Wood Filler Problem, Shrinkage

[jason lambert]

I feel it is to late to fix this but I have a problem I went to fill some seams in wood where I joined two pieces and they separated a little, maybe a 1/8 of a inch at most, anyhow I picked up some Elmer's wood filler from home depot and went to fill and all it did is crack. It went into the joint and cracked so now I will try to put more in.

I feel I used the wrong product it must shrink when dries what should I have used? What did I do wrong?

[Joe Spear]

Describe the joint that you made. Is it end-to-end? Side-to-side? Is it in a table? A door? What? In any case, wood filler is not the answer. It is inflexible and will crumble as the wood expands and contracts with humidity changes. If you don't care much about how it looks, flexible caulking might fill it. If you do care how it looks, maybe you should do it over more precisely after making sure your wood is stable. A photo would help others analyze the situation.