Easy Spread Wood Putty?

[pkirby]

Do any of you guys know of a wood putty that spreads easily? Say like drywall compound easy. The purpose of the putty is to fill in large cracks and knots on the back of BC grade plywood and I don't want to come back and sand it after the fact. It will be used for the inside of playhouses and will most likely not be painted.

Thanks,
Paul

[jerry_stanek]

We use bondo to fill cracks and holes.

[steve_g]

Durham's rock hard water putty

SG
http://www.waterputty.com/

[pkirby]

We use bondo to fill cracks and holes.

I thought about that but I need the color of the filler/putty to be similar to the color of pine plywood since I won't be painting it.

[Ajcoholic]

Over the Past 20 years I have used pretty much every brand of putty I have access to. I keep going back to one, made here in Canada.

It is sold by "Abra'dhesif", a company in the province of Quebec. It is a water based, stainable filler that is fine textured, smooth and easy to sand (or not) and works like no other filler I have tried. It takes finishes and stains well.

I have no idea if they are the manufacturer of it or not but they are the ONLY place I can find it.


ABRA-DHÉSIF INC.

2000 RUE MARIE-VICTORIN
SAINT-BRUNO, QC
J3V 6B9

Phone: 450-441-2255
Fax: 450-441-2289

[COBOB]

I can believe AJ has some good stuff. I never knew about the stuff he is talking about. The absolutely best I have ever found personally, is the Timbermate.
http://woodworkersshop.com/timbermatewoodfiller.aspx

I got it at Amazon after a friend turned me on to it. Every American made filler I have ever tried shrinks. Timbermate has never shrunk on me. And it is easily thinned with water. Goes on real smooth too.

Bob

[feinddj]

Bondo makes a blond version of their car filler that works great for wood. Most often found as minwax wood filler. Same stuff, different color.

D

[jdervin]

I think Minwax makes the one I've had good experience with (though I both sanded and painted over it, but it looks fairly close to pine coming out of the container). I'm also pretty sure you can get a small size on the cheap side at the big box stores that you could try out.

[wowhuh.mike]

you can also tint your hardeners with pure pigments to mix in body filler, but most body shops supply houses will sell a few different colors of hardener because it is very useful to use a different color for each layer of filler. makes it easier to sand and easier to see. price will be nearly half if you go to an autobody supply store instead of big box store cans. you can also use sawdust as filler in polyester resin and make your own filler (all bondo is - is a fumed silica filler in polyester resin btw).

[michael_schwartz]

I have been using a lot of the latex/water based filler made by Famowood It dry's fast and sands easily. The colors are generally a close match.

I will mention that it will shrink, and or crack if you use it to fill anything that is particularly deep. In that circumstance it is not the right product. A polyester filler, or a tinted epoxy becomes the better choice. The defects I fill, are generally very small, or nearly invisible to begin with, so this isn't an issue for me.

I would avoid the water based fillers from Zar, and Elmer's. I tried both. The Zar took too long to dry, and was especially difficult to sand. Every product I have tried from local paint, or hardware stores is generally sub par.

If you have to spread filler over a large area, the soft plastic spreaders sold for automotive fillers work work well. For large cracks, and paint grade work, I would use bondo, or another equivalent body filler.

[pkirby]

Thanks for all the responses. I like the idea of using bondo with a tinted filler to match the wood color. My main goal is to have a filler that spreads easy so I can trowel it on with one pass and be done with it. And from my experience with Bondo a few years ago, I believe it fits the bill.

To further explain, I'm trying to achieve the factory look that is on the front side of some of the BC plywood sold at Home Depot. Some of it will have voids that were filled in at the manufacturer and I know they didn't spend a lot of time puttying it.