Mo, did you have to hand plane just the area around the joinery or was the whole timber run through a power planer?
Could you explain "to little to gain"?
As I think about it.... one member was fatter than the other, or thinner.
Hew it, and call it good. Or scrub plane, diagonal across the grain. Show off the fix, may be better than a attempt to hide it.
I have over set a tooth of two to make the surface look more band sawn. My setter sometime works too good.
