RE: Flaw Repair

[Lew Hodgett]

From WoodSmith Tips

Lew

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Easy Fix for Flaws: Hide gaps and blemishes with this shop-made coverup.

[Sonny]

For some small flaws I've repaired, rather than mix the sawdust with glue, I've mix it with shellac or with the finish I'll be applying.

Sonny

[Greg Guarino]

Color me confused. If I mix sawdust with glue (what kind, BTW?) to fill a hole, have I not created a spot that won't take stain or even finish?

[krw]

That's the idea behind the sawdust. It's supposed to take the finish the same way as the surrounding wood. Well, that's the theory, anyway.

[Greg Guarino]

I get that. But if I get a fingerprint of glue on my project, that area will resist the finish, won't it? Can someone explain what's different about mixing sawdust with glue? Why does the sawdust take the finish in that case?

[John Paquay]

The idea is to use as little glue as possible... to make a dry wood dough rather than a soup. A penetrating finish will indeed not penetrate and thus will not color the glue in the mixture. But ideally, there is so little glue that it's not a big issue, and the wood fibers will still accept stains and topcoats (usually even more readily than the surrounding, unmolested wood surface). To make any flaw repair takes patience, practice, and testing, but it's still not an exact science. Many people, however, find this to be a better method than 'stainable' ready-made wood putty (i.e., 'plastic wood') products which are often marketed as (but rarely are) a perfect one-size-fits-all solution.

And FWIW, I would never take advice from anybody with a shop as clean and organized as the one in that video. When I'm working on a project, there is never any need to 'make' sawdust to use for filler.

JP

[dadiOH]

NP with finish, can't say about stain as I rarely use it but I suspect it would depend largely upon how you mixed the filler. Minimum glue to keep the sawdust together. Those, after sanding, finish with a greyish brown color. How obvious it would be would depend largely upon their size.

The color is much better if I first sand and then use my finger to wipe on a thin film of glue then sand again while the glue is still wet.

Like Sonny, I sometimes use a finish (lacquer, usually) as a binder. Those wind up dark, almost like walnut

For larger things like open knots I use a mix of sawdust, sanding dust and - sometimes - crumbled up joiner chips with white glue. Those wind up looking a lot like particle board.

All repairs such as these can be made pretty much invisible if one wants to take the time to do so. One does so by using a fine, round artist brush to add color and recreate/continue the wood colors and grain. By size, I mean 000 or 00. Small. The color can be anything...oil paint, artist or house...stain...even water colors liket hose found in grade schools. One does not paint on the colors, one stipples them in.

[LdB]

Another Internet Expert. The only tool they ever use is a keyboard. I wonder how long it took him to find those little bags of sawdust on line. :)

LdB

[krw]

The idea is that there is sawdust on the surface. The glue is not supposed to be slopped in like bondo with a little wood filler. You're right, if there is no wood at the surface to take the finish, it's going to look like glue.

[Bob La Londe]

ROFL

Amen.