Filling in thick holes / grouges in wood?

[charlie]

actually, if it's painted, then bondo is frequently used for this problem.

[Phisherman]

I've use Bondo to fill wood defects. It works very well and nobody will know if painted. After mixing, work fast.

[StarMan]

Is there a reasonably easy way to fill in thick gouges in wood?

By "thick", I'm referring to up to 1". I'm referring to a door frame which is interior where an animal chewed large parts of it on the inside (long story). It's structurally sound, since the frame has not been affected, but the frame is not visually appealing.

Replacing just that one side of the frame is possible, but laborious, since the door is hung and the trim places on the opposite side of the door are in place. In theory, with the right tools, pieces could be cut away and new wood inlayed with glue but I don't have anything which can cut out pieces with that kind of accuracy on an existing frame (it would also be incredibly messy in the room).

Since things are mostly ok except for the appearance as is, the easiest solution would be to put in a filler if one exists (e..g. a 2-part filler like Bondo for cars) then just spackle over for the final finish, put on a new piece of interior molding and paint.

Any ideas?

[StarMan]

Pardon the typo in the subject line :-(

[Nate Nagel]

A little known fact about Bondo is that it uses talc for filler, so draws damp very easy (and therefore rot.) It's not really even very good to use it for its intended purpose, at least without proper surface prep and sealing front and back with an epoxy primer. I'd look to something like fiberglass resin instead. I believe there are similar products available for strengthening/filling rotted wood where replacement could be problematic; I don't see why that wouldn't work for sound but dog-chewed wood...

nate

[gpsman]

Spackle dries fast and sands easy. It's what I used to use on beat up woodwork I was prepping houses for sale. Feather it nice, a little paint, good as new. -----

- gpsman

[Red Green]

gpsman wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I use spackle and mudd for endless patching. Can't live without it. Couple of places I can't use it are where the repair is exterior and where a repair may take a beating. It's soft.

I tried a can of Zinsser READY PATCH Heavy Duty Spackling and Patching Compound from HD. Solves both problems. Bit harder to sand but hard as a rock. Good for repaiting chipped outside corners of walls, doors etc.

Probably would work for his door but something more targeted for wood repair might work better. Just with this, the surplus still has many uses.

[Jim Elbrecht]

I've had a 5 lb can of Durham's Rock hard in my garage for 15 years. [the garage is humid- and it freezes for 5 months a year] It is still as good as the day I bought it.

Just add water- & you're good to go. It really is as hard as a rock- seems to be pretty water resistant. Can use it thin as a skim coat-- or cast big objects with it. Takes paint well. And it's cheap.

Jim

[Joe]

Minwax has the wood repair product you need. Got mine at Lowes. HTH

Joe

[StarMan]

Thanks! Is it a 2-part solution?

Ahh, well, I'll find out soon enough... after a trip to Lowe's

[Red Green]

Jim Elbrecht wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I keep one arond as well. Others to note, it must be painted. It will absorb moisture in damp areas per the can. I always prime and paint it if it's somewhere that counts. Does not sand easy once dry. Power sander will work with decent paper.