1880 stick wrote:dan...is there a certain bondo you use on wood?
thanks
They make some specific epoxy-based wood fillers, but they are very expensive.
Regular old automotive Bondo works fine...it's epoxy based with plastic filler...and is about $30/gallon. Easy to mix, 10-15 minutes working time as a dough-like mixture...mash it in wherever you need it, sets in another 4-5 minutes, then easy/soft to shape with a file for another 10-15 minutes, then harder but still file-able. Can be painted after an hour or so.
Takes primer/paint wonderfully. Won't absorb water if scratched or unpainted (beyond some .5% or something like that).
The mistake people make with it, or ANY filler, is that rot means you have a moisture problem. You need to solve that before covering it over or you will have more rot later.
In the case of my doors...the rot was water wicking up the end-grains of the vertical wood in the door...as they were touching concrete and there are no sweeps on the doors.
I've corrected the touching concrete part, sweeps are coming, and the bondo is actually a help here as there is no longer any wood in the endgrains to touch the water.
I don't expect I'll every have any issue with the repair.