another question

[anthony wall]

from the great answers i received to my last question i have now located mineral oil (salad oil)and beeswax so now i have another question ,can anyone tell me what i can mix sanding dust with to make a wood filler ?the only wood glue that i can find is elmers yellow glue which tends to change the color of the filler, i have used it on mahogany but the filled spots are much darker than the mahogany, oh yes the reason for the filler is to fill small nail holes as most of the wood that i use is reclaimed,i haven't tried it yet but maybe laquer would serve to bind the sanding dust together as i usually use laquer to finish items

[glenn bradley]

This could be heading the opposite direction you want to go but, using reclaimed makes me want to emphasize the fact. If the hole is not acceptable I would fill with tinted epoxy and not worry too much about a match. I wouldn't tint it pink but, I wouldn't try to make the "character" invisible either.

[anthony wall]

hi glen,that is one way to go but i would prefer to try to hide the small holes rather than make them obvious , with bigger inperfections i use either a dutchman or round plugs cut from the offcuts ,seems counter productive to try hiding some and hi-lighting others

[Sam Murdoch]

Epoxy will bind the sawdust to the wood for forever, discreetly and will finish over nicely. Otherwise you can use colored wax sticks from Mohawk or Minwax intended specifically for this purpose http://www.woodfinishersstore.com/pr...sortments.html

[anthony wall]

thanks sam i will try the epoxy ,colored wax sticks are not available over here unless childrens crayons will do the job ?

[Sam Murdoch]

Anthony, I think I should add a few caveats - The epoxy/saw dust mix should be very thick of saw dust. You don't want a dripping epoxy. That is fine on a table top (I use it often to fill knot holes but that is a different posts - air bubble issues) but if you are working on a vertical surface you don't want epoxy dripping down the face out of the holes you are trying to fill. Even 5 minute epoxy drips. Ideally you will mix a slurry that holds together enough to fill the nail hole. Try to not smear on with a putty knife but really just fill the hole slightly overfull without getting your mix arbitrarily in the surrounding wood. This is a good rule when filling any holes with any material. Overfill just adds more work as you will need to sand smooth again before finish. The tendency is to concentrate the sanding on the filled holes rather than the entire surface evenly and so when you apply your finish you end up with little divets of extra sanded "holes" all over your work. Not a bad idea to tape around your nail holes though that might be very impractical. Just use a thin pointed applicator and be a direct as you can with the fill. Once the surface is sanded your finish will be the final binder.

Having said all that - I don't know where you live but around here any store that sells paint has various nail hole fill sticks to match nearly any color of stain grade wood. Mohawk and Minwax are just a few name brands. Using these after your finish is applied is so much easier than the epoxy fill and likely cleaner too!

Otherwise have fun with the epoxy. Good luck.

[anthony wall]

thanks again sam i have already tried the epoxy and mixed it to a putty like consistency then used a tiny trowel to carefully fill the holes ,not sanded down yet but it seems fine for what i want ,by the way i live in thailand now and woodworking products are either scarce or none existent