Hiding epoxy

[Superbunny]

Hi all
I have mixed some epoxy with saw dust of the timber I'm using (stringybark) to fill holes and tear out. I'm concerned that it has dried and sanded darker than the original wood and when come to use wipe on poly later that it won't end up all the same colour. What should I do? It is important to get this right so it is as close as possible to the original wood and not able to be seen. Any help welcome.
Superbunny

[Master Splinter]

Do a test on a finish-sanded scrap piece to see what the colour is like once there is a finish on the timber - you might not have all that much of a problem once the timber darkens up from your poly.

If it does turn into a problem...warm it with a hot air gun and scrape it out if possible - or maybe lots of soaking with paint stripper?? A run through the thicknesser perhaps???

I tint epoxy to the colour of the sap runs with a transparent dye - I always think it looks better/more natural that way, rather than trying to get it to match the colour of the timber, which looks too dead and plastic-y for me. Another benefit is that I only ever need to keep a dark red dye handy!

If you are filling man-made holes that are neat and regularly spaced, you can even use a contrasting colour and call 'em features!

However, if it has to match the timber - you might need to do a lot of playing around with fillers and pigments till you get a good match to the final appearance.

[ubeaut]

G'day Superb - The filler should dry the same colour as the wet timber. Put a bit of metho or water onto the timber, just enough to change the colour and if it's pretty much the same then you've done it right. The timber will darken even a little more when the poly is applied.

In many instances the best thing t do is try and make a feature rather than hide, tear out probably should be worked out with hand tools, plane, scraper, etc as it's more a sign of bad workmanship than bad timber. (Sorry) But holes etc can be filled with contrasting colours or clear with stuff embedded in it to make a feature rather than trying to hide as that really doesn't work all that well unless you have good skills and knowledge.

For now try the wetting thing and with luck you'll get a pleasant surprise. But on tear out... I dunno. Filling with epoxy as you have done is a bit of a worry as there isn't much you can do to it once it's dry. Most of the regular fillers, water or oil based can be stained, tinted etc to match a little better. But only the most skilled of finishers can pull off a good grain and colour matching job over torn grain.

You need someone with the skills of Woodwould to pull this one off properly.

Stringybark and many of the harder Aussie timbers have amazing grain but need very special treatment in their machining. There was a guy in Maryborough (Vic) who specialised in these timbers. He had a special 5 blade head made for his thicknesser and planer just to deal with these timbers. Regular thicknesser on slow feed = tear out. 5 blade, slow feed = beautiful.

Not meaning to bring you down here. Just trying to offer some sort of idea as to what's involved. Sorry....

Cheers - Neil

[Superbunny]

Thanks ubeaut and master splinter,
I'll try some of your ideas and see how they work, but I'm aware that I'm up against it and will try different methods for the best result.