Replies

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Aug 12, 2008 04:00am | #1

   Frank,

   Are these loose knots where the entire knot has fallen out?  If not, I'd go with a dark brown-dyed epoxy.

   Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

1. 
   FrankDrackman | Aug 12, 2008 05:22am | #3

   No, the entire knot is not gone.  Portions of a few of the knots are missing.  What do you use to color the epoxy brown?

1. 
   flairwoodworks | Aug 13, 2008 07:31am | #8

   Frank,

   Universal tinting colours would be my first choice (and only one I've tried).Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com

    - Success is not the key to happines.  Happiness is the key to success.  If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer

2. 
   WillGeorge | Aug 12, 2008 10:32am | #4

   Cop out here..

   I go to my local art store.

   I walk up to the young lady that is usually at the counter. I ask her for advice after telling her what beautiful eyes she has..

   I walk away with oils that work perfect and how to use them! From a artist that owns the place!

   I forgot to mention.. I winked at her and gave her a BIG hug from far off as I left the store...

   Edited 8/12/2008 3:42 am by WillGeorge

2. 
   Pondfish | Aug 12, 2008 04:19am | #2

   Epoxy is a good choice.  To color it, I use oil pigments (the things painters use).  You can get a set of 12-36 colors pretty cheap from your local hobby shop like AC Moore.  You only need a little bit to color the epoxy.

   Be careful when mixing the epoxy that you don't introduce a lot of bubbles, as these will end up as pits in the finished (dried) epoxy.  Using a slower setting epoxy helps.

   Overfill the hole slightly, and trim it back when the epoxy starts to harden.  When dry, it can be sanded and polished to a glassy finish.

   Good luck.  Don't forget to TEST it first.

   Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
3. 
   philip | Aug 12, 2008 12:02pm | #5

   Why must you fill with a foriegn material? Knots are very quick, easy and satisfying to remedy - by planting new matching wood or sound knots . Done properly nobody but you will know, and no problems down the line with changes in the filler, cracks etc.
   I posted pictures etc on doing this but at the moment cannot work the archives to give you a link-maybe someone else can.
   If you are interested I can show pictures of examples done.

   Philip Marcou
1. 
   FrankDrackman | Aug 12, 2008 07:27pm | #6

   I too have had great success patching defects with matching wood.  I have also used contrasting wood to highlight the defects but I think that the particular design of this piece would best be achieved by filling them.

4. 
   bigfootnampa | Aug 12, 2008 11:06pm | #7

   I would reccommend powdered mortar colors for epoxy... though I do use paint tinters for Bondo tinting.  Some two part glues are sensitive to the chemical contaminants in the liquid tinters.  Bondo seems not to be.  I would just use bondo for such purposes unless I had to work on a corner... there the epoxy is useful because it will glue more strongly and is also a bit harder itself.

   As far as browns go the two most useful are the Umbers.  Burnt umber has strong reddish tones and raw umber is more greenish with some gray tones.  Black will darken either and yellow is good to lighten them.  Raw and Burnt umbers mixed will give a pretty true brown as the reds in the BU are canceled by the greens in the RU.  Overall I use more RU than BU.  Van Dyke brown is a mix of pigments but tends to be about what you get when mixing about 1 part BU with 2 parts RU.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 8/12/2008 4:13 pm ET by bigfootnampa

5. 
   SteveSchoene | Aug 13, 2008 09:34am | #9

   If you aren't going to fill with matching wood, then I would not attempt to fill the defects until after the piece has had its stain, if any, and at least a coat of the top coat applied.  I generally like burn-in sticks, sometimes with a little texture added to match the wood texture, or sometimes with a few grain lines painted in with tinted shellac.