Usually when I rout pieces out I hold the master on with small nails. With my chess pieces, they're a LOT smaller than what I normally work on, so have had to switch to hex head machine screws - which work great.
With the nail holes it's normally no biggie because they're usually not where they'll be seen. On the chess pieces they will be seen, so needed some way to fill them.
I'd already sifted some sawdust to get some real fine sawdust to use to make sawdust clay for another project. Took some of that, and instead of making sawdust clay just used some of the half Elmer's gluee-all and half water. There was less than half a teaspoon of sawdust but took a surprising amount of the half and h alf to get it to a spreadable consistency. Then used a popsicle stick to apply it to the holes.
Well, it dried very nicely, will only needa light brushing with sandpaper to make it about perfect. The surprising part is that the two "proof of concept" chess knights had different hues of wood - and the dried sawdust blends right in on each. It's damn all near a perfect match in each case. Only thing I can think of is the Elmer's comehow contributed to this. I have kno idea how it would take stain, and probably won't bother checking for awhile - the only stain I tend to use now is tea stain - the pieces will be painted, so it doesn't really concern me just now. Interesting tho. My primary interest was how it would fill the holes, and so far it seems to do just fine on that part.
JOAT Justice was invented by the innocent. Mercy and lawyers were invented by the guilty.