Stephen Edwards
04-11-2008, 10:13 AM
I've had excellent results with one particular techinque that I read about here on SMC. I work a lot with eastern red cedar, which is noted for tear out during planing because of irregular grain.....the grain is apt to switch directions. That particular problem has always annoyed me and been a hassle to deal with. Now that I have drum sander it's less of a problem but still comes up ocassionally. Here's the solution that has worked well for me:
When I have an annoying void in a piece of otherwise nice cedar, or any other species of wood for that matter, that is too deep to sand out I first sand the void so that there are no jagged or rough edges around the perimeter and the bottom. In other words I try to make the void a smoothed out shallow "bowl" shape. Then, I apply whatever clear finish to the void and surrounding area that I'm going to use on the project I'm working on. (I don't use stains so I can't offer advice about that.) After the finish has dried I fill the void with one or more coats of crazy glue until it's a bit higher than the surrounding area. After the crazy glue has dried I sand it down flush with the the surrounding area of the void. Then, I apply the clear finish as normal to the project.
By following the above steps I find that the void is hardly noticible at all. The trick is to sand the roughness of the void first and then a coat of the finish in the void before filling with crazy glue.
Thanks to those of you who turned me on to this very useful technique that has solved a problem for me!
When I have an annoying void in a piece of otherwise nice cedar, or any other species of wood for that matter, that is too deep to sand out I first sand the void so that there are no jagged or rough edges around the perimeter and the bottom. In other words I try to make the void a smoothed out shallow "bowl" shape. Then, I apply whatever clear finish to the void and surrounding area that I'm going to use on the project I'm working on. (I don't use stains so I can't offer advice about that.) After the finish has dried I fill the void with one or more coats of crazy glue until it's a bit higher than the surrounding area. After the crazy glue has dried I sand it down flush with the the surrounding area of the void. Then, I apply the clear finish as normal to the project.
By following the above steps I find that the void is hardly noticible at all. The trick is to sand the roughness of the void first and then a coat of the finish in the void before filling with crazy glue.
Thanks to those of you who turned me on to this very useful technique that has solved a problem for me!