Good afternoon all,
In my unstained soft ambrosia maple banister system I have a few somewhat
visible pocket holes and in the unstained, exposed red oak stringers, I have
a lot. I can easily plug these essentially invisibly using matched species
plugs with a little tinting and hand-graining with colored pencils, but
since the plugs are essentially end grain (or a diagonal approximation of
it), I'm afraid they will take the finish differently and become obvious.
I'm planning on using a tung oil/orange distillate/beeswax finish I've used
elsewhere. Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation? I've
thought of rubbing a little beeswax on the end grain first, or maybe trying
a very thin shellac. I haven't experimented as yet and need guidance for
which direction to explore.
Thanks
Bill
I'll try out some neutral filler on a sample. Thanks for the suggestion.
I always cut face grain plugs when I can and when I want to hide them, but
these little pocket holes require a 3/8" cylinder to plug them and it has to
be 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" long to cover the bias end cut, which is too deep for my
plug cutters. I've tried making a dowel cutting router jig, but when I try
to feed end grain in (to get a face grain side on the plug), the wood gets
chewed up. A lathe would work to cut dowels with the grain across instead
of along the long axis, but I don't have one. I have looked at the drill
press mini-lathe offered by Penn State Industries, but I'm not sure it
wouldn't be a wasted investment.
One thing I hadn't thought of would be to glue two plugs drilled in end
grain together end-to-end to get the necessary length. That's worth a try.
I off to the shop right now.
Bill
"C" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:29:40 +0000, Bill Hinshaw wrote:
>
> > Good afternoon all,
> >
> > In my unstained soft ambrosia maple banister system I have a few
somewhat
> > visible pocket holes and in the unstained, exposed red oak stringers, I
have
> > a lot. I can easily plug these essentially invisibly using matched
species
> > plugs with a little tinting and hand-graining with colored pencils, but
> > since the plugs are essentially end grain (or a diagonal approximation
of
> > it), I'm afraid they will take the finish differently and become
obvious.
> >
> > I'm planning on using a tung oil/orange distillate/beeswax finish I've
used
> > elsewhere. Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation?
I've
> > thought of rubbing a little beeswax on the end grain first, or maybe
trying
> > a very thin shellac. I haven't experimented as yet and need guidance
for
> > which direction to explore.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Bill
>
>
> How would wood filler work? Plugs don't have to be end grain. How about
> trying to cut plugs to match the grain?
On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 18:29:40 +0000, Bill Hinshaw wrote:
> Good afternoon all,
>
> In my unstained soft ambrosia maple banister system I have a few somewhat
> visible pocket holes and in the unstained, exposed red oak stringers, I have
> a lot. I can easily plug these essentially invisibly using matched species
> plugs with a little tinting and hand-graining with colored pencils, but
> since the plugs are essentially end grain (or a diagonal approximation of
> it), I'm afraid they will take the finish differently and become obvious.
>
> I'm planning on using a tung oil/orange distillate/beeswax finish I've used
> elsewhere. Does anyone have any experience with a similar situation? I've
> thought of rubbing a little beeswax on the end grain first, or maybe trying
> a very thin shellac. I haven't experimented as yet and need guidance for
> which direction to explore.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bill
How would wood filler work? Plugs don't have to be end grain. How about
trying to cut plugs to match the grain?