Gap filler on laminated piece

[Brian Kent]

I placed the maple inlays in the walnut. This is a unique piece of wood, from Sam Maloof's stock. It will be one of 7 pieces of an altar communion set for a seminary, so I really can't start over (actually I have enough wood to replace only one mistake).

This will be a reed design for a pitcher. When I looked closely, a couple of the maple pieces are not securely glued to the walnut. In the first photo, all of the inlays need help. In the second photo, the middle of the vessel, the second from the left needs help.

So I am looking for an adhesive that will not stain, that will fill the gap, and that will hold well. I plan on turning the outside of the vessel and then us the gap filling adhesive. The final thickness will be 3/16 to 1/4", with an epoxy coating on the inside so it can hold liquid.

My 1st choice is epoxy, though I am not sure how well it will seep in.
2nd choice is medium CA glue, which will fill, but may discolor. I have covered a scrap piece of the walnut with medium CA to see how much the discoloring would show under wipe-on Poly.
The original glue used is Titebond II.

So what would you do?

[John Keeton]

Shellac. My go to filler for situations like this. It will dry quickly, so do light coats. You can use an eye dropper, or pick up some on a skewer and weep it into the cracks.

[David DeCristoforo]

From where I sit, it's going to be very difficult to fill those gaps inconspicuously. What did you cut the grooves with? I suppose that it irrelevant at this point but a cleanly cut groove is pretty much a necessity for this kind of inlay work. If it were me, I would use epoxy mixed with dust from the walnut. You could sand the back side of the walnut piece to get the dust which would be a decent color match. Use slow setting epoxy as the quick set stuff will not really set hard. If you use enough dust to make a runny paste, you can work it into the gaps with a thin piece of shim stock.