yielded 250 of the
> > custom-fitted repair pieces that
> > >stone restorers call "dutchmen."
> > >NY Times, Jun4 4, 2006, section 14 [the City
> > section].p. 1 col. 4
>
>
>
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