Filling help

[someguy]

Hi,

I am building some speaker stands by gluing together two pieces of 90x45 pine. I have coated then painted them to realise that the ribs in the pine are still showing, no good. So I want to fill them right over the paint then finish it. So my question is, what is the best product to use? The stands are about a meter long so I need quite a bit of filler. As you can probably tell this is my first time trying anything like this.

Any help appreciated.

[Gumby]

SDounds like you haven't done enough sanding to start with. If you don't want to go back and sand it all, then get some undercoat/sealer. It's like a very thick undercoat which fills imperfections and is quite chalky so it';s easy to sand smooth. You will, however , create quite a bit of fine white dust when you sand.

[Kev Y.]

Someguy.. welcome , there are a few different products you could use. depending on the deired finish.

You could use, Timbermate wood filler, or you could go to the other extreme and use automotive filler.

Kev.

[someguy]

I might try the undercoat paint. I would use timbermate but I would have to buy to much of it. What is the automotive filler like? Is it like bondo or something like that. It stinks pretty bad right?

[Gumby]

I think Timber mate is too course for very fine surface filling and as you said, too expensive for really large jobs. Bodyfiller is very hard and won't move with the timber. It's good for getting sharp edges on corners like I did with my yacht many years ago but I think it would show hairline cracking eventually.

Since you want to go right over the paint, I don't think anything other than the thick sealer paint will stick.

[Wood Borer]

Someguy,

What are these ribs you are talking about? If they are the fine finishing ribs found on much of the pine such as what you have used, then you need to plane or sand them out rather than fill them.

I occasionally use this pine for some projects and if you run a power plane or a handplane over the timber it comes up smooth as ... especially if you use a handplane. Planing is far better than sanding because it keeps the surface flat whereas sanding will round off edges and create local depressions which detract from the good looks of your project.

- Wood Borer

[bitingmidge]

Trying to fill the paint will be a frustrating experience....trust me, I know!

It's one of those rights of passage things..you won't do it again!

You will probably want to do them again at some time anyway...that is just the nature of what we do. Is it too hard to dismantle them and plane the pieces now? A plane is the best tool for getting the timber back to a true surface, and you have quite a bit to remove.

Don't read any of the threads about using hand planes..they will be far too inspiring!! If you don't own one now is a good time to start saving for one, and a job of this size is about right to learn on as well.

Or....you could skip that step and just go and buy a thicknesser, but be careful, once you are on the merry-go-round, they won't let you off!!

Cheers,

P

[someguy]

Yeah, I should have planed it from the beginning, I'll know next time. But for now, I don't really want to start again so I'll coat and sand then paint.

Thanks Guys.