Rangate Knot Filler

[Patrick Kane]

Does anyone have Rangate's knot filler system? Looks like tinted hot glue. It is pricey, but i like how quickly it fills defects. My current solution is mix up west systems epoxy, add transtint dye, pour it into voids, wait 5 minutes, take a heat gun to pop bubbles, wait some more, more heat gun to pop bubbles, wait more, add more epoxy now that its entered all the nooks and crannies, finally, wait 12+ hours for it to cure and be hard enough to sand or plane. The time required to make sure it does what you want it to do and then wait for it to cure is maddening. Maddening enough that im considering a $300 hot glue gun. One, if you have the rangate product, how much usage do you get out of the $69 9 rod packs? Two, what do you think of the product? Is it a comparable replacement to epoxy in terms of durability and looks? I get a lot of mileage out of a gallon of west systems, but its not inexpensive either. My other issue--outside of the time it takes--is the epoxy finds every interior void. Sometimes i burn through a ton of product, because the defect goes through the board and is a larger void on the back side of the board. With rangate's product, it looks like you can just fill the top 1/4-1/2" of the void and not unnecessarily waste product on filling the entire void. 99% of my application is on walnut. I havent worked on a walnut project in several years that didnt require some form of defect treatment. Small knots, cracks, and bark inclusions are all unavoidable with the vast majority of my walnut stock. It also looks like you can DIY the rangate setup and buy just their filler rods. The $69.95 aluminum cooling block seems like an easy area to cost engineer. Same for the $69.99 chisel. At that price, i would rather spend the extra $80 and get a Lie Nielsen chisel plane. However, i will more than likely scrape the gunk away with a long handled paring chisel that i already own.

[Stewart Lang]

Does anyone have Rangate's knot filler system? Looks like tinted hot glue. It is pricey, but i like how quickly it fills defects. My current solution is mix up west systems epoxy, add transtint dye, pour it into voids, wait 5 minutes, take a heat gun to pop bubbles, wait some more, more heat gun to pop bubbles, wait more, add more epoxy now that its entered all the nooks and crannies, finally, wait 12+ hours for it to cure and be hard enough to sand or plane. The time required to make sure it does what you want it to do and then wait for it to cure is maddening. Maddening enough that im considering a $300 hot glue gun. One, if you have the rangate product, how much usage do you get out of the $69 9 rod packs? Two, what do you think of the product? Is it a comparable replacement to epoxy in terms of durability and looks? I get a lot of mileage out of a gallon of west systems, but its not inexpensive either. My other issue--outside of the time it takes--is the epoxy finds every interior void. Sometimes i burn through a ton of product, because the defect goes through the board and is a larger void on the back side of the board. With rangate's product, it looks like you can just fill the top 1/4-1/2" of the void and not unnecessarily waste product on filling the entire void. 99% of my application is on walnut. I havent worked on a walnut project in several years that didnt require some form of defect treatment. Small knots, cracks, and bark inclusions are all unavoidable with the vast majority of my walnut stock. It also looks like you can DIY the rangate setup and buy just their filler rods. The $69.95 aluminum cooling block seems like an easy area to cost engineer. Same for the $69.99 chisel. At that price, i would rather spend the extra $80 and get a Lie Nielsen chisel plane. However, i will more than likely scrape the gunk away with a long handled paring chisel that i already own.

No clue about the actual filler, but that "chisel" they sell seems like a terrible idea. Looks like a typical $10 plane blade with a block of wood glued on. And they want $70? The problem I see is how on earth do you sharpen it? Won't fit in a guide system.. A cranked neck chisel or chisel plane would work so much better.

As for the filler, I'm curious how hard it actually hardens. They have the word "flexible" associated with it, so I'm assuming it doesn't get nearly as hard as epoxy. But I suppose that's a trade off for quick set times. Also does seem ridiculously expensive especially if you have a lot of knots to fill.

[Patrick Kane]

Agreed, i cant see myself buying that chisel plane unless its given to me for free. Feel the same way about the aluminum block. However, the gun and the filler pack are still $192.

I read one three sentence post on another forum from a guy that had the product. He confirmed it wasnt as hard as epoxy, but "plenty hard enough and durable for furniture".

