wood surface imperfections

[Paul V.]

I have made a mission style dining room table (plans from Popular Mechanics) and have a few small imperfections in the top that are too deep to sand out. They run with the grain so filling them with a dark colored filler would be fine, hiding them nicely in the grain of the wood. I am dying the table with anniline die so I need a filler that will take the dye, or a method to fill after dye and or first coat of finish. The finish will be The Original Waterlok oil base. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thank You

[Danford C Jennings]

Paul,

Exactly what type of imperfections are you talking about? Scratches, dents, gouges, tear out? There are several approaches to take, none of which include a filler; they will magnify the problem.

Dano

[Paul V.]

Mr. Jennings,
The imperfections are slight checks in the wood that were not detected before glue up and sanding.
Thank you

[Danford C Jennings]

Paul,

Checking is a result of the stock being dried to quickly. Since this piece is in the Mission style am I correct in assuming it's made of White Oak?

My concern at this point would be the severity of the checking and if the stock is still trying to reach equilibrium. That it was detected only after surface preperation leads me to believe that it hasn't. At this point my suggestion would be to let it do so, then apply your stain. If the splits are not too severe, you can then fill them with clear epoxy, level, and apply your finish. They will blend in and appear as part of the grain. It would be best to find a scrap piece with some checks to use as a test first...

If the checks are located near a glue line and are severe, one alternative would be to route out faux butterfly joints to cover the defects as long as you do them in opposing locations. Butterfly joints were commonly used on Mission style table tops. FWIW.

Dano