Filling holes in Elm

[Aled Dafis]

Hi. I'm coming to the end of an Elm Cofee Table build and need to start finishing it - my least favourite part of any project!!!

I want to use a Shellac finish on the table and will use Fiddies Table Top Polish as it has Melamine in it for extra durability and greater resistance to heat/liquid. My problem is that I'm using an old plank of Elm that has some worm holes - dead, but treated anyway just incase - and I really need to fill them before applying the polish, so what should I use to fill the holes? I've been careful to ensure that almost all holes are on the underside of the tabletop so will be unseen, but I still want to fill/hide them as well as possible.

My understanding is that it's best to apply a sealer before applying the filler and then to sand back the filler before applying the finish. I once saw John Lloyd demonstrate this at a show, but wasn't listening quite intently enough to remember what filler he used etc.

Cheers
Aled

 

[CHJ]

Well in turnings I use the fine sanding dust and thin CA, this does result in a darker filler tone though, applying sealer first limits the CA bleed and possible staining into the surrounding wood, although I've managed to get natural looking bleed patterns on dark wood like Elm with a quick wipe of the wet CA with a cloth.

 

[sawdustjon]

Hi! Aled, I work a lot with elm, (be it on an amateur level) and depending on the amount of worm damage and the area it covers I usually drill out the damaged section pop in a pellet of elm from the same board if possible, orient the grain direction and sand it flush when dry.
Give it a try on an offcut and see what you think.

 

[Aled Dafis]

Thanks for the advice guys. I used plain old Rustins wood filler in the end and it did a great job.

I also bought some Rustins grain filler, but when I tested it against the standard filler, I found that the standard filler gave a better finish. I just need to get hold of some tabletop polish now to finish the job.

Aled