Filling defects in pine

[tekno.mage]

I'm helping a friend make some prototypes of some steel & wood furniture she has designed and due to a rather tight deadline, the wood we have available is pine (rather than the ash we'd have preferred). As I'm really from the spinney side of things and more used to dealing with hardwoods, I'm after some advice about filling the defects in the wood (which is destined for an osmo oil finish). Despite choosing the best pieces from the timber available we have live knots with cracks in them, some dead & chipped knots and a few resin channels as well

If I was turning and dealing with cracks, knots etc in harder woods, I'd normally fill the defect with the wood's own sanding dust, then trickle in thin superglue to hold it all together. I've done a test fill on some scrap using this method and it seems to work, but would appreciate advice from others with more experience in using pine than me before going ahead on the pieces we are going to use.

I'm also not sure how to deal with the few sticky resin channels (the wood was air, not kiln, dried). If I was going to paint over it, I'd use knotting and a good primer I wondered about washing out the sticky stuff with turpentine and filling the channel, but again I don't know if this would work.

 

[joiner_sim]

The resin channels, I would have cut out as smartly as possible with a chisel.

I would fill everything up with this product: (The 2 part filler)

http://www.everbuild.co.uk/products/35,Fillers-and-Decorating-Sundries/37,Wood-Fillers/1

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Kym,

A real dilemma this. Simons filler is a great product but the colour match will be iffy at best, especially once oiled. If it was painted I would have no hesitation in using it.

Old school method is to mix pine sanding dust with PVA glue and fill with that. It works well but again there is a colour match issue as the glue in the mix won't absorb the finish. Do a test piece first.

Epoxt resin is another option. Usually clear, unless you mix something with it, may be a good option.

The only other option, although a time consuming and skilled method, is to cut out the fault and patch it with a piece of matching wood.

Hope this is of some help

Cheers

Richard