Wood plugs - ring when staining

[Aaron Headley]

Hi all. First post, and I appreciate all the tips & wisdom I've gathered here the last few weeks.

I am refinishing a ~100 year-old built-in oak cabinet. I would like to conceal old nail holes with tapered face grain oak plugs that I got at Woodcraft. In my first test, I used a forstner bit to prepare the nail hole for the 3/8" plug. After hammering in in the plug, without any glue, I sanded it flush. Then, when I stained the plug to match the piece, I ended up with a dark ring around the plug.

Does anyone have any tips on how to minimize this ring? Perhaps I didn't hammer in the plug enough? Like I mentioned, no glue was used, so it isn't the stain reacting differently to glue. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Jim Mackell]

Any chance you could post a photo?

[Aaron Headley]

Sure, here goes. Hopefully this works.
IMG_1735v2.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Those nail holes are part of the piece and I would leave them w/o trying to fill them, etc. unless they are in some place where they just look awful. For those, and only those, I would cover the hole with a diamond shaped patch, not a round plug. A good grain match with a diamond shaped patch will look almost invisible. A round plug never will.

John

[Mark W Pugh]

So, how does he hide the outline of the plug when staining? Interesting, if it can be done.

[Jamie Buxton]

I think the bit chattered as it went into the wood. That is, the diameter of the hole down in the hole is different from the diameter right at the surface. The dark ring is a little v-shaped groove.

Perhaps you can avoid the chattering by clamping a waste block on to the face of the door, and drilling through it into the door. The chattering will happen on the face of the waste block.

[Aaron Headley]

John,

I agree, with a 100 year old piece, there are a lot of things like those small nicks and nail holes that are better left alone, because they help tell the piece's story. Not gonna touch them. Also, this is the inside of a vanity door, so it won't be seen much. But I like your thought about a diamond-shaped patch. Sounds like it would result in much less conspicuous patching. Although I assume it's a job done primarily with a chisel & hammer, correct?

Aaron

[Aaron Headley]

I think the bit chattered as it went into the wood. That is, the diameter of the hole down in the hole is different from the diameter right at the surface. The dark ring is a little v-shaped groove.

Perhaps you can avoid the chattering by clamping a waste block on to the face of the door, and drilling through it into the door. The chattering will happen on the face of the waste block.

Jamie,
Yes, good point, I am pretty sure it chattered going in. If I do more of these plugs, I will take your advice on the waste block.

Aaron

[Brian W Smith]

If at all possible,try some "draft" on the hole/plug........be they,round,square or whatever.Try about 5-10%....good luck.

[Rick Mosher]

Use walnut and celebrate the joinery.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Jamie. The pigment is simply gathering in the irregularities between the plug and the hole. Lipped bits make a super clean entrance hole and tapered plug can help as well.

[Steve Baumgartner]

Hi all. First post, and I appreciate all the tips & wisdom I've gathered here the last few weeks.

I am refinishing a ~100 year-old built-in oak cabinet. I would like to conceal old nail holes with tapered face grain oak plugs that I got at Woodcraft. In my first test, I used a forstner bit to prepare the nail hole for the 3/8" plug. After hammering in in the plug, without any glue, I sanded it flush. Then, when I stained the plug to match the piece, I ended up with a dark ring around the plug.

Does anyone have any tips on how to minimize this ring? Perhaps I didn't hammer in the plug enough? Like I mentioned, no glue was used, so it isn't the stain reacting differently to glue. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

If you used a pigment stain, it seems likely that the pigment lodged in the minuscule gap where the open grain meets the edge of the hole. Even tiny roughness there will trap pigment and cause a ring. You might try a dye stain to see if that helps. Otherwise you would need to fill the grain to prevent this, and it would be very hard to fill only the gap without affecting the adjacent surface!

[Prashun Patel]

Your problem is that you didn't glue the plug. This causes 2 issues: 1) the physical crevice that allows pigment to settle, and 2) unsealed end grain that allows the stain to get sucked in. You risk the same issue if you try to dye it because of 2).

The thing to do is GLUE your plugs, then sand them flush. The glue will block the crevice and prevent any stain from penetrating or settling on top.

[Howard Acheson]

Part of the circumference of the dowel is end grain. The end end grain will soak up more of your stain causing a highlighting of the circumference.

You should plan your construction so that your insert and glue your dowels before you apply your stain.

I also suggest you practice your doweling in some scrap to learn how it goes.

[John TenEyck]

You can do it with a knife, chisel, and mallet, or you can hog out the majority with a router and then do the finesse work with a chisel. I do it the later way because a router makes a nice flat recess. Make the diamond a little thicker than the hole, glue and clamp it, then plane/scrape it flush.

John