filling holes in oak

[Rick]

I have a piece of oak trim with a couple of holes in it. I'm going to stain it with a dark stain. I was wondering what the best way is to fill the holes and one small seem. I was going to take some of the sawdust when I sanded the oak and mix it with some of the stain. Then add some Lepages glue and fill the holes that way Does this sound like it will work. I will of course stain the trim first. Or when I sand the fill down will it leave a blemish when I restrain

[Tom]

Unless it's really thin trim, maybe you could drill the holes out to accomodate small dowels of oak, and glue them in. If you're careful, you can get such a good match, no-one will know. The seam may be routed or dadoed, and filled with a small piece. HTH Tom Someday, it'll all be over....

[Preston Andreas]

With dark stain especially, the filler usually stands out. I quit using fillers for wood I am going to stain. I wait until it is stained and has one coat of finish on it, then I either find a putty that is near the same color or I start with a similar colored putty and add some color to it to get closer.

[Joe Nation]

I built a lot of pieces out of oak. In my experience it is going to be difficult to completely hide the hole. A colored wood filler or epoxy that you have added dye to has given me my best results. The trick is in matching the color of the dye to the finished color of the wood. You will get your best results by experimenting on some scrap cutoffs that you have applied finish to in the same manner that the work piece will have it applied to. Good luck.