Filling Nail Holes, Cracks, and Flaws

Jim Ashton

An imperfection doesn't mean the project is lost

I see a lot of posts in the TWG Facebook Group asking about filling nail holes, cracks, and flaws. I am not the master craftsman by any means, but I have been a trim carpenter, installed cabinets, done a lot of remodels, repairs, get ready to sell/rent work, etc. My dad had a cabinet shop I grew up in. I'm retired now and doing some artsy fartsy suff. I learned a few things, some good, some, ehh, some I should most likely stop doing. I also have been restoring some antique furniture, which takes a whole different set of methods and skills. Thought I would share some of my go-to's in hopes it might help someone out there who finds themselves with a nail hole, crack, or flaw that needs repair. Of course, the first thing to do is not screw up. But we all do. :)

Glue and sawdust trick works, but under certain conditions. The glue will not take stain, and if you don't remove all of the excess glue, it will leave a mark. I have used sawdust and CA glue with accelerant spray. Doesn't match light colored wood well, but that may not matter in your case.

My favorite method is after the first coat of finish, use either colored putty or the wax putty sticks, then seal with a top coat of appropriate finish. Either one can be mixed to match, and if you don't mix it much it takes on a wood grain effect.

I recently bought a set of wood stain felt markers. Small tip. You can draw wood grain on the repair. Smear it a bit with your finger and it looks great from across the street, lol. Sometimes it just goes away. Often while installing cabinets, we would end up with a ding or a scratch. Either repair or reorder of a cabinet is 2-6 weeks of waiting and holds up everything. So, repair it was. Wax crayons, dab of stain, mist of lacquer, steel wool, done, gone, paid.

I also bought a spray can of tinted lacquer. It comes in several tints. Made by Mohawk and can be found on Amazon. It blends in repairs. On antiques, you can never match the old, but you can get close, blend with the spray, and dang! Sometimes It looks amazing. And sometimes I sand it off and go again. At some point a bit of paste wax does wonders, or some polishing paste used in auto body work. If you use wax, it makes it hard to do anything else if you don't remove all the wax.

I have a putty knife, and I've have sharpened it like a chisel on a diamond stone. Works to remove that chunk of glue in a corner and applies putty in tight corners better than before it was sharp.

On paint grade I have used Bondo (the auto body filler) and auto body primer filler in a spray can. Primer filler builds up thick, sands a slick as a baby's butt. They also make an auto body lacquer spot putty that sands nice and dries quicker than spackle. If you ever need very good masking tape, that will bend around corners, leave clean lines, different widths, go where they sell automotive paint. A $10,000 dollar paint job uses very good tape. From 1/4 inch to 2 inch. (in case you ever want to paint flames on your work bench).

Use oil base primer on MDF or particle board before you paint. Water base will raise the grain, make it lumpy. I have used drywall mud to fill and smooth cheap plywood before painting with better results than I would have thought.

A trick I learned doing autobody work was before sanding primer, put a light mist of black lacquer over where you intent to sand. The black stays in the scratches, holes, and low spots so you can see them while sanding. When hand sanding, try to use the flat of your hand, not the fingertips. Fingertips can leave furrows that show up when the light hits it.

To raise a ding or hammer mark, wet the mark and cover with tape. It should swell up. Worse case, "borrow" the clothes iron and rub some heat over it.

If you have any questions or want to chat about this, find me on Facebook in The Woodworking Group!