Thread: Filling screw holes

Strungout,

I have put screw holes exactly where they were not supposed to be and at the worst possible time and place- in the sides of a tv unit on some very nice silky oak panels. Happily I have made this error before. One of the good things about making mistakes is that if you make them often enough you get good at covering them up. What I did was exactly what you suggested. I took a piece of the same timber and cut a small cylinder just big enough to fit into the screw holes. You will need to get the grain direction the same of course. I used a stanley knife to shape the piece. It helps to make a tight fit if it is tapered a bit. Make it longer than you need and push or hammer it into the hole with a bit of glue added and leave a bit of it sticking out. Then when the glue is dry carefully put a bit of glue just around the entry point of the sliver (a little bit only as you do not want to get glue pushed into the grain of the surrounding timber) and sand the whole thing flat. The dust from the sanding will fill any small imperfections around the entry point and will mix with the glue and chances are that the mistake will disappear. At least it will disappear to anybody who looks at the final job. You who made the mistake and know where it is will always think that it looks like a bomb crater. If the sliver is glued in, that part of the job will probably be the strongest part as most glues set harder than the timber they are used on. Anyway this works for me and I hope it works for you.

Can cut a tiny plug or cone out of face grain of some matching scrap if you have access to a scrollsaw.

Money for jam.


Sean