mothman505 2 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 There has to be a better filler than white glue and sawdust to fill small gaps in lamanations of mahogany strips. What do you use that's better so I can varnish area? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
See Level 752 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Epoxy resin and sawdust Try the sponsor website West System 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mad Hatter 63 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 If you are going to vanish and don"t want to use sawdust to make up the filler and you don"t want white bits from using Q cells you may be able to us microballoons to give a darker brown or the west microlite to give a very pale brown or fawn colour. Having said all that nothing is ideal. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
casc27 126 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 As See Level said, the sawdust thing is the way to go, especially if you can collect some from the same supply of wood used to make the hull for color match. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptainAhab 166 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 99% of the time the saw dust method yields poor results. If you put finish in the end grain of any wood it will always be darker than the face or side grain. When you mix saw dust into resin or glue you are seeing a very high percentage of end grain. That is why it’s darker. Another option is to fill it full of straight epoxy. Mix some up in a small cup. Let it gel then force it into your gaps. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cyclone 293 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 2 hours ago, CaptainAhab said: Another option is to fill it full of straight epoxy. Mix some up in a small cup. Let it gel then force it into your gaps. West Six10 cures to a light amber color, has a nice thickness to work into cracks, and can be mixed in small amounts directly from the tube. A transparent filler can be less noticeable under the gloss of the varnish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gelbrossi 22 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 You can use white microballoons and sawdust, mix it with epoxy and try to find the color that you like to have. The color will not change while the epoxy is curing. Oh, and try to find a UV stabilized clear epoxy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andykane 154 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 5 hours ago, gelbrossi said: You can use white microballoons and sawdust, mix it with epoxy and try to find the color that you like to have. The color will not change while the epoxy is curing. Oh, and try to find a UV stabilized clear epoxy. This! You can get an excellent color match. West System has a good article about it (scroll down to "color-matched fillets"): https://www.epoxyworks.com/index.php/bonding-with-fillets/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fleetwood 180 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 +1 Use sanding dust, not sawdust, add to the epoxy, then mix in some West 407 or 410 (both brown) and a white one to get the shade you need. It's a bit trial and error since as mentioned using sanding dust alone generally gives a too dark filler. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
brucephenry 18 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Do you intend to stain the mahogany or leave it natural? I ask because if you’re going to stain you can use a gel stain and hide most of the color mismatch. To the point that just West System’s fairing filler in 406 works just fine once it gets stained and varnished. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
See Level 752 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 11 hours ago, Fleetwood said: +1 Use sanding dust, not sawdust, add to the epoxy, then mix in some West 407 or 410 (both brown) and a white one to get the shade you need. It's a bit trial and error since as mentioned using sanding dust alone generally gives a too dark filler. Your right sanding dust not sawdust. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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