Birch and wood putty

[John Keane]

I am in the process of making a dresser out of birch. Several of the tenons have a slight gap that requires filling. What kind of filling/wood putty is used with birch?

[Doug Shepard]

I'm assuming maybe these are through tenons since you can see the gap? I think you'll get a lot better color match if you take some scrap birch and either make some thin veneer or take some heavy plane shavings. Either way, jam them into the gap with a bit of glue on them and the patch will be almost invisible after sanding.

[Jim Becker]

Yup...what Doug said. Slivers of wood. Avoid putty any time you can...it will NEVER look like the wood, no matter what kind it is. Careful preparation of said slivers will make them nearly invisible, too. Match the grain direction...