exterior wood filler

wood epoxy. very durable and can be formed and sanded if necessary

wood epoxy. very durable and can be formed and sanded if necessary

Bondo works very well in this application.

BTDT w/ Bondo AND epoxy...............on redwood window sills.

Bondo not compatible w/ redwood

Bondo lasted ~1 year Epoxy 15+

Epoxy is much more expensive but my time is worth it

I never used Bondo again outside

cheers Bob

epoxy >>>>>> abatron or smith&co (NorCal - RIchmond?)

Bondo doesn't like redwood? as compared to any other wood?

what was your ratio for hardner?

Interesting. I'm sure fixing the area twice made you happy. Since Bondo lists "exterior wood filler" as one of the uses for their product, do they have a disclaimer about redwood? Any chance your experience was due to something other than "incompatability" - maybe you didn't cut back to a good enough foundation or something?

Bondo or maybe DAP plastic Wood. Don't use anything water based!

Trust me, been using epoxy for over 30 years in all sorts of applications.

Back in 1986 I "restored" weathered south facing sills & sashes. I compared the cost of Bondo & WoodEpox (Abatron)

Whoa! The wood epox was EXPENSIVE! Like 4x or 5x the Bondo.

Cost being a consideration at that time, I chose a Bondo wood repair material not the typical car repair stuff. This stufff was called wood repair "whatever". I had trouble with it from the get go.

Being a rather anal engineer & more than a little upset. I gave their tech support line a call. The guy I talked to said that although the can said it was ok for wood AND exterior apps they recommended against use on redwood.

I asked if this was some sort of secret part of the spec. ;)

The stuff I used was made by Bondo, came in a quart (or 16oz ?) rectangular can w/ a little tube of clear catalyst.

I mixed per instruction............the stuff sucks for redwood!

Luckily I only did six window sills & no sashes w/ it. I did the remaining 11 sills & ALL 35 shashes with WoodEpox products.

Twenty years later the Bondo sills look like they were never worked on.

The wood epox sills & sashes need a little sanding & paint.

For badly weathered wood; the wood epox system is awesome. Remove rotted / unsound material as best you can. Saturate with LiquidWood (runny stuff). When cured, build up cavities / missing features with WoodEpox. When cured.......drill, sand, prime,paint just like wood.

When I used the stuff it somewhat moisture sensitive.

The wood has to be dry & the stuff had to be mixed well, given an induction period & protected from rain or dew until cured.

Maybe they've changed formulation or got some extra additives now for the mositure issues. I still have some left & it still mixes up & cures 20 years later! I use the old stuff for indoor repairs. When I get back to outdoor stuff I'll get a new batch.

cheers Bob