Strong Wood Filler

[filler]

I have a child's wooden horse toy - I wish to replace a number of screws.

I wish to remove the old screw - put in a good strong filler/resin and then rescrew with new screws.

What would you recommend?

[charles]

I've used Gorilla glue for a similar job on an old wardrobe (refitting hinge screws). It's in daily use the they haven't come loose yet.

[The Natural Philosopher]

car body filler.

[NT]

In many cases if the thread's gone just use a screw with a shank size slightly bigger - but dont overdo it, dont split anything. Or use the same screws plus a slip of folded paper.

NT

[Nick]

Glue sliver(s) of hardwood into slack holes. Bits of toothpick or easily home made. Insert new screws whilst glue is still wet. A neater and longer lasting bodge than body filler. A musical instrument restorer showed me this years ago. It may be old fashioned but has never failed me.

HTH Nick

[Andy Dingley]

Bamboo barbecue skewers (the thin ones), wiped with any convenient wood glue (cheap PVA is fine) and tapped down the hole with your lightest hammer. Leave to dry, then snap off near the surface.

[The Night Tripper]

On the occasions when I buy a £howmuch?!? cappuchino from an overpriced beverage emporium, I make sure to collect a few of the wooden stirrers they supply you with - like thin lollipop sticks. These are a good source of wood for such things, cut into splinters etc., and as Andy says, glued in with any old PVA (or Cascamite if I'm really keen). I use them for mixing two- part epoxy as well.

Mr. Cheapskate, J^n

[geraldthehamster]

The best filler is a two-part wood filler (not car filler, use a filler designed for the purpose). However, as others have said, you're better off gluing wooden plugs into the holes.

Cheers Richard

[The Natural Philosopher]

Thats costs three times as much and is exactly the same, except or the colour.

However, as others have said, you're

You aren't, actually.

[geraldthehamster]

The best wood fillers use polyester resin rather than epoxy, as used in car body filler, and contain wood fibres rather than chalk. They bond better to the wood, and are easier to sand. They also don't stink the place out.

Try chalk on your crackers next time, instead of Camembert.

But neither filler is as solid as plugging the hole with glued wood and screwing into that.

Cheers Richard

[Part Timer]

A match stick cut to length allows reuse of a screw hole.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Polyester is cheap and bonds better which is why car and wood fillers use it.

Depdending on which car filler you use, there may be strands of glass in as well. Tha gives it better tensile strength. I don't think wood fillers per se have any wood in them at all.

Total bollocks. The shear strength of polyester resin is massively greater than wood is. Unless you are talking oak or lignum vitae :-)

Its not quite a metal insert, but its bloody close. I'd still use a self tapper in polyester, or a woodscrew, but the actual result is way stronger than wood.

Especially if you put in a dowel or similar with the grain running in the screw axis direction. That can and will shear along the grain.

[The Natural Philosopher]

..for almost 4 minutes.

[Andy Dingley]

All you can say about car filler with fibreglass in it is that nearly all the strands will be left in a mound around the top of the hole, not pushed down into it.

Polyester car body filler is too stiff and in particular it doesn't move with moisture changes. It'll work in a hole up to about 1/4" diameter, but any bigger than that and it will tend to fall out after a few years (worst case is filling keyholes in Victorian doors). Polyester fillers sold for outdoor woodwork are filled to make them more flexible.

Matchsticks are a very soft timber, so they fill easily and are easy to drive screws into. However they aren't terribly strong, especially not with modern twinthread screws. The best "wooden" filler is something that's highly fibrous, with hard fibres in a soft matrix. Palm would do this, but the obvious one that's ready to hand is bamboo, hence the recommendation for barbecue skewers..

[geraldthehamster]

I'm not going to argue with you about it; I've already stated that I disagree with your opinion.

Cheers Richard

[filler]

Thanks for all the comments - interesting debate !!

I have filled the holes with bamboo skewers - secured with epoxy resin.

[Ian Jackson]

Don't forget to use an angle grinder to ensure that the end of plug is flush with the original surface.

[filler]

Spot on - I did it today - reassembled the rocking horse and it is perfect.

Job done!

[The Other Mike]

Have you got a figure for that from a verifiable source?

[Andy Dingley]

Wood is weak in shear and if you want figures, they're in the standard handbooks. Try Hoadley's books, or the Forest Products Handbook.

Filled resins are harder, as they depend on your mixing and filler proportions. However the Gougeon Brothers handbooks list them for unfilled, and approximate values for filled, for a variety of resins. Most resin makers will offer the figures for their products too.