Repairing squirrel damaged cabinet doors

Tree dwelling vermin (a.k.a. squirrels) continue to cause damage from time to time at my parents Amogla camp. In this case, a squirrel had made its way into the bathroom vanity through the cottage floor. The cabinet doors were closed so the squirrel gnawed its way through from the inside. I didn't want to make a new set of doors!

So, much like I did for this drawer, I cut off the gnawed pieces and made a new section.

I carefully put the doors upright on the table saw to make the square cuts.

I made blocks of wood to fit in the cut-outs.

Here, I'm tracing the profile of the moulding onto the block.

I cut the moulding shape on the piece upright on the bandsaw. I clamped the workpiece to a larger piece to make sure it stayed vertical, especially because the insert near the blade on this bandsaw isn't that level.

I used the same procedure to cut the profile on the bottom edge. Here's checking the fit. I tweaked the profile a bit with a chisel and sandpaper.

Gluing the pieces on. For the second one, I just glued it with one clamp diagonally because there weren't enough long quick-grip clamps in my dad's shop.

After the glue dried, I pre-drilled some holes and put some 2 1/4" (80 mm) long nails in for good measure, just in case the glue might fail.

I also figured, if another squirrel tried to gnaw it's way through there, it would be in for a nasty surprise!

Update 2019:
I found where the sqirrel got into the cottage a year after this and sealed it up, so it's been some years and no squirrel damage in the cottage!

Finished repair. Once varnish is on it, it will blend in a bit better.

All done. Another project in my dad's shop.

I posted this picture on the woodgears.ca facebook page and it got a lot of "likes", so I figured, might as well include the picture here.

And here's another cabinet door repair. This one reinforcing the frame because it cracked from kids yanking it open further than it's meant to open.