Hard Wood Gap Filler

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Flock of Art
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Hard Wood Gap Filler

Post by Flock of Art »

Hi everyone!
I have been a framer for a while and I have been lucky enough to purchase the contents of another framing company in Ellesmere port,
The equipment hasn’t been used for a while and the wood filler has gone hard, it seems such a Shame to throw such a large quantity away, so does anyone have any tips on wetting it up again so that I can use it?
All the very best,
Ben
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prospero
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Re: Hard Wood Gap Filler

Post by prospero »

What sort of wood filler is it? If it's water-based then chuck it. :lol:
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Re: Hard Wood Gap Filler

Post by Justintime »

Or add some water!! :Slap:
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Re: Hard Wood Gap Filler

Post by Not your average framer »

I never seem to be able to make proper use of a full tin of filler. It's getting a bit ropy by the time that I'm getting to the bottom of the tin. I've got various types of filler and this includes a full set of the different wax and clay fillers that Lion were selling in 1999, I like to have some two part resin based wood filler, which is activated to set with a little tube of hardener and finally I got a few tubes of a water based gap filling adhesive of which the current batch is called Instant Nails.

The two part resin sets hard and sand down well and it great for when you are filling damage on the edge of a moulding, even on a 90 degree edge it's really durable and holds the edge which you sanded it to. After sanding it, you can stain it, or paint it, or even a combination of both. The two part resin does not sand down quite as evenly when it's getting a bit old. I tend to use quite a bit of the two part resin filler when trying to reuse odd bits of Oak moulding, which have machining defects.

You can't use this for normal oak frames, but I do the occasional rustic oak frames and these have a betten up finish in places, but I can also do Oak driftwood frames and the filler wire brushes quite well with a rotery wire brush. After filling, a bit of staining and painting in the the driftwood grain will a manky looking warm grey biege coulour and the surplus wiped off, it don't look bad at all and I sell these as ready made frames, these left over rustic bits of Oak, don't come in particularly useful legths, so sometimes you have to make some petty non standard sized frames, but customers like them.

Obviously some bits of Oak need too much filling are not worth the bother. I also have a dry powder filler that you mix with water, it's quite gritty and it works well for mixing with other things, when a bit of grittiness is needed. Water based fillers which are going past their best are not particularly useful. If you add a drop of water, it often goes a bit funny, so I usually mix it with PVA glue instead. Sometimes it's better than other times and to be honest the results are a bit variable, so maybe not exactly worth recommending.
Mark Lacey

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