Thread: Regret grain filling with timbermate. Options?

Matching filler to wood grain & colour is never easy, an art in itself imo. Perhaps the best option when one can't resolve torn grain is to make it a feature!

Sometimes it works, sometimes it simply looks cheap and amateurish, your call.

timber mate is water-based, so if you scrub with water. it should come out. I would use a scraper/cabinet scraper on those tears out.

Are you talking about the white filler in the dark timber frame? If so, that filler isn’t even close to the timber colour, so it was always going to look terrible. The rule of thumb is- on dark timbers go darker, on light timbers go lighter.

Since it’s tear-out, you would probably have to sand quite deep to get to the bottom of it.
The scrubbing with water trick is worth a try.
Or you could try staining it with dye stain using a very fine artist’s brush or an ear cleaning bud. Very time consuming though.

Justonething for the win. Bit of water and a non abrasive pad sorted it right out.
First time I’ve used timbermate, didn’t know what to expect.
thanks mate!

I have used a fine brass Brush like this to clean the grain out .

Sabco Brass Bristle Brush - Bunnings Australia

Wet wood with water and brush out going with the grain . You have to go carefully and not bend the brush bristles though . It can take 80% of the problem away and what remains can be covered with a better colour matched filler .

Like has been said colour your filler so its darker than the wood . Use Oxide colours . I use the oxide colours but also have Van Dyke Crystals to use and mix with oxides or other Black water based colours. Van Dyke is a good strong Brown water colour . Used to be made from Walnut Husks but I read modern stuff is a Petro based product . No Idea what is the truth but I make sure Ive always got it . And it gets used very often.

https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop...-dyke-crystals

Van Dyck Crystals: Furniture and Interior Woodwork Dyes | Liberon wood cares

Also . Rarely would I grain fill a raw timber polish job . Its always done after a coat or two of sealer. Water and Oil based fillers have a bad reputation of making a job look muddy. Specially ones with oxide colours added. Depends on the wood though. Some are much worse than others. An Aussie hard wood can with close grain that is glassy hard wont be a problem like a soft absorbent Aussie Red Cedar is . A coat or two of sealer then grain fill and let the filler dry , then cut it back. If done right can keep a clear look with just the grain being slightly darker and partially filled. Then seal it in again.

Far out Auscab, you’re a wealth of knowledge. Thanks so much for generously sharing what you know.
those are some great tips.

I’m at that point in the project where I just want it done, but I know I should stop and do these steps. I did a test panel for finishing yesterday, and it came up fantastic. Mirotone pre-cat.
I should throw a coat or two of sanding sealer on, get some oxide (or even use the black pigment that I use for epoxy, luci clear), fill the tear out, and then topcoat.

I know it will haunt me forever if I let it slip through!

I’ve also come to learn over the last few projects that it’s the quality of the repairs that set apart a great piece from an average one. There are no problems in this project (that I’m aware of) that I haven’t been able to make good in some way. Thanks in large part to the advise from others!

Coffee grounds makes a good wood tint for Timbermate. The more grounds the darker the brown tint. You can match from Ash to Walnut just by the amount of coffee.

Interesting. Do you use dry grind, or grounds after the coffee has been brewed?
Probably post brew, it’d mix and leach it’s colour more easily…

might just try that.

Actually the tearout isn’t that bad. I wanna see how the sanding sealer goes first. It may well cover most of it

I do not want to discourage you, or argue with Rob or Rusty, but I have found it extremely difficult, nigh impossible, to get a convincing result by tinting fillers. If you are going to paint it, then fine, the filler is invisible.

But if you use a clear finish then my filler is always visible, and a better finish makes it even more visible. Yuk!

I now avoid fillers assiduously. But I use salvaged woods and often have to make nail holes, screw holes, knot holes and other blemishes go away - my solution is to use plugs of the same timber, glued in with grain aligned.

Fresh grinds liquified with hot water then mixed into the neutral colour timbermate. You don't need much to start getting a tint going. One drop from a syringe to a teaspoon of timbermate will produce a light brown colour. Keep adding coffee, a drop at a time, until the desired colour is reached. If you add too much just add a bit more neutral timbermate. Once the applied tinted filler has dried it will look much lighter than when it was wet and probably looks too light for the job but this will change when a polish is applied to the surface and the tinted filler will return to it's wet look.

I doubt you have the knowledge or the skill to fill tear out and make it look like anything other than crap - nobody does. But the caveat to that is how good your eyes are and what the project is. For me, my eyes are good and anything I make, can't have crap filler patches showing.

The tear out must be removed, there's no short cut.

There is another option but it's not perfect. A full-bodied clear finish. Usually used to fill all the pores in the wood, not tear out... Essentially you build up a clear coat, not tinted, of lacquer or shellac, not an oil-based varnish, sand it back, do it again, till everything is filled and smooth. There's a chance the tear out will still be somewhat visible and it's a lot of work to find out it didn't work.

YMMV

Sorry Spin Doc, I beg to differ. As an apprentice, I worked under the watchful eye of an old English tradesman who did his time with Rolls Royce making their dash boards. What he could do with filler, when necessary, was absolutely amazing. Not to mention his french polishing. Burr Walnut ws his specialty. No matter how rough, he could get a glass finish on it. Mr Magic we used to call him. And he was.

Sorry Rusty, I beg to differ.

I suggest that you might be unintentionally denigrating the exceptional craft skills of your mentor, by suggesting that I, or even the Spin Doctor, could replicate those skills. I know/knew half a dozen French polishers with exceptional skills in making problems disappear, but I was not a good student and my efforts have mainly been dismal. As I do not intend doing an apprenticeship with Rolls Royce, and have found that my best solution is to avoid the problem.

PS: I really admire the skills that you and I reference, but they are just too hard for me to acquire.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Sorry Spin Doc, I beg to differ. As an apprentice, I worked under the watchful eye of an old English tradesman who did his time with Rolls Royce making their dash boards. What he could do with filler, when necessary, was absolutely amazing. Not to mention his french polishing. Burr Walnut ws his specialty. No matter how rough, he could get a glass finish on it. Mr Magic we used to call him. And he was.

I don't disagree that people could do an amazing job at hiding imperfections, but they weren't perfect cover ups by any stretch to an eye that can see them... Also, emphasis on could. Those that could are retired or dead. There simply aren't the skilled people out there anymore to pull that off. Hence what I said.

Now the caveat to that is this in a general statement and you might actually find a phenom out there that can, but they are rare as hens' teeth and this a forum for primarily weekend warriors and a smattering of professionals wanting to share and learn. So, such skill is irrelevant to the project because it's not obtainable by those making the projects.