Hey Folks,
I'm working on a table using some reclaimed wood. The wood has a lot of rot and bug trenches in it, which I'd like to fill with a putty of some sort. I'd also like to add pigment to the putty so in the finished product you can still see where bug marks were but it will be a smooth surface. The issue is, I'd then like to apply some sort of table top epoxy. Any ideas on products that might be good for this? I'd love to just use durhams water putty but I'm not sure if an epoxy will stick to it.
Wood Filler For Table Tops?
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MrPowerful (WavyGlass)
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phil
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
id just use the wqter based putty and doctor it with powdered pigments I get mine from mohawk but maybe lee valley or other places sell them as well. Just make sure you are matching the color WITH the topcoat as it may look different with the topcoat on. Masking tape is your friend so you don't get the putty on a larger area than necessary. I think epoxy sticks to everything but wax, plastic and dirt.
Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
my shop is next to a high end table top craftsman...he specializes in fungus and bug affected wood that he finishes with many coats of oil...sure you want to fill the holes? if so, we use and like timbermate wood putty: http://www.woodcraft.com/Resources/video.aspx?id=822
good luck...
...jade
good luck...
...jade
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Gothichome
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
Mr powerful, this may not be practal in today's world. But as late as a couple centuries ago I was told they used a bees wax concoction to fill large flaws in wood. It was dyde to match. The smart guys like Casy, Don or Alfort may have more info or suggestions will comment I'm sure.
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MrPowerful (WavyGlass)
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
phil wrote:id just use the wqter based putty and doctor it with powdered pigments I get mine from mohawk but maybe lee valley or other places sell them as well. Just make sure you are matching the color WITH the topcoat as it may look different with the topcoat on. Masking tape is your friend so you don't get the putty on a larger area than necessary. I think epoxy sticks to everything but wax, plastic and dirt.
I'm going to investigate this. I already have some powdered pigments.
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Al F. Furnituremaker
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
A very common approach used by those that do a lot of work with reclaimed or salvaged wood is to use epoxy on large holes and rot. Some color it and some don't, depends on the look you want. A good quality clear epoxy will show what is under it, if it is not too deep. I use West System epoxies. The system is available from Jamestown Distributors. Not cheap but good stuff.
If you are just looking for run of the mill filler. I would stick to acetone based fillers. They can be tinted with oil and lacquer based stains before applying, and then touched up after curing and sanding if need be. They are much harder than the water based stuff.
If you are just looking for run of the mill filler. I would stick to acetone based fillers. They can be tinted with oil and lacquer based stains before applying, and then touched up after curing and sanding if need be. They are much harder than the water based stuff.
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phil
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
the acetone based stuff dries faster. I had to fil some big i nich and larger knot holes in the boards, that I used for my outside stair risers. I drove some screws in the holes to capture the filler and used bondo there. the screws get buried and preven the patch from being able to pop out. bondo or the epoxy fillers that come in a sick where you chop a chunk off and kneed it are good for where you are worried about strength , or even that PC woody stuff.
The WB stuff is cheaper and what I do is mix some colors and put them in the big 1 inch syringes, no needle. then keep those in plastic bags with a wet paper towel. the acetone stuff is probably a better filler, might shrink less. yes, harder. if the repairs aren't huge I don't think you will be able to tell what filler you used. The water based stuff is a bit easier sometimes because it doesn't harden up so fast, but if you want to fill the hole and go to finishing stages right away the stinky stuff is better.
I made the mistake of filling some holes with the WB stuff on outdoor porch railings, it fell out so it isn't good outside. Duh !
I like to punch a hole in masking tape for nail holes, or put tape on both sides of cracks then just push it down and let it bump out a bit, pull the tape off when its wet, then as it shrinks because it is overfilled a bit you don't get a hollow. If you can loosely mix some different colors to replicate the different colors that make up the grain you can hide the patch by making it not a uniform colored area.
if you have little dibits you can use the many colors of wax crayons if the piece is finished, but its very soft so only good with little cracks and stuff. if you noticed a few staple holes in a finished piece this might be suitable for example.
If you use the epoxy based stuff it won't take stains or change color at the same rate as the wood will because it isn't really porous or absorbent. you can fill a hole and then scratch lines along the grain with a scribe , then refill with a second color to replicate grain. making your filler look like wood is all about getting the color right. a dark spot might look like an imperfection in the wood and you can use things like that to fool the eye too.
light colored uniform spots where people don't use dark enough filler can show horribly especially if you use the filler where it isn't really needed.
there are also touch up pens that are like Jiffy markers but in all the brown shades and if the filler isn't right sometimes you can doctor the color after the fact that way , then seal it in with your choice of finish. larger holes you can use bits of wood to fill, cut thin tapered pieces of the same wood and glue them in to fill cracks, You can make a "boat" from similar wood and then scribe around it and chisel out the wood surface to make the boat fit the hole. you can buy a plug cutter and then make tapered plugs of the same species and drill holes and glue the plugs in. I usually find I can make it more invisible with fillers than plugs but all these are all options depending on where the repair is and how big it is.
most woods will darken with age, so if you sand right in and do your putty you can imagine what the piece will look like in a year or two. Fir darkens quite a bit, other woods don't change as much over time. even the color of the filler may darken in time.
