I am considering their product line or similar products for repairing cracks and knots prior to finishing.
These are typically sold in kits containing a heat gun, sticks, aluminum press, and a scraping tool.
My questions before purchasing are as follows:
1. how well does this work for this application?
2. why can’t you use a standard cheap hot glue gun either with their sticks or simply cheap black hot glue sticks?
Thank you for your help!!
Replies
I have never used the Knottec product, so grain of salt and all that - but in my opinion this is a $200 solution to a $20 problem. I fill knots with epoxy. It's easy: mix, pour, wait. That is the biggest upside I see to Knottec - it's fast. I'm just not in that big of a hurry.
More specifically to your question, you may be able to use a cheap hot glue gun. It all comes down to the glue and how you want to finish it. Some glues react better than others to finishing products. You may want to use a Forstner bit to make a few fake knots in scrap and test finish. If you like the results - go for it. Either way, kindly publish your results here so we can all learn something.
Thank you for your response! Yes. I completely agree epoxy works great, I’m just after a quicker solution :) I think I’ll take your advice and test some things.
You can try burn in shellac sticks. They come in a wide range of colors (and can be blended together for more options.) You heat up a burn-in knife, apply the stick to it over the defect, and it drips in, you mush it in more completely with the burn-in knife, and let it cool, which only takes a few minutes at most. Shellac is compatible with basically every other finish.
I have a number of the shellac sticks, and still often use epoxy (5-minute) mixed with sawdust. But they are a great option. I think there was an article in FWW long ago about using them.
Harvey
Go with the good advice so far. Drill yourself some knots and then try both the shellac sticks and the epoxy/sawdust combo. If satisfied with neither, then give Knottec a try.
I have no idea what Knottec is.
I heard a talk by Don Williams, who was the head of furniture conservation at the Smithsonian. They did many cosmetic repairs using hot glue guns to fill gaps, gouges and chips. The repairs were blended into the wood using artists paints.
So a hot glue gun is a valid method, and they use it because it is also reversible -- do no harm. But I have no idea if it is possible to go over it with stains or finishes. But it should be really quick, easy, and cheap to figure out.
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