# Help with wood filler



## bmhanson2008 (Jun 11, 2018)

First off I want to start by saying that I am not a professional and only a beginner when it comes to woodworking or anything related to it so please don’t make any comments that are demeaning. The pictures attached show what I am having a problem with. I ripped out the carpet in this room to expose our hardwood floors. I sanded them down with several grades of paper with an orbital sander and went around edges. I cleaned it all up with mineral spirits and vacuumed really well as well as used tack cloth. There were many gouges in the floor and I bought the wood filler in the attached picture. I thought it was something that would stain better than it shows in picture. But as you can see when I applied the stain it is not changing color at all. It’s hard as a rock and so many gouges it would be a pain to try and remove them. Is there anything else I can do or use to get the floor to be somewhat the same color where the gouges would not be easily noticed. I know I could use a white stain but that kind of takes away the look for us. My plan was to not even use stain at all until this filler was so noticeable. Any ideas...


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

First, for in the future it’s best to try to match your existing wood color as close as you can with the filler color. And it’s best if you go slightly darker over slightly lighter in most cases. 
Looking at your pictures it seems you’ve not sanded all the new fills. These should be sanded absolutely flush to the feel with 150 grit sandpaper. If the new filler won’t accept your stain after sanding, you will need to go another route. They make marking pens for floor imperfections. These are basically magic marker type pens in wood tone colors. They are available at The Home Depot or a good flooring store. 
Again buy a code match. Go darker rather than lighter. 
The color of your filler is natural. Many Unstained woods are that color. But your floor is not unstained wood. Your floor has a Walnut stain or some other dark stain on it. 
Good luck.


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

I would try and remove the filler you have in there and use a filler that matches your flooring. Please don't ask how. :wink:

I use Timbermate filler and it comes in several colors. It will never go bad so what you don't use you can save for your next project.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...WDGHHDFM3GG&rh=i:aps,k:timbermate+wood+filler


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

First thing I would do is rent an actual walk behind floor sander and start over. Your local hardware store or tool rental shop should have one - I'm talking about the ones like this. As long as you take your time and run through the grits, odds are you'll sand those dings out completely, if they're not too deep. A hand-held random orbital sander doesn't have enough oomph for this job.

Then, do as posted above. Match your filler to your final stained color - go a shade darker if colors are close, but never lighter.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Everybody has some good points, an actual floor sander would sand the floor a lot better. It takes off a lot more wood than you could ever do with a random orbital sander. Then the wood filler you used in the "Natural" color is intended to be used for wood that is painted. Wood fillers don't absorb very much stain. For wood with a stained finish you have to purchase wood filler that is already tinted. If a tinted filler isn't available in your area you can purchase a natural putty in a can at a real paint store and they can add colorant to the putty making it darker. 

From where you are I would start with a better sanding. There is a halo around where you used the putty that you wouldn't be able to fix that. Then use a touch up marker to color the putty spots. It would be like using a brown marks a lot. Once you put a finish over it it will be a permanent fix. http://www.mohawk-finishing.com/catalog_browse.asp?ictNbr=119


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

My wife's cuz is a floor man and the sander he uses looks like this, Home Repo rents them












It's a belt sander, takes it off pretty quick so be aware of the old saying a belt sander can screw wood up faster then any other tool if not used properly


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

I think I would try the marking pens (with many color tones), to try and re create the wood grain patterns on one area where you have already applied the filler. It will take an artists approach to do that. If you have success on that proceed to the next area. if you are successful in all areas a poly floor finish will seal in your repairs.

Another way is to remove each singular board by sawing the length with a circular saw, cutting the bad board into 3 pieces. you then remove the center piece first to provide the room to knock the other two parts from the tong and groove. The second method is a lot more involved, and could be done professionally.


My last approach would be to re sand the whole floor with a drum/belt sander to remove the flaws completely , but this requires another consideration...Hardwood flooring only has about 1/8" of wood that can be sanded off before you will hit the tong. To determine how much you can remove on your particular floor, you can stick a 3x5 card vertically into a gap between boards to determine how much you can remove.


You may want to take your pictures to several flooring installers and get their opinions before you get in too deep. Sometimes an education costs you $.


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