staining filler

[brit]

Been asked to restore a dresser probably 1920,s art decor style mostly ply. Honestly not worth it however has some sentiment value to my niece. It has a few chips on the edges of the ply tops and normally would replace or repair these but in this case I want to fill and restain the top. My question is after stripping the ply surfaces I will need to retain then finish is there a filler that will blend with the surface using the same stain? thanks John.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Hi John,

Without knowing the timber (of the ply) and the colour it is difficult to know how to answer your query. Staining a filler to match a final colour is always a challenge in my experience. I have had some successes but also a few failures. What I have found overall is that it is best to have the filler darker than the timber - that works better than a patch of light-coloured filler (which I have also managed to fail with in the past!)

If you are going to use a spirit based stain to re-colour the plywood then one way to get a similar effect is to use a filler that will accept the same stain. For example, i fill large holes with an epoxy made by Bote-Cote Pacific (Epox-E-Glue I think it is called). It will accept colour from spirit stains (as well as other stains) so, with a bit of experimentation you can measure the drops of spirit stain to the grams of epoxy and do a trial for the final colour. I'm always too impatient - I just mix a bit darker and run with it. Seems to work out. I never use epoxy for an antique or any old item of value, but from what you say, this piece doesn't fit in those categories.

I have also used standard coloured wood fillers (sorry can't remember company but can look up if you need to know) and mixed up the standard colours until I think I'm close. That technique is a bit hit and miss for me, but has sometimes worked.

For valuable antiques with holes that cannot be properly repaired with a timber patch I have used brown button shellac melted into the hole with a cheapie soldering iron. Completely compatible with a final shellac or French Polish finish, looks like a dark knot in the wood.

Good luck

David

[brit]

thanks David,
I will probably go with my old method of spirit stain in timber mate with crossed fingers. by the way it is cedar in colour. John