Is there "Bondo" for wood stocks?

6

660grizzlyguy

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I'm going to modify a stock ,adding wood. There are some dents that won't iron out and I'd like to use some product to blend the added wood into the existing stock. A product that works like auto body Bondo would be great, but I don't know what to buy. A thin application must adhere to the wood. I'm painting the stock. Thanks
 
There is a wood putty that will work for your application. It even comes in various wood colors to blend into your stock if you don't want to paint it. You can find it in a hardware store.
 
Minwax "High Performance Wood Filler is identical to Bondo. It is a light tan color and uses a milky looking hardener. Contrary to Minwax’s claims, it doesn’t really take a stain.

I’m not so sure that’s what you really want, though.

Adhesion to wood is tricky unless it’s been sealed and is oil-free. Other than color, there’s no advantage to it over using regular bondo. I wouldn’t use either unless the stock was going to be painted anyway. The Minwax stuff is about 10 bucks a pint versus 20 a gallon the last time I checked..
 
I used to hang out a bit with a cabinetmaker/antique restorer. When he couldn't steam out a dent or other flaw, he would sometimes use a shellac stick of the appropriate shade. The stuff came in multiple colors; he'd heat it to the melting point and apply it with a palette knife, shape it while soft to fill the cavity.

It was real hard, sometimes impossible, to see his repairs when he was finished. But it took him a dozen years and more to reach his level of expertise.
 
Adhesion to wood is tricky unless it’s been sealed and is oil-free.
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The only adhesion problems I have had with Minwax High Performance filler is on painted or sealed surfaces, and it still depends on what is sealing the wood.

The filler sticks to wood with the hardener applied, but it does not stick to painted, varnished, or most other finishes as well.

It sticks to bare clean wood very well.
 
There is a great new wood filler product on the market from Australia. It is called Timber Mate. Comes in colors but takes stain very well. It is the answer to many a woodworkers prayers. For your dents, this is the answer.
 
Brickeye …Yeah, you’re right. I said that wrong. It doesn’t like to stick well to most varnishes or paints.

By sealed (especially on oily woods) I meant a thinned down coat of polyurethane(watery) to soak into the wood and stiffen up any little hairs left from sanding, followed by a light sanding to smooth and cut the hairs off but leave the pores sealed, then a wipe-down with a cloth dampened by denatured alcohol.
It sticks well directly to wood if it isn’t oily or pithy. Sticks like mad to bare pine, birch or oak. The last time I used it was on a piece of low-grade, lightweight mahogany. It would pop loose taking a couple of splinters with it. The "fix" was sealing as above, then it worked fine.

I like to carve it with a disposable knife or cheesegrater plane while it’s still rubbery, and wait till it’s fully cured to do the sanding.
 
one other thing you can try. on guitars, when i need to fill in small holes, i use saw dust from what ever i am working on ikxed with a little wood glue to make a paste, use like bondo
 
While wood fillers suffice for small holes/cracks, since they cure to a solid/poreless surface, they are disappointing when used to fill large areas/

The "patch" will be apparent, due to it's overly smooth surface, w/o the pore normally occurring in a natural product like wood.

The only way to hide it would be to coat the entire stock with enough coats of paint to completely obliterate any visualy evidence of pores.

.
 
bob.a said:
I used to hang out a bit with a cabinetmaker/antique restorer. When he couldn't steam out a dent or other flaw, he would sometimes use a shellac stick of the appropriate shade. The stuff came in multiple colors; he'd heat it to the melting point and apply it with a palette knife, shape it while soft to fill the cavity.

It was real hard, sometimes impossible, to see his repairs when he was finished. But it took him a dozen years and more to reach his level of expertise.
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Yep -- it took me ten years or so to master shellac stick repairs. But if you're working on bare wood, and you plan to sand the surface anyway, it can be done -- if you seal with shellac, and use the clear stick (or light amber) it's possible to make dents disappear -- the trick is to level the surface carefully.

