Stainable wood putty, my a$$!!

[WarPony]

I used Elmer's white wood putty all over my travel trailer to cover the nail holes and sunken screw heads. I started staining with Minwax Golden Pecan on top of birch ply and I might as well have painted the whole thing black and highlighted the holes white!!! Now I'm going to have to hog out all that crap and start over! I'm not so worried about the interior but I want the sides and back to look good. I have to have this F'er water tight to go to Minden and I've taken all the steps I made forwards....... backwards. I was under the impression it would stain the same as the product I was staining it with. The holes I'm covering are too big for the wax pencil, so that is out of the question. I used it for some of the small nail holes and was not impressed at all. What did/do you guys use for the divets?

[Michael W]

I have red oak paneling and used Minwax Golden Oak stain. For filler in the brad holes I used the Elmers Golden Oak stainable filler. It worked well for me. Here is a photo of several brands I tested before deciding on which to uese.



Note, the Minwax brand on the left is intended to be used after the workpiece is stained and finished, all of the others are pre-stain types. Good luck with your project, I hope it comes together in time for Minden.

[Guest]

WP,
Thickened epoxy works good, if you thicken it with fine sawdust , usually from a sander...
If you want an exact color match, or real close to it... you'll need to play with it a bit because thickened epoxy with the same sawdust as the wood being filled usually comes out a tick darker.
Glen Smith from the Bear Mountain Boat forum told me that he uses regular white baking flour to lighten his batch of thickened epoxy... I haven't tried that yet, but Glen has never steered me wrong.

BTW- Micheal... nice job showing and documenting your test results.

[Chris C]

Warpony.................Sorry to hear about your problem. Bet you are really upset. Wood Putty and Wood Filler are two entirely different products. You are quite correct in that Wood Putty does not accept stain. Wood Putty comes in colors so it can fill nail holes in previously painted or stained wood. (you buy a color which closely matches the paint/stain)

[mikeschn]

Hey Warpony,

Hope you can salvage your teardrop...

Michael W,

did you take your sample of wood with the fillers and run some stain over it so we can see what the result looks like?

MIke...

[WarPony]

Well, this is a learning experience for me and I learned to use unknown products on scrap wood before I commit to the real deal. I was really torqued last night but I will just keep pluggin' away. Thanks for the pic, Mike W. That really helped out a bunch. I'll go and get some different stuff tomorrow and get after it in the morning

[GeorgeT]

I have used that Miniwax wood putty in the photo above with good results. Most times you can't find a good match so what I do is use oil paints, the kind that comes in the little tubes you can buy at Michael's and Hobby Lobby. Take a little of the putty and put on a plate or something similar and add a touch of the oil paint and mix thoroughly and then try it out. Usually it dries the same color as when wet. For woods you could buy Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna oil paint tubes. You should be able to match nearly anything, just play with it a bit. The putty you buy that is already some color is just white putty mixed with a combination of the colors I mentioned above. The ingredients in the oil paint tubes is just about the same stuff they use to color the putty. Pigment and linseed oil. If you need it to be a lighter color use whiting powder ( I think Home Depot might sell it) or as stated above good ol' white baking flour, enriched not whole wheat.

[Michael W]

Here are the photos of the wood filler test board on the red oak panelling. The second photo shows the results after it was stined wiht Minwax Golden Oak Stain and Minwax Satin Spar Urethane. You can see why I chose the Golden Oak colored filler. It hides the brad holes the best.

[WarPony]

Mike W, I got some of that Minwax Wood Putty and tried that but it says it doesn't ever dry so I scooped it out and mixed the white Elmers putty with a small drop of walnut colored putty and gooped it in. Looks good so far. I'll sand it, stain it and hope it doesn't show too bad. It won't match perfect but I don't have time to be anal about it.