Sawdust and What ? as a filler

[Grahamshed]

Had a nasty slip with the router while making a nine foot long channel for holding a plastic sliding door channel yesterday and now need to fill in a bit of a gap where the router wandered. I have plenty of sawdust ( its a bit of beech ) and I have read somewhere that you can mix this with a certain glue to make a decent filler paste. ( I have my doubts but it is worth a try before dumping it )
Anyone know what the best glue would be ?

 

[mack9110000]

Anyone know what the best glue would be ?

Don't know about glue, I've had good results from "Lecol" resin and fine dust.
mack

 

[AES]

This is (rarely) one I CAN answer (I make LOTS of mistakes)! As someone has already said, FINE sawdust well mixed with ordinary PVA white woodworker's glue. Works well for me.

Best of luck - better than scrapping nine feet of good wood.

AES

 

[DIY Stew]

This is (rarely) one I CAN answer (I make LOTS of mistakes)! As someone has already said, FINE sawdust well mixed with ordinary PVA white woodworker's glue. Works well for me.

Best of luck - better than scrapping nine feet of good wood.

AES

+1

I have used wood dust and PVA many times, works for me.

Stew

 

[gwr]

I have also used this many times.I never had any success with oak though it went a very dark colour nearly black. You should be fine with beech though good luck .

 

[Grahamshed]

Thanks guys, I will give that a go. I have plenty of PVA but had it in mind that it would have to be some form of clear glue.

 

[AES]

Grahamshed,

PVA dries clear (or almost clear) if it's the "normal" PVA and not aliphatic (which dries slightly yellowish).

AES

 

[Benchwayze]

If you need to stain the filler, stain the dust first and let it dry, before you mix it with the glue.

 

[woodbloke]

Whenever I've tried this little trick, the resultant mix when set is always a lot darker than the individual dust and glue...dunno why? Of course, some of us don't need to resort to this sort of caper :-" :lol: :lol: :---) Seriously, I've heard that superglue (thin stuff) and fine dust (produced from sanding) also works very well - Rob

 

[9fingers]

I have also used this many times.I never had any success with oak though it went a very dark colour nearly black. You should be fine with beech though good luck .

It went black because you mixed it with a metal implement or in a metal container. Use a thin offcut as a spatula and mix in a plastic pot. Apply with a wooden spreader too.

Bob

 

[JakeS]

I've heard that superglue (thin stuff) and fine dust (produced from sanding) also works very well

I'm quite familiar with this technique from my plastic-kit-modelling days; it's commonly done with talcum powder, with a sprinkling of baking soda to quickly cure it.

If you're planning on painting your piece and don't care what it looks like, it's a great quick-and-simple filler that's pretty strong and takes sanding well... but if you're going to finish with oil or wax or something else where you can see the wood itself, I'm not sure I'd use it.

Not only will thin superglue get absorbed by nearby wood more quickly than most woodworking glues I've used (and unlike those woodworking glues won't wipe off with a damp rag), but as the superglue dries it'll lay down a white precipitate over nearby surfaces, which will then also need to be cleaned up. (Superglues I've used also tend to cure to a whitish translucent finish themselves, so you'd find it hard to match the wood colour anyway.)

 

[andersonec]

That sounds like a large channel to me, could you not widen it to get rid of the mistake, put in a filler strip then rout it again? no unsightly glue patches then :-k

Andy

 

[RogerS]

I have a lot of success using rare earth pigments and West Systems epoxy. I find that unless you use really really fine dust then it never sands properly.

 

[Grahamshed]

I have also used this many times.I never had any success with oak though it went a very dark colour nearly black. You should be fine with beech though good luck .

It went black because you mixed it with a metal implement or in a metal container. Use a thin offcut as a spatula and mix in a plastic pot. Apply with a wooden spreader too.

Bob

Pearls of wisdom. Thank you

 

[Grahamshed]

That sounds like a large channel to me, could you not widen it to get rid of the mistake, put in a filler strip then rout it again? no unsightly glue patches then :-k

Andy

The 'mistake' was a big one and a part of the channel which was 10mm from the edge of a 9 inch board ( 9 ft long ) is now only 1 or 2 mm from the edge...... But that does give me an idea, I could maybe slice that bit off and do it again, then biscuit a similar width bit to the back of the board...... or I could just chuck it away.

 

[gwr]

Thanks for that 9fingers every day is a schoolday

 

[St.J]

I have a lot of success using rare earth pigments and West Systems epoxy. I find that unless you use really really fine dust then it never sands properly.

While building a strip planked canoe I used the sanding dust from the Red Cedar with West System Epoxy.
This will always come out darker than the wood it comes from so the usual advice is to mix with colloidal silica also sold by West), which is white, until you get the right colour. It's worth letting it cure with a few different mixtures to get the colour spot on. Don't sand the epoxy until it's completely cured.
St.John

 

[Teckel]

If the mistake is bigger than a mm or two you should never use any kind of filler. It looks terrible. You should piece in a bit of the same wood and remachine again or do it that you don't have to machine again. The less filler the better.

 

[Benchwayze]

Graham,

A photo of the damage would help, but if you router has just wandered from the straight and narrow, can't you move the fence over a couple of mm, and rout out the damage? Then glue in a piece of matching stock, and re-cut the groove through the insert, when it's dry? If you don't want to disturb the router setting, have you another one you can use?

HTH

 

[Teckel]

Graham,

A photo of the damage would help, but if you router has just wandered from the straight and narrow, can't you move the fence over a couple of mm, and rout out the damage? Then glue in a piece of matching stock, and re-cut the groove through the insert, when it's dry? If you don't want to disturb the router setting, have you another one you can use?

HTH

Exactly what I said!!!