wood filler

Roger,
I’ve used colored epoxy, wood dust and varnish (poly, shellac) and shellac sticks (burn-in sticks). They all seem to work well. The epoxy will fill larger voids but will be obvious. The wood dust and varnish I’ve only used on smaller voids but is less conspicuous. It’s the same as using wood glue only nicer. the color is near perfect and it is certainly compatible with the top coat. The burn-in sticks fit in somewhere in between. I guess if I were better at it I could fill a larger void but I’ve never tried it. If you have a good hand and eye at painting in a grain figure, the burn-in stick would be my recommendation.

Another suggestion, if the voids are few (not in your case) and large enough, you could use Norm Abram’s favorite technique of routing out and inserting a Dutchman patch.

Rodger, Joe is on the money with all the suggestions. I don’t use filler. If there are any larger voids you should cut them out and fill in with veneer. It’s not as hard as it sounds, pretty easy actually. I’ve can’t count how many I have done and in most cases you can’t pick them up. Once you patch a few times you will find yourself doing it for even the smallest imperfection. Make the patches in an irregular shape so the eye doesn’t catch it. Use pieces of wood from the same board if you can. It can be very thin wood as long as it covers the void. As always I use hot hide glue to make the repair. Charlie

What shapes are “irregular”? Seriously. Do you avoid straight lines? If so how do you transfer the shape to the board and cut out something so irregular efficiently – router; Dremel; gouges? I think the world may like to know.

Straight lines draw the eye to them since there aren’t too many straight lies in grain. Any curve will do, even a small straight line in a diamond pattern as long as it is in line with the grain. A sharp razor is needed. I’ll do a demo of it at a meeting if you’d like.

Not a bad idea. July is round-robin month. I would like to see how you do that voodoo that you do. I will also have a “demo” to present but I will make a point of it to check you out if you do present this! Please try.

As a matter of conversation, I will be demonstrating how to tune up and set up a bench plane (or whatever plane someone might like to work on) in preparation for the plane shaving contest this year. I will also have a shaving plank there so all interested members should bring in their smoothing planes to play. This is not a contest only a prep for it. We hope to have the contest at this year’s exhibit again. And I hope to have some valuable prizes as an incentive for all to join in. it’s easier than you think and I hope to prove that at the July meeting.

Now back to fillers. I have cut through veneer on some plywood and used matching veneer to cover it. Then I would use some PVA glue and an iron to bring it all together. Pretty reliable technique that Mario Rodriguez had shown us years ago.

Joe, I won’t make July, too much to do. Set me up for a meeting and it’ll force me to go. Yeah, using an iron works well, makes for a quick repair. I do like hot hide glue better for repairs though, no chance of glue squeeze to ruin the finish and really drawing your eye to the mistake… Of course not a mistake on my or your part, mistakes by other people…

… of course not!

Disappointing about July but we’ll have to get by. If Corey or Bill is reading this, you should be put on the presentation list. Otherwise, I will let them know you are available. Thanks, Charlie.