In my Army career I said that I didn't have a problem, just another chance to excel. Well now I need help with excelling.
This board is going to be very visible on my 18th century PA Secretary. My dilemma is what do I fill the hole with or do I put a Dutchman in?
Epoxy. I went to a paint store and got a bit of black paint tint. Worked well
I use plug cutters. I have a set from Lee Valley that are fantastic. I just drill out the offending knot, and then cut a plug from a scrap that hopefully cut off the same board. I try to match the grain and then I put it in and sand it smooth. I've got mistakes, er features, that one could never find unless I pointed them out.
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.as...&cat=1,180,42288
Articles I've read in FWW say (and show) that a diamond shape plug will blend in the best. There are additional steps you can take to make the plug blend in, like scratching in missing graining to match the surrounding area, adding color streaks with an artist's brush, etc. If it's in a critical area it would be worth finding that FWW article and, of course, practicing on some scrap first.
John
use resin -- stain the area first, build a little dam with masking tape and fill with resin -- after it hardens, sand -- you can add some coloring to the resin to make it match closer, but in my experience just using clear works well.
I fill with epoxy...typically I mix in wood sanding dust from the same species of wood to help match the void with the surrounding wood. My opinion is to always celebrate the wood variation... don't try and hide it.
Halfathumb said:
This board is going to be very visible on my 18th century PA Secretary.
Either use that board in a less visible place, or get a new board. Would be a bummer to spend all that time on a nice piece to end up with an eyesore.
If the defect were larger I am all for embracing the imperfection, but a small defect like that is something you'll not make disappear, and the repair will draw the eye. If it were a coffee table in the SW style I would say, yeah, go for it, lay in some Turquoise. 18th century, not so much. My $0.02
For small holes I have used dried fine ground coffee grounds and CA glue. Force some grounds in cover with CA, More grounds and CA carefully applied and then sanded after the glue has dried.
Just about any kind of fine dust will do. Sweep enough in to fill the hole, and then drop enough thin CA glue onto it to make it stay put. (For deep voids, you may have to do this in two layers.) Sand it flush.
You can use matching sawdust to make the fill inconspicuous, if you must. Or you can use this as an opportunity to add some pizazz!
Use some metal filings from brass, aluminum, or copper to put a little shine into it. Or get yourself some crushed coral or colored rock (you can get little bags of it on Amazon) and use that. Lots and lots of possibilities here.
Put a rusty bent nail in it.
This board is going to be very visible on my 18th century PA Secretary. My dilemma is what do I fill the hole with or do I put a Dutchman in?