# Filling worm holes in oak



## bethandjoe (Jun 22, 2014)

Let me start by saying, I am not a woodworker. I just like to try to do things myself. I am working on a table top for my cabin. 2 inch thick oak that was milled from a tree cut from the property. After receiving it from the mill, I realized there were a lot of active worm holes in the wood. I successfully treated the wood with bora care and now I am at the point of starting to experiment in the table top finish. What I would like to do is fill the worm holes in with a wood filler that matches the colors (red, yellow, orange) that I have used to paint the two benches that are going to go with the table, as seen in the pictures. I purchased a variety of minwax wood putty yesterday, not realizing that it is meant to be put on after the stain and it doesn't harden. What I think I need is a colored wood filler that can be applied before the stain and will not receive the stain, if there is such a thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.
Joe


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

If the color of the photo is accurate I would probably start with Famowood Ash putty and if it was too light mix some color in it or intermix it with Famowood Fir putty. Try it on a spot and then sand it and wet the spot with water. When it is wet it will be that color with a finish on it.


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## jjrbus (Dec 6, 2009)

Opp's


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

You could use epoxy thickened with colloidal silica and color it with universal colorant like these: http://www.westmarine.com/evercoat--resin-coloring-agent--P004_120_004_002

Given that oak is a fairly open grained wood, any filler is going to fill some of the surrounding grain unless you mask around the holes somehow. I've done this by punching a hole in masking tape using a paper punch, but you've got a lot of holes!


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## bethandjoe (Jun 22, 2014)

Thank you very much for your quick responses. I will post pics when the project is done.


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## Adillo303 (Dec 20, 2010)

My suggestion would be to sand some of the wood. catch the sawdust in the sander dump that out and work it into the holes. Then a drop or two of thin CA to solidify it. Make it a bit proud of the surface, spray on some accelerator and sand smooth. Guaranteed color match


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

You could also just leave them. Oak is so pore ridden anyway. But I like Steve's idea with the Famo.

Al


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Have you considered putting something interesting in the holes and fill the voids with clear epoxy?
For example, crushed and tumbled/smooth turquoise stone fragments are sold by the ounce.


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## Barn owl (Jul 1, 2013)

To me, those holes are character and I wouldn't hesitate one bit to leave them as is. I've got a feeling that whatever you do, it's going to look like its man made and not natural. I'd leave em.


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

Please let us know what you ended up doing. It think filling the worm holes in with a filler that matches the colors in your benches is a cool idea. 

If you found some ground media that matched the colors in your benches, you could mix it with epoxy like Robson Valley suggested, or just fill the holes with the ground media and drip some CA in. I wouldn't use accelerator with the CA because it can sometimes make the CA boil leaving bubbles, or it can cause a white haze, obscuring the color. Make sure whatever you use with CA is OK since it can sometimes react violently if the material it's added to is fine or moist.


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