corking timber floor

[EMistral]

Hi guys,

I am about to sand my timber floor and after ripping the carpet out, some of the boards have holes (where the knots used to be)
how would you patch that?
wood putty? cork then covered with sanding dust mixed with a sort of glue (if so what glue?)

Also what would you use for the nail holes ?
thanks

[glock40sw]

G'day.
How big are the knot holes?

For nail holes, you could use "timber mate" putty.
Hooroo.
regards, Trevor
Grafton

[EMistral]

I have ripped only one room so far and there are a couple of holes
Probably 1cm

Also the floor seems to be pine since there are lots of knots
I want to stain it to a jarrah colour. My concern is that is I use wood putty to patch the nail holes and I use a wood putty colour that matches the timber colour, then when I stain the floor, the putty will not absord the stain and then I'll end up with a dark floor with lighter spots where the nail holes are
On the other hand, if I use a dark wood putty, i'll end up with dark spots since it is almost impossible with wood putty to match a timber colour.

I read somewhere on the net that people fill the nail holes with a putty the same colour as the raw timber, then apply a sealer before staining.The sealer is supposed to make the staining process more evenly and have a nice an uniform cover rather than dark/light patches.
if this works ok, what will happen to the nail holes with the sealer ?

[journeyman Mick]

With larger holes I generally glue a timber plug in. Depending on the size of the hole you might clean it up/enlarge it with a forstner bit and then use a matching hole saw to make a plug. To make a plug without the holesaw's pilot drill hole you need to:
1) use the same size holesaw to cut a hole in a piece of scrap
2)Clamp the scrap over your stock
3)remove the pilot bit
4)bore through the scrap and stock

This will give you a round plug without a centre hole. You need to have a pretty extensive range of spade/forstner bits and holesaws to get a good match though. I usually screw or glue a scrap under the board to support the plug.

Mick