There is a lot you can do , even introducing a line that goes out of the patched area and looks like an imperfection or a knot can take your eye away and make it look more natural depending on what the surrounding wood looks like.
you can get fine point pens in various colors and draw in grain lines
if it is a finished lacquer piece you can use lacquer sticks and melt lacquer into the hole, such as fixing a cigarette burn on a tabletop with a finish that you don't wish to disturb. the laquer sticks come in all different colors too.
I have even seen people fill missing veneer and then use oil based artist paints to hide the patch.
No limit to techniques, if you don't like it , just gouge it out and start over, there really isn't anything that is impossible to hide but getting them to look truly invisible can take some experimentation and time.
it one job where the goal is to do your very best and in the end if you do it right no one will notice what a good job you did
i made up a little kit with a few of each of the above items, but just buy what you need as you go. If you work with one type of wood a lot it is worth getting the pens, crayons, powders, doctored fillers etc to match the kind of wood you work with, you will need different ones for different woods.
you could buy a few of the small tins or film cans to keep an ounce or so of each color that you may use and when you use them you have some various colors to combine.
one of those little tiny thin spatulas that artists sometimes use to apply oil paint on canvas is good to have. I keep a thin one for applying finishes, I have one that I ground to sort of a hook shape that is very thin and I use that to pick out bits of white paint from cracks and stuff like that.
The WB stuff is cheaper and what I do is mix some colors and put them in the big 1 inch syringes, no needle. then keep those in plastic bags with a wet paper towel. the acetone stuff is probably a better filler, might shrink less. yes, harder. if the repairs aren't huge I don't think you will be able to tell what filler you used. The water based stuff is a bit easier sometimes because it doesn't harden up so fast, but if you want to fill the hole and go to finishing stages right away the stinky stuff is better.
I made the mistake of filling some holes with the WB stuff on outdoor porch railings, it fell out so it isn't good outside. Duh !
I like to punch a hole in masking tape for nail holes, or put tape on both sides of cracks then just push it down and let it bump out a bit, pull the tape off when its wet, then as it shrinks because it is overfilled a bit you don't get a hollow. If you can loosely mix some different colors to replicate the different colors that make up the grain you can hide the patch by making it not a uniform colored area.
if you have little dibits you can use the many colors of wax crayons if the piece is finished, but its very soft so only good with little cracks and stuff. if you noticed a few staple holes in a finished piece this might be suitable for example.
If you use the epoxy based stuff it won't take stains or change color at the same rate as the wood will because it isn't really porous or absorbent. you can fill a hole and then scratch lines along the grain with a scribe , then refill with a second color to replicate grain. making your filler look like wood is all about getting the color right. a dark spot might look like an imperfection in the wood and you can use things like that to fool the eye too.
light colored uniform spots where people don't use dark enough filler can show horribly especially if you use the filler where it isn't really needed.
there are also touch up pens that are like Jiffy markers but in all the brown shades and if the filler isn't right sometimes you can doctor the color after the fact that way , then seal it in with your choice of finish. larger holes you can use bits of wood to fill, cut thin tapered pieces of the same wood and glue them in to fill cracks, You can make a "boat" from similar wood and then scribe around it and chisel out the wood surface to make the boat fit the hole. you can buy a plug cutter and then make tapered plugs of the same species and drill holes and glue the plugs in. I usually find I can make it more invisible with fillers than plugs but all these are all options depending on where the repair is and how big it is.
most woods will darken with age, so if you sand right in and do your putty you can imagine what the piece will look like in a year or two. Fir darkens quite a bit, other woods don't change as much over time. even the color of the filler may darken in time.
There is a lot you can do , even introducing a line that goes out of the patched area and looks like an imperfection or a knot can take your eye away and make it look more natural depending on what the surrounding wood looks like.
you can get fine point pens in various colors and draw in grain lines
if it is a finished lacquer piece you can use lacquer sticks and melt lacquer into the hole, such as fixing a cigarette burn on a tabletop with a finish that you don't wish to disturb. the laquer sticks come in all different colors too.
I have even seen people fill missing veneer and then use oil based artist paints to hide the patch.
No limit to techniques, if you don't like it , just gouge it out and start over, there really isn't anything that is impossible to hide but getting them to look truly invisible can take some experimentation and time.
it one job where the goal is to do your very best and in the end if you do it right no one will notice what a good job you did
i made up a little kit with a few of each of the above items, but just buy what you need as you go. If you work with one type of wood a lot it is worth getting the pens, crayons, powders, doctored fillers etc to match the kind of wood you work with, you will need different ones for different woods.
you could buy a few of the small tins or film cans to keep an ounce or so of each color that you may use and when you use them you have some various colors to combine.
one of those little tiny thin spatulas that artists sometimes use to apply oil paint on canvas is good to have. I keep a thin one for applying finishes, I have one that I ground to sort of a hook shape that is very thin and I use that to pick out bits of white paint from cracks and stuff like that.
-
MrPowerful (WavyGlass)
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Re: Wood Filler For Table Tops?
heartwood wrote:my shop is next to a high end table top craftsman...he specializes in fungus and bug affected wood that he finishes with many coats of oil...sure you want to fill the holes? if so, we use and like timbermate wood putty: http://www.woodcraft.com/Resources/video.aspx?id=822
good luck...
...jade
I'd be really interested to see his work, does he have a website? I'll leave some of the holes but some of them are caused by Formosan termites, which I don't want to be reminded exist.