Conference 7.286::home_work

    
    My favorite wood filler of late is Borden's brand (can't remember
    what they call it). Almost like using joint compound, and sets up
    fast.
    
    The directions advise over-filling, and then sanding with a medium
    grade paper before staining. When this is done, you can get a pretty
    close color match. If you just knife-smooth and then stain, the
    filler will be quite a bit lighter than the wood.

    
    	For small areas like nail heads I always use some of the wood
    dust left from sanding mixed with Elmers wood glue.  I mix it into
    a paste and fill the holes.  Since it is the same wood it stains
    the same color.

I've been doing that for a long time and am finally giving up and looking for
a better way.

My problem seems to be that when filling the hole, some of the glue soaks into
the surrounding wood.  Then, even though it is sanded smooth and looks fine, the
stain blotches when the glue had soaked in.

not pleased at all.  am i doint something dumb?  btw - this is more offensive
with softwoods than hard woods.  hard woods DO seem to take the stain better.
 
-mark

    
    For small hole (finish nails) I use colored filler approx. the same
    color as the stain.  For larger areas take your current filler
    and dip it in the stain before you apply it to the wood.  If it's
    a real big area..... remake the piece!!
    
    					KO

    Russ,                             
    
    This is how I fill nail holes or any type as a matter of fact. First
    I stain a piece of scrap wood of the same type as I am using for
    the project. Let it dry and hand sand it untill I get enough filler.
    I then make hole covers out of masking tape. I do this by putting
    a length of tape on a scrap wood and take a nail of the size I
    am trying to fill, turn the nail so the head is on the tape and
    make holes in the tape by hitting the nail with a hammer. After
    this is done, I cut the tape pieces and place the over the holes
    to be filled. I then mix up elmers wood glue with the filler that
    was removed from the stained scrap. Fill the holes using a putty
    knife and let dry. This make the filled hole a masking tape thicker
    than the wood.(allows for shrinkage of filler) Then just sand and
    stain. Hope this helps.
    					regards
    
    

    RE .-1
    Wouldn't it be easier to put the masking tape over the piece of
    wood you're nailing together before you even nail it?  Then just
    hammer the nail in, countersink it, fill it, and remove the tape.
    
    

    re .-6
    	no, because you would have to know where you are going to nail
    but more important is that when you nail through the tape the head
    will grab some tape and pull it into the hole. This will leave tape
    glue to the inside of the hole and the filler might not stick.
    
    

re: .6

Plus, if you leave the tape on for more than a day or so, the glue from the 
tape will stick to the wood, which will be just as bad as the filler.  I don't 
know about you, but a lot of my projects tend to span a longer period of time.

Paul

      I vote for the Borden/Elmers brand..... it can be stained 5min
     after application.

Thanks for the many suggestions. Looks like I've more samples to make before
staining the dining-room trim (and the door mentioned in #794)

re .5 - masking the hole - what a great idea. I filled and stained some sample
pieces over the weekend, and discovered (after staining) that the areas
surrounding the filled holes were lighter than the rest of the sample. The
filler had been generously applied and apparently some was absorbed through the
surface of the surrounding wood (pine).

Russ

      Having replaced most of the sorely-abused and heavily painted
    wodwork with stained new wood in three rooms, I have been the
    hole-filling route of late. A couple things I found;
    
      Magic Wood stains great and is almost invisible after one
    application. Trouble is that the little tubs it comes in dont seem
    to seal up very well and if you use a tub this month and then try
    to use it again a few months later, it is all hardened up. Plus
    I haven't been able to find that stuff lately, so I switched to;
    
      Elmers. Doesn't have the poor seal problem of Magic Wood but it
    doesn't seem to take stain as well. I leave enough for sanding with
    a fairly rough grade paper but still it takes a couple or more times
    to get it dark enough. The stuff I absolutly hate is;
    
      Stain Putty. In powder form you are supposed to mix it with the
    stain itself to make a paste. I figgered I had it made with this
    stuff, what with having the actual stain right in it. Hah! By the
    time I filled one hole and leveled it, the stuff had seperated
    before I could get to the next. Keep mixing before each hole, when
    it dries you will have a white film over the area. Try to sand this
    and re-stain the area and it still shows lighter than the other
    wood. Ruined most of my bathroom trim with this stuff.
    
