Tote Repair "Putty" Experiment

[HomerLee]

Looking at a nice tote the other day that I was going to refinish I noticed a small defect. There was a small shallow hole in the wood, about 1/16" X 1/8", that appeared to be a natural flaw. I tried some off the shelf putty, thinking I could disguise it with a graining pen. That did not work. In the past I had tried making putty from a recipe that mixes course sawdust with thinned glue but the results were a very poor match. I happened to have a pack of four of the little tubes of cyanoacrylate glue (the thin watery kind) on my bench and got an idea. I sanded off some sawdust from an old piece of broken tote, took the sawdust and put it in the hole, and put a drop of super glue on it. Didn't work; after sanding the patch was black, a poor match. After thinking about why it didn't work I thought perhaps the sawdust was too fine and not packed in tight enough. I dug the failed patch out then I made some more sawdust with 80 grit paper and packed it in with as much pressure as I could. I put a drop of super glue on the sawdust and let it dry a few minutes, then sanded the area, and the patch looked natural this time. Gave it a coat of Tru Oil, and bingo! Now I can't find the patch.

I'm thinking this might work well on woodworking projects and repairs, so I will be experimenting some more.

[Bibliophile 13]

Good to hear!

I generally use actual sawdust--collected from my crosscut saw and bits of scrap.  Obviously, if you don't have any scraps to saw up, sanding dust should work pretty well, too.  Nice to know that the dust from 80 grit works best.

For myself, I usually go for contrast rather than matching when patching up holes.  I keep a few powdered fillers around, everything from metal filings (aluminum, brass, bronze) to crushed stone (malachite), and of course sawdust.

[Admiral]

Good to hear!

I generally use actual sawdust--collected from my crosscut saw and bits of scrap.  Obviously, if you don't have any scraps to saw up, sanding dust should work pretty well, too.  Nice to know that the dust from 80 grit works best.

Great tip.  I think I'd take a saw to the scrap and make sawdust just because i think a coarser "dust" would likely work better.  Would have to experiment with this next time.

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Clever trick. Must remember.

[DaveParkis]

Nice idea. Thanks!!