On dark-colored wood, plumber's putty works very well. It sticks like crazy, sands fairly easily, and takes stain much better than Minwax High Performance Wood Filler, oddly enough. And it's cheap... :D

You can also make some sanding dust from the species of wood you want to repair, mix that with clear epoxy (Devcon 30-minute is good, and you don't have to buy a vast quantity) until it's a putty-like consistency, and use that as a filler. This also works best on darkish woods, as the color is always a bit darker than that of the bare wood.
 
While wood fillers suffice for small holes/cracks, since they cure to a solid/poreless surface, they are disappointing when used to fill large areas/
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Shellac sticks and colored markers can hide just about nay repair.

If you use markers to fill in grain be sure to use a top coat that will NOT cause them to run.

If the final finish is gloss (or even semi-gloss) the pores are filled anyway.

A finish that does NOT fill the pores leaves the surface vulnerable to dirt and grime accumulating in the open pores and depressions and making the wood look dirty (at least).
 
brickeyee said:
If the final finish is gloss (or even semi-gloss) the pores are filled anyway.

A finish that does NOT fill the pores leaves the surface vulnerable to dirt and grime accumulating in the open pores and depressions and making the wood look dirty (at least).
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Oh, I do wish that filling pores were that easy... :(

There's a reason you can buy "pore fillers"... many of which don't work that well anyway. If you really want to fill the grain of the wood and get a completely smooth surface, you can use plaster of Paris: rub it in well, wipe off when it's almost dry, then sand thoroughly when it's completely dry, so it's only in the grain and not on the surface. Then saturate the surface thoroughly with linseed oil, which will be absorbed by the plaster and will make it disappear. Apply the oil, let it soak in well, repeat until there aren't dry spots after it's soaked in for a few minutes. Wipe the oil off carefully, let things dry for a week or longer, then sand lightly, stain and finish as you wish.

And as to the dirt-in-the-pores thing, that's why damp rags were invented... dirt won't accumulate if the surface is kept clean. :rolleyes:

And if you want an open-pored look, but need to fill dents, you can "fake" pores in the filled areas with a sharp knife or a dental pick and a straightedge. With a bit of practice, this works surprisingly well. You can't do this with shellac stick repairs, because they're too brittle, but it works fine with epoxy putty.
 
Plastic wood.
Get 2/3 differing "woods" in different colors some light some dark. Combine, but don't mix fully for "grain". Make small test batches til you have a match for the original. Let the test dry before deciding on which is "right"

Fine detailing of grain with fine point brown/black "sharpie" & rub with alcohol to diffuse.
:D
 
There's a reason you can buy "pore fillers"... many of which don't work that well anyway
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.

I have only seen a few pore fillers on the market lately.

Pore-O-Pac™ GRAIN FILLER by Behlen works well if you thin it out with naptha before applying it.

It is to thick in the can.

It pony comes in a few shades, but the 'natural' shade can be tinted as desired.
 
I missed the bit about painting it, sorry.:o Just ignore the bit about making "grain" with different colors & use one color. Apply a little too thick & reduce & re-surface with fine wet 'n dry.
 
For dents that you're going to repair by letting in new wood, the simplest way to fill gaps is not to have them in the first place. Use that thickened epoxy I described above to glue in the new wood, let the squeeze-out stay in place at the edges, and trim and level it along with the patch.

And you do know the trick of cutting the patch first, and scribing around it to outline where you'll remove wood to let it in, right?

I don't use it myself, but I do know other restorers who use actual Bondo on wood... it seems to work for them, give or take the awful color.

:)
 
more info

I'm adding walnut to a factory stock that has been shortened. I'm going to widen the forend and lengthen the butt and make it a "tactical" stock, similar to the Boyds tacticool. I'm leaning toward Acra-glas thickened with sawdust to fill low areas. Final finish will be paint. Thanks for the responses.
 
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