Hi,
I am building a cherry library that will be finished natural (no stain) with a catalyzed lacquer. There will be thousands of nail holes to fill prior to finishing the fabricated wood components and then nail holes to fill in the field after installation.
I am contemplating making a nail hole filler from cherry sawdust for use prior to finishing the wood components. The theory being that maybe the filler will darken with age along with the rest of the cherry wood.
The question is what would be the best binder to use with the sawdust?
Requirements are:
A high ratio of wood dust to binder to maximize the darkening aspect of the cherry woodust
minimal shrinkage
sands easily
accepts finish
consistency to allow to work into small nail holes
doesn’t leave a halo around the fill after it’s been sanded
Tall order eh?
Any ideas for after finish filling of nailholes created during installation?
Thanks, spango
Replies
Yes, it is a tall order, I'd think.
But why so many nail holes? There are lots of ways to attach face frames and moldings to carcasses without nails from the front. Biscuits, Kreg screws, glue, dowels, and so forth.
If I had to chose a binder, it would be liquid hide glue. Hide glue accepts finish well, lessening the risk of odd donuts around holes.
Edited 6/6/2006 7:43 pm ET by SteveSchoene
Steve, Jeff, Montana andy,
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I will explore methods to reduce exposed nail fastening and also test hide glue and shellac as binder for my nail hole filler.
Spango
spango
The best way I've found is to have a squirt bottle of blonde shellac, and squirt a little on the area, and sand it in wet. The slurry fills the holes, and dries extremely fast. I learned that one from Jeff Miller, so I'm giving him the credit.
Jeff
Great tip Jeff, I will definitely try the slurry method.
Thanks, Mike
As an aside, I saw a hint of doing the nailing through a strip of the blue masking tape and then filling the hole with whatever. Saves a lot of sanding and keeps the fill to the size of the nail.
Thanks, I'll try it.
Mike
I ditto what Steve is saying. I make large built-ins almost exclusively these days, and with a little planning, and pocket screws, you should be able accomplish assembly without many, if any, nail holes showing. I attach all face frames and mouldings from behind with pocket screws. With a little fore though, you can plan assembly in an order in which no nail holes are required.
To answer your question, you can also mix fine cherry dust with a shellac for a filler.
Jeff
for some time I've used a mix of sawdust from the parent wood and superblond shellac.... After sanding the filled areas, I generally use the same light cut of shellac as a sealer. Then I apply whatever finish I'm going to use... The filled areas virtually dissappear! Best of luck
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