      In the living room, I stained and polyurethaned the trim, nailed
    it up and hid the holes with a pencil thing sold by Minwax. It is
    supposed to match their stain colors. Looks sorta like a grease
    pencil and you peel it back as you go along. I found this method
    the best, one pencil does a whole room and cost $1.39 at Moore's.
    Insert into hole, break off some filler, smooth it and go on to
    the next whole.Blends in quite nicely, no sanding and restaining
    and if packed properly will not fall out. Of course, now that I
    am done with all the woodwork I find the easy way.......
    
      Dana
    

[I have been away from this file for a while...]

We have had good luck with a product called Sears interior Softwood
Paste Wood Filler.  (It may be the Bordens product under the Sears
name.) Anyway, we have used it successfully in a number of places.  It
is cheap and quite effective. 

Alex

    I second the vote for the Minwax hole filling pencils. They're cheap,
    quick, easy and do a good job. The come in a variety of colors and you
    should get several and use different shades depending on the color of
    the wood near the hole. They can be used either before or after you
    finish the wood, polyurethane sticks very well. 
    
    I also found that a rag LIGHTLY dampened with turpentine works well to
    smooth the filler into the hole and wipes/blends the excess away. 

    Charly

A real benefit to writelocking a new note, is that it points more than just
the author of the offending note back into the depths of the file... 8^)

So, now that I'm here... I'll cast my vote for the "Product of products"
in the woodfill area...  Its called "Wood-Tex."

"Wood-Tex" is a commercial grade woodfiller, made from wood dust, and is 
available in flavors  (Birch, Red Oak, Walnut, etc) and forms 100%
invisible fills for nails, screws, joints, etc.  Dries in only 10-15 minutes,
and takes stain exactly like the wood.

I have a friend who is converting a basement for a client, who wanted the
entire room panelled in Oak plywood.  The client had concerns about the 
seams between sheets, so we made a mock-up of a typical joint, and purposely
mismatched the grain between the sheets as much as possible.  After filling
with Wood-Tex, sanding, and staining with the clients color choice (I would
have left it natural!) ... we presented it to the client, who accused us
of showing her a single board!  8^)

Wood-Tex is usually not available in the local stores (at least, not in the 
Syracuse area.... but you New England'ers have better supply stores)... but
I have had good luck getting it through Woodworkers Supply of New Mexico.

Bob

Humm.. wood-tex sounds like great stuff, but that's sure a long way to go 
for wood filler! :*)  

I'll cast a vote for Color-Putty(Much like color pencils mentioned earlier,
but comes in a small plastic cup) It comes in all the pretinted colors.
*DO NOT USE ANYTHING LIKE SAWDUST AND GLUE* UNLESS YOU WANT POOR RESULTS!
Generally speaking, plastic woods also offer similar results.  They seal the 
stain/poly out.  My most successful method of using any type of fillers are
to apply the stain and first coat of poly/sanding sealer, if desired, apply 
filler and remaining coats of poly.  When using color-putty, filling the
nail holes can be successfully accomplished _after_ all coats of poly.

my .02 from _lots_ of nail hole filling! ;*{}

/Brian

    
    P.S. How 'bout an address for the store in New Mexico, pls.   

    My vote is for the pencils made by Minwax. My approach to applying
    is to heat the tip. The wax, once softened, is very easy to apply.
    Once filled, a pass with a sharp chisel to even the surface with
    the surrounding wood is all that is required. 
    
    I have refinished a number of tables for folks with this method
    and they cannot tell the wax is even there. 
    
    Merle

    Re: 2927.0
    
    (Ok Mr Moderator?? ;^)
    
    The putty I have from Elmer's is a powder that is actually mixed with
    the stain that then forms a putty. This is reasonably sandable and
    matches pretty well. I used Minwax Special Walnut which is pretty dark.

re: .15

>    P.S. How 'bout an address for the store in New Mexico, pls.   

Can't give you an address... how about a toll free number?

Woodworker's Supply of New Mexico  -- 800-645-9292  M-F 8am-8pm MST

More information can be found in the Woodworking_and_tools notes file.

If I get this right, you should be able to do a KP7 to add...look for
the asterisk by the note number...it means I got it right! 8^)

Bob

    Products like Durham's Water Putty work well indoors for filling
    cracks, knotholes, etc.  What is a good product to use for similar
    purposes outdoors?

    
    I used a wood filler made by Minwax that worked great outside. It
    comes in a can and a tube of hardener is included to mix in with
    the filler. There was hardly any shrinkage and it sanded up real
    nice. I don't know how it takes stain but it holds up to the 
    weather real good.
    
    Bob_V