What is the best way to repair the small “pock marks” that resulted from jointing and planing operations? Can they be filled with small amounts of glue and sawdust and resanded with low to high grit, or is additional planing or scraping required? Some are pitted deep enough that the overall thickness of the wood would have to be thinned considerably to blend in with the marks.
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The "BEST" way to deal with them is to prevent them in the first place. Dampening your wood, taking finer and slower cuts, sharper blades, attention to grain direction... all these strategies will help and cumulatively they will usually prevent most tear-out issues and minimize the ones that remain.
When you have done all that and still have some tear-out that cannot be cut out or used on a non-visible face. You have to assess the situations individually. Type and color of finish, wood color and grain pattern, depth and extent of tear-out, are all important factors. Obviously, you could simply fill and level for a paint finish. A dark stain finish is only slightly less forgiving. On some of my work I deliberately allow such marks to persist and use them as part of an overall distressed and antique look. If you are going for a rubbed out, ultra-high-gloss, water clear, formal finish, on unstained creamy white wood... well... you'll need more help than I can give you.
The method you describe is one that I have used successfully at times. Sometimes I fill with tinted bondo. Sometimes I use a clear filler like shellac stick or maybe just an extra coat or two of my clear finish. I have sometimes carved out a small blemish and glued in a clean patch piece (if you do this in a way that flows into the grain pattern it can be pretty hard to spot). Small areas can sometimes be camoflaged by filling and then painting in faux knot grain.
You see there is no simple answer... but I hope this helps you to understand and deal successfully with the situation.
Newbie here.
How does dampening the material help prior to running material through the planer ?
Thanks
I can only surmise as to WHY (but trust me it REALLY WORKS). I think that it swells the fibers interlocking them more tightly AND lubricates the cut AND softens the fibers (something like foam on whiskers). It works for hand planing too and makes marked to amazing differences (not subtle). The effect is more noticable and more essential on wood with figured or complex busy graining. Straight smooth grained woods won't need it (though it may still be somewhat helpful).
Thanks guys....Sounds easy enough.
It softens the wood fibers much like washing your face with hot water prior to shaving softens your beard -- the end result is a cleaner cut. Granted, with highly figured wood, there is still the chance (a good one at that) you will get some tearout, but wetting the wood first will help greatly. If your lumber isn't figured or doesn't have interlocking or reversing grain you shouldn't need to do this -- the problem then is most likely one of technique -- taking too deep a cut in a single pass, etc.
The important thing is to wet the wood with a damp sponge -- not dripping wet but wet enough to wet the surface of the lumber -- if you have a film of water on the surface of the wood your sponge is too wet. Wet it and then let it sit for about a minute before running through the planer taking very light cuts (works when using the jointer, too). Do this with every pass through the jointer or planer. Yeah, it'll take you longer to mill your stock but you'll end up with far less tearout.
Edited 8/5/2008 11:55 pm ET by pzaxtl
Edited 8/5/2008 11:57 pm ET by pzaxtl
If you are going with a clear finish, try filling the small chip out with Medium CA glue before you do any sanding. It will dry clear and fill the void. When you apply the finish it will be barely noticable.
http://www.superwoodworks.com
Bigfoot said it all
Dampening your wood, taking finer and slower cuts, sharper blades, attention to grain direction...
And leave it a bit 'thick' for a drumb sander! Or final 'grunt work'.
I think it is important to look at your milling habbits. Are you taking too much in a pass? Are you running your glued up panels through a wide planer? The latter is how I got a lot of tear out as a novice. I'd glue it up and take it to the mill and they'd run it through the planer. Often they'd take a heavy cut and just jam it through- what a mess.
Now I joint and plane each board and glue them up as carefully as possible. I flatten the board with a jointer plane and then a jack plane and then a no 4 smoother followed by a scraper. I used a bet sander in the past, but that can make a dreadful botch of it if you aren't very careful. If you are doing this for a living I'd consider a belt sander.
Try it that way and see how it goes. You also get a nicer finish if you plane and then scrape.
Frank
Are you taking too much in a pass? NEVER! I have posted in here as many passes at it takes!
One thing that you'll need to contend with tho' -- there'll be a lot of sand in the wood near the surface. Sand in the wood will dull tools quickly.
run 3
Bigfoot- what do you use to tint bondo? I was thinking about using that or tinted epoxy on some heart pine knots.
To add one thing to what has been mentioned above: If, after your 1st or 2nd pass, you notice that you are getting some chip-out, turn the board around and plane it from the other direction. Also as mentioned, take finer cuts.
If, regardless of other efforts, you still get chip-out, I have had good luck using clear epoxy to fill them. The chip-outs are usually pretty shallow and the epoxy acts as an extension of your finish and, in my experience, becomes practically invisible; particularly with oil based clear coats. If you will be adding a stain, I have had good luck using gel stains over epoxy filled chip-outs. Liquid stains sometimes accentuate them.
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