Myth busters, Wood working edition?

[Pullstart 62,837]

@formariz what do you think about this?  It might not work for a wood worker like yourself, but for a novice?

 

 

 

 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

Interesting... but it would be nice if each project didn't take half a bottle of crazy glue...

 

Don

[wh500special 2,170]

Pretty neat set of solutions. 
 

FWIW, the superglue (cyanoacrylate) isn’t reacting with the wood as the video title suggests.  It’s reacting with the water in the wood.  Which is why it sticks so quickly and tenaciously to skin and eyes. 
 

The reaction is quite exothermic (liberates heat) and you can see the water vapor coming off the material in some of the shots as a result. 
 

At a previous employer, we used a lot of superglue.  We bought it in 55-gallon drums.  They had to be corked up and vented with dessicant to keep them from turning into a smoldering block of plastic.

 

The YouTuber has some more cool superglue videos on there too. Thanks for pointing us to them!

 

Steve

[formariz 11,987]

Essentially the process has been used for ever but using carpenters glue instead. The draw back to filling imperfections this way is that the glue seals the wood wherever it is applied. If piece is to be stained or finished that area will not accept the drain and it will always be very noticeable. For large damage such as in the corner of board it’s always better to fit and glue an actual piece from the same board. Cool because it’s easy but yields less than desirable results. 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

Take a look at Krazy Glue and baking soda.  I rebuilt missing chunks of a mule drive knob with it.  Very strong!

 

Don't breathe those nasty fumes!  It's not "only" steam!

 

[Racinbob 11,055]

5 hours ago, formariz said:

Essentially the process has been used for ever but using carpenters glue instead. The draw back to filling imperfections this way is that the glue seals the wood wherever it is applied. If piece is to be stained or finished that area will not accept the drain and it will always be very noticeable. For large damage such as in the corner of board it’s always better to fit and glue an actual piece from the same board. Cool because it’s easy but yields less than desirable results. 

 

My thoughts too. It will never accept stain. It's pretty cool and just for giggles I'll probably try it but only on something that will get painted. 

[953 nut 55,194]

On a wood turning piece (on a lathe) that begins to crack you can use superglue and sawdust from another species of wood to celebrate the natural tendency of wood move as it dries. When the piece is finished the cracks become a feature.

[rmaynard 15,436]

 

6 hours ago, formariz said:

Essentially the process has been used for ever but using carpenters glue instead...

 

When I was building a cherry cradle for my second grandson, I could not find a wood filler that I liked, so I saved my sawdust from the project and mixed it with hide glue. I found that it dried without shrinking, was hard to see after sanding, and was easy to stain. A little side note; when my grandson was helping me sort through some bins of miscellaneous stuff in the shop a couple of weeks ago, he found a small glass bottle of light brown powder. Turned out to be the sawdust that I had saved from his cradle. 

[JoeM 7,873]

I was wondering if that would work with "fine corinthian press board" and viola, it is in there!

Now a days real wood is priced out of the question!

[formariz 11,987]

On the subject of filling wood to hide a fastener the result of such decision is more often than not much more obvious and unsightly than if fastener was exposed. We all know a casing for example was nailed in. Careful  precise locating of nail along with careful setting and leaving it that way yields a better result than hiding it with putty. Most times the filler will show up through paint anyway and if piece is stained it will never accept stain the same way. Most smear the putty way past actual hole leaving a larger area that will always look different. If filling is a must in those instances a wax stick of the proper color is best after piece is finished. The filling of nails is a modern practice which is a mistake.It is almost always better to leave them exposed or even accentuate the fact that they are there. The advent of the powered nail gun  was essentially the end of the fine art of fastener placing and the overuse of filler. Now one just indiscriminately  peppers the piece with too many nails ALL placed where they should not be. A nail is an honest efficient way of fastening something. There is no shame in leaving it exposed. As a matter of fact in stained work by careful planned placing it can by itself be almost unnoticeable.

[stevasaurus 22,717]

I have an issue with oak flooring in the Dining Room.  After having it sanded and finished, it seems it had been sanded before.  Now I get some pieces that break off because of the thinness of the wood on top of the notch.  A video shows mixing Carpenter's Glue with sawdust, taping of the chip and filling...then sanding smooth...then finish.  The Oak flooring with it's grain is dark and light.  The areas are very small.  I have saved a fair amount of Oak sawdust.  I am thinking that I can stain the sawdust before mixing in the glue and when I refinish the floor again, it might hide very well.  Again, these are very small splinters...not really big enough to cut out and replace, and not big enough to replace the piece of flooring.  What do you all think??  

The video's I have watched have not talked about staining the sawdust first.  Curious about that??  

Edited November 6, 2022 by stevasaurus

[formariz 11,987]

Floor is now sanded to its extreme. The part with the groove now has been sanded to the point that the upper wall of groove is paper thin. As one steps on those areas more will break. Actually a bit dangerous. A large sliver of that in your foot is a painful thing. I have repaired numerous floors like that. All loose and breaking pieces removed and a long skinny Dutchman fitted in and glued. Only that part was refinished to match floor. 
 

 Filling an area specially a large one with sawdust mixed with glue is never a good idea. It is not a structurally sound repair. It will not adhere properly to the surface it is mated to. It will eventually break off. There are epoxy fillers which are better for that.a properly fitted Dutchman of the same wood species is always a better option.