How to fill a knot hole gap?

[James Spillman]

So, I intended to use epoxy to fill a hole in a board that had a loose round 2 inch knot in it. Before I could apply the epoxy the knot fell out. Now I have board with a rather large hole in it. How can I fill the hole? Fortunately, this board will be a drawer divider, so the knot hole won't show. I really don't have to fill it. Nevertheless I'd like to be able to fill it. Any suggestions?

[Brian Henderson]

Epoxy the knot back in? Or if you've lost that part, get an appropriately sized dowel and epoxy that in.

[Christian Setla]

Even if you can't recover the loose knot, I'd still consider epoxy as it does not shrink when setting. I can't really think of anything cheaper that would set without shrinking. You could always cut a patch, but I'd still be using epoxy. Without the knot, it can get tricky to fill the void without epoxy running all over... I'd use some painters tape to seal one side, lay it flat and fill with epoxy. There are epoxy putties that can be used, but you still need to seal one side, but in that case you could use something hard with a wax coating to help it release.... If using regular epoxy, mixing in some sawdust from the same wood would help with colour and see through aspects.

[Jim Becker]

For a "no show" part, to retain the material, you could just fill the hole with a round or rectangular patch of material of the same thickness. Round could be cut using a fly cutter on a drill press (reversing the cutter for the plug); rectangular or any other shape could be done in any number of ways. But honestly, it may be easier to just make a new piece. :)

[Ted Derryberry]

I'd drill it with a forstner bit and cut a plug to fit, if I were short of the material and/or had already put away the jointer/planer for the weeks production. If not, I'd mill a new piece.

Tip: Cut the plug out of slightly thicker material and let it "stand proud" on both sides. Cut it down with a router with a large baseplate hole and a mortising or similar bit set just above "zero". Sand it from there.