My issue with the current approach using west systems is its painfully inefficient and feels like a square peg in a round hole. Its time consuming, and worst of all, i rarely have a perfect result. I ALWAYS have some form of air pocket or small air bubbles after the excess epoxy is sanded or planed away. Ive also had my fair share of large pours that found their way through an invisible crack/knot to the other side of the board. I came back in the morning to a puddle of epoxy under the work piece and an unfilled defect.

[Stewart Lang]

Agreed, i cant see myself buying that chisel plane unless its given to me for free. Feel the same way about the aluminum block. However, the gun and the filler pack are still $192.

I read one three sentence post on another forum from a guy that had the product. He confirmed it wasnt as hard as epoxy, but "plenty hard enough and durable for furniture".

My issue with the current approach using west systems is its painfully inefficient and feels like a square peg in a round hole. Its time consuming, and worst of all, i rarely have a perfect result. I ALWAYS have some form of air pocket or small air bubbles after the excess epoxy is sanded or planed away. Ive also had my fair share of large pours that found their way through an invisible crack/knot to the other side of the board. I came back in the morning to a puddle of epoxy under the work piece and an unfilled defect.

What about this?

https://www.amazon.com/Knottec-5-Sti...0524688&sr=8-3

Any reason you couldn't use that in a regular hot glue gun?

[Thomas Colson]

I work exclusively with old barn wood, and have become something of a self-appointed expert on epoxy filling of defects, large and small. The large ones are pretty easy: pour no thicker than the manufacturer recommends, and use a blow torch to nail the bubbles. It's the little cracks and tiny holes that get ya': here's the problem, if you flood a little hole or crack with epoxy, the viscosity of it may allow it to COVER the hole, but not actually go in the hole. Something about hydrostatic mumbo jumbo too. I use a toothpick to kinda jiggle things down there and use the west slow cure when it's cold in the morning. This gets real tedious on a piece with lots of holes, in that case I just squeegee it back and forth as long as I milled about 1/32-ish thicker than final. On the drum sander I'll keep it at 120 grit, again, tedious, but I find that 80 grit can "fracture" what's in a small hole and suck it right out. As for what's on the shop floor the next morning, you should see my epoxy covered floor! Painters tape and caulk solves most of my problems, I use a j-roller over the tape to make sure its on good.

To me, Rangate seems a little gimmicky, and watching the videos, you definitely can't use it for fine work like small cracks and PBB holes, or at least come out looking decent.

[Richard Coers]

I prefer to be able to sand it flat, so anything hot glue based would be out for me. As far a getting cracks filled, i run a shop vac hose along on the back side and it pulls the epoxy right on through.

[Patrick Kane]

Thought i would update this thread with a bit of substance. I put my money where my mouth was and bought the Rangate knot filler. Although, it turns out they are the distributor for the european parent company. I think it is called knot tec, or something along those lines. One, this isnt cheap. I think i spent $125 on the gun, $60 on the aluminum block, and then another $120 on packs of the filler material. I skipped the $80 chisel plane, because i have numerous paring chisels. I used it over the weekend for the first time on a set of walnut stair treads. I have numerous defects the size of a pea and one bark inclusion that was probably 2" long and 1/4" wide. Its as fast as the video snippets show. The gun is hot in 3 minutes, set it to the temp you want, and go along squirting the glue into your defects, sandwiching with the aluminum for 20-30 seconds, and paring with the chisel. Im sure its softer than fully cured West Systems, but a finger nail doesnt dent it, which means its hard enough for me. More importantly, it is lightning fast and with zero air bubbles. Nothing drives me to drink like checking on a project the next day to see the epoxy bubbled up overnight. I take a heat gun to all my epoxy fills 10-15 minutes after pouring the epoxy, and i still have bubbles. Without a doubt, epoxy is the cheaper method of filling defects, but i see myself using both moving forward. I dont know if id like the look and hardness of the knot filler on a huge defect--size of a 50 cent piece of bigger--but for the small stuff this is a dream to use.

[David Zaret]

i also have the rangate system, and also like it. it's fast, easy, and works quite well. that said, i still use epoxy in some situations - if i'm doing something very rustic, or with a large hole/knot, i still use West systems, tape off the back, tint the epoxy with mixol or transtint, and do a pour. but, for 90% of situations, the rangate is ... quite nice. can it be used with a "normal" hot glue gun? probably. the glue gun is a heat-adjustable regular hot glue gun, there's nothing seemingly proprietary about it.. but, the system wasn't that expensive, and, for me, the time savings easily justifies it.