Normites! I have a question.

[Pete Lamberty]

Hi Everyone, I need to fill some cracks, in wood, in a project that I am making. I have read some recent posts on filling cracks, but none of them seem right for my piece. I remember watching an episode of the NYW in which Norm used a sort of thick liquid to fill the cracks in his project. I think Norm was making a table out of cypress. It was a light colored wood that had black areas of knots and cracks. It may have been for outdoor use. I could be wrong on this part. There were large black areas in the wood with large cracks. He used a product that was about the thickness of a milk shake. It was black in color. He poured a liberal amount of this stuff into and around the cracks, and used something as a sort of spatula to spread it around the surface and into the voids. I would guess that I saw this episode a couple of years ago. But it could have been a repeat from an earlier year. My question is, what is the name of this product and does the NYW mention who makes it in their credits at the end of the show? Thanks for any help you can give me. Pete

[Lynn Sonier]

I'm pretty sure what you saw was epoxy. You can mix epoxy with many things to get the right colors for your wood. I use baby powder and epoxy to patch red oak because the epoxy itself is amber and it matches pretty good. Regular sawdust comes out a little too dark, unless , of course, you need dark. You can use any kind of powder -baking soda. wood flour, etc. You can also mix in powdered dye to get close to the color you want. I usually put masking tape right up next to the split or hole you want to fill. Your epoxy should be the consistency of peanut butter. After you apply the epoxy, remove the tape and you have less sanding to do. It is, of course, very difficult to sand. For a patch like you speak of, 5 minute epoxy is good unless you need more working time. I have found the best source for small quantities of epoxy is Kingspor. They sell System Three epoxy. I used a couple of gallons about a year and a half ago to build a dinghy.

[Mac McAtee]

Norm was working with mesquite wood. It has many cracks and bark inclusions. You use black epoxy to fill all the voids and then sand it off level. You can find a quart of fiberglass resin and a little bottle of stuff to color it with at most boat supply houses. You also can find it at an auto parts store. It works quite well.

If the holes or cracks go completely through the board then you put a piece of masking tape on the back side to keep the stuff from running right on through.

[Mac McAtee]

I believe Norm was using expoxy from West Brothers. They make expoxy glues and resins for the boat building trade and they the stuff is also very useful in other woodworking areas. I have never tried but I suspect if you did a web search for something like "West Brothers System", you could turn it up.

[Todd Burch]

I add graphite to West System Epoxy to make it black.

I had to use some epoxy today.

I was making some replacement bed rails for a client and when driving the dowel pins that held the hook-bracket, the wood split, as I had mispositioned the hook bracket. The 1X6 red oak split about 6" into the rail along the grain. I drove a 1" chisel into it to spread it open a bit. I put blue painters tape on the bottom of the split, then mixed up some fast-cure epoxy and poured it in. I then c-clamped it together, and a couple hours later after sanding, I absolutely could not tell where the split used to be. Hoo-rah.