Ideas for filling pores with sander dust??

[Tommy Emmons]

I want to fill in some joints (very tiny gap) and also fill the pores of the wood to get a really smoth surface. I have some sander dust from the wood so the color will match. I tried tinting Behlen's Pore O Pac and did not get a satisfactory color match. I plan to finish the piece with Tung oil. What would you mix the dust with to fill the pores and cracks? Should I just mix it with the Tung oil or should I use some other base? Thanks in advance.

[Joe Jensen]

First, do a test piece with the tung oil and some nail holes in it. That way you can test what the finished piece will look like. I usually like to go a bit darker with the filler than surounding area as to my eye the final fill is less visible. The issue I've had in trying to use sawdust is that if I use a clear glue, the sawdust gets very dark. If you don't use something like that, then the dust is too light.

I have the best luck mixing different colors of wood filler. I use one that has a solvent base and dries very fast. There are a couple of brands, one is the solvent based Famowood sold by woodcraft, and sometimes the borg stores carry a solvent based competitor. I find that with a little trial and error and three colors similar to the end result I want, I can get very close...joe


Sorry for the stupid advice about pore filling. I misread and thought you were filling defects. I too would do pore-o-pack and keep working the colors and doing test pieces...joe

[Steve Schoene]

Mixing with sander dust doesn't ensure a good match, and generally doesn't make a good pore filler. Compared to the silica in commercial pore filler you are likely to get a lot of shrinking, and also have a material that is more difficult to work with.

I'd work some more with the Pore O Pac, with a couple or three colors of artists oil paint you ought to be able to achieve just about any color you could want.