Hello,
I’m making a kitchen table out of old maple boards that have a lot of small nail holes, about the size a 6 penny nail would make. I like the look of the darker holes, but I don’t want food, etc. to get in there. I will stain the table and want to finish it with something clear and durable that will also fill in the holes. Most of the holes go all the way through the wood (about 1″ thick). I thought of filling the underside of the boards with a wood filler and then applying something that would fill the holes.
I’m probably wanting the end result to be a satin or semi-gloss finish rather than full gloss. I’m just a home woodworker without fancy spraying equipment.
Any help would be appreciated, including specific product recommendations.
Replies
Why don't you just drive some proper size square cut nails into the holes and then just finish over them.
Ron
Wood filler dyed black?
Pete
If you want to keep the "look" of the holes, you can fill them with clear epoxy before you go ahead with your finish.
DR
Get some molding paste (acrylic gel putty) Golden brand. Tint it black (or very dark brown) with acrylics or glycol tinters and then use a syringe or glue injector to force it into the holes. Allow several days for thorough drying and then resand the surfaces to remove any squeeze out or smears. They are likely to shrink back and if you feel that they are too deep you can refill them again. When you are happy with the fill just finish over with your finish of choice. If you just use a putty knife to fill the putty stays at the surface of the holes and then breaks loose leaving you with a hole again... that's why you need to inject the fill into the holes so that it goes all the way through the wood. I have also done this with black latex caulk but it is not as nice as the Golden molding paste.
Thank you, everyone, for your ideas. I really have way too many holes to do anything but fill them with something. Also, I want to keep the look of the holes. I think I'll try the epoxy or acrylic gel idea and do some tests.
Lbdb,
I know you said you like the look of the darker holes but , , ,
Another way to handle the holes is to cut some face grain plugs and drill the areas out with the correct size bit .Glue and fill the holes with the plugs , heck if you want use a darker wood for the face grain plugs.
regards dusty
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