Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Mar 21, 2008 07:09pm | #1

   My approach, and a very safe one, is to ignore the holes and do all of the finishing and let the finish fully harden, which might take a few days to a week or two, depending on the finish used. At that point the holes will be generally smaller and less conspicuous, because the finish filled them in at least partially, and you will have the exact color of the wood brought out by the finish. You will probably find that the color varies considerably from board to board.

   At that point you can take wood filler crayons, the ones made by Minwax are commonly available, and use them to fill the holes. Even a close match in the color will generally make the holes disappear but you can blend two crayons if you want an even closer match. I have found that going a shade darker with the crayon color is preferable to being on the light side and most wood will darken with time making the match even better.

   Once you work the wax into the nail hole, it takes about 30 seconds of gentle rubbing, a light buffing with a rag will make the filler nearly invisible, and if you don't like it you can try again, something that no prefinish filling technique allows.

   Almost any fillers that you use prior to finishing create problems that won't show up until after you finish the piece. The sawdust and glue trick has never worked well in my experience and is almost always recommended by people who haven't actually done it.

   As always, when you are using a new finishing technique, always test the technique, from beginning to end, on a good size sample before doing the actual finish on the job.

   John White

   
   

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   Edited 3/21/2008 12:17 pm ET by JohnWW