If you haven't tried it yet, different colour saw dust works very well as a filler and also a creative option. I experimented with it many years ago and still use the process. I like mixing it with polyurethane most of all because it enables you to work with the fill & get into thin places, in addition to shape and form it so that when dry it becomes very strong. It's sandable when dry also. I used to fill empty cans and jars with different colours sawdust to combine with different wood types, it's really a nice medium to work with. If it a large fill then do it in stages because it takes a while for the polyurethane to dry. The medium also adheres to stone, cement and steel as well as wood. Wish you great work bud.
You did such a great job on that big, unruly crack. The glue line was bound to happen. I bet that Epoxy would be great. A contrasting color would be awesome!
You are making a great job of these slabs. They look absolutely tip top. I tried to do one, and encountered loads of problems, and watching your videos answered all of them. Thank you. Keep it up! Great watching.
I sand my bowls and trays to 600 grit and when I'm done there is an abundance of fine saw dust which i collect and fill peanut butter jars so i always can fill cracks with sawdust and then saturate with crazy glue. I get crazy glue in 5 packs at the dollar store....but in your case, the cracks are so big and so many that after filling with fine sawdust, i'd use sanding sealer like another commenter said......now it may shrink as it dries so you might do it twice but too, I filled a 3 inch diameter hole in the bottom of a huge walnut bowl with shavings from an arbortech blade, not fine but rather large sawdust with brown wood glue...hehe i but it by the gallon so to make a cup of homemade wood putty is not too bad. For yours i might try finer sawdust with brown glue.
I think you should mix up some sawdust shavings and glue, and then use a putty knife and squish it in there and a little bit of sanding later, and BAM it looks awesome and people the world over, are calling you the MAN!. Mark. Love your channel, you do great work and its easy to understand . Im subscribing. Well done , French River the Man Springs. YEHA NOHA my friend.
Make a paste of Sanding Sealer mixed with some of the same dust from your routing/planing operations. Screen-filter the dust first to get only the fines. Plaster that homemade paste into the cracks with a putty knife/spatula. Let it fully cure, then sand it smooth. After the cracks have been filled, go all over the surface with Sanding Sealer, and then sand it. After that I'd use three coats of satin semi-gloss polyurethane varnish and sanding between coats and tack rag. Apply a fourth coat but don't sand afterwards. You'll get a really nice finish without that expensive epoxy.
Try this tip if you could and I do not mean to be insulting. It works for me . At 4.58 you had the two slabs together to check where they were not touching and then marked the spots to trim so they would. Try ... applying white school blackboard chalk on one face of the crack and gently rub the two pieces together. where the chalk rubbed off you trim . Repeat if necessary.
You are to modest you did a fantastic job in fixing the crack on that pice of wood I learned how to work on some of the pieces of wood I recently cut of a huge mesquite tree thanks for your help
A lot of work! Maybe next time, instead of attempting to remove all the wood so you close up the gap, make a feature of the gap and fill it with another (maybe contrasting) timber? The epoxy you used last time was sweet, maybe there are other two part "fillers" that also finish clear that are not so expensive? Cheers, David.
I keep ziplock bags of different species of wood dust and shavings on hand just for situations like that. If you have enough dust from the original piece, that will work. Just mix it with wood glue and force it into the cracks. If you have deep cracks, use more glue (70/30) on first application. Then on second application use (40/60) (glue/wood dust) and once it's applied rub more dust over the top. Once it's dry, just sand off the excess and you'll have a better look than just a glue line. In most cases it will blend right in and won't be visible.
bondo makes a stainable product. i just used it on a wood floor repair and it sanded nice. ill put the stain on monday and ill let you know. the regular white bondo might look neat as a contrast to the wood and match the glue you used for the crack since it wont take a stain
I learned something on this and I appreciate you taking the time to teach and make the video. As you started the cutting and releasing the built up stresses.....but before the crack on the other side shows up, I would stop next time. Then use a butterfly to maintain the stability. Anyway, nice job.
I made a similar crack disappear by adding coats of light mineral oil. It absorbs into the wood cells replacing the water that evaporated causing the crack. Rounds always crack as they dry since there is more water in the sapwood. As a side benefit I had an oiled finish that never gets damaged.
I'd vote for the epoxy. While more expensive than Bondo I think you'd get a stronger repair due to the epoxy actually soaking into the wood fibers. You also have the option of tinting or dying the epoxy. My opinion about Bondo is that it's an overused hack that's only useful if you're going to paint a surface.
Bondo is made with polyester resin so any dye or opaque colorant for that type of resin will work with Bondo and other brands of body filler. If you don't want the pink tint from the red hardener, there is white paste hardener available in benzyl peroxide and MEKP. MEKP liquid will work to harden Bondo but the reaction will be faster and hotter.
You could try Glitsa wood flour cement I think it was actually meant for mixing with the Dust refinishing hardwood floors to fill the gaps I've been using it for about 30 years refinishing furniture and repairing works great
you should use a thin router bit and rout out a thin line of that glue and the skim it all down with a wood filler that you made with the saw dust from the slab mix it with glue
French river, always called those types of cuts 'cookies'; slabs are long grain cuts usually bark to bark. If you roughed out the check, and split the cookie into halves- you could space the halves 7/16" - 3/8" and run a 1/2" spiral Onsrud cutter (up cut-router bit) in the space- the bit would true up both halves and you'd not see any glue line. Just a thought to minimize the line in the final cookie.
Thank you for making this video. I can appreciate the difficulty in the process itself. Too bad it never turned out the way you wanted. I am new to this hobby, so maybe my idea is silly and won’t work, but what if you filled in the cracks with a wood glue or bondo or whatever is cheap and let it dry. Then carve out a natural looking crack on the surface of all the glued cracks (including the one joining the two pieces) and pour on a non-transparent coloured epoxy. That way you do not use as much epoxy and it might add to the appeal? A sort of surface epoxy inlay...
You repaired that real nice Gilbeert....what I wood use has I seen the floor finishing guys like hardwood floor finishing and they make there own and they use fine sanding dust of the wood there working with and make there own....You should try tinner but like automotive paint thinner not varsal and put wood dust and what I`d do is add a bit of clear epoxy to give it some thickness and use a spatula to put it in the cracks.....another thing you have to think about is bondo won`t take the finish like the wood does so I try and stay with the more natural and even if you tint the finish to darker it wont react the same.....If you noe a floor guy ask him how the make there pour filler for the floor or maybe try the internet......CHEERS
I have a very similar size red oak cookie with a similar checking crack only a bit wider. I plan to repair it by tracing the exact jagged inner shape of the crack onto another piece of end-grain matching oak and then jig saw cutting of the exactly matching patch piece. I will then glue the patch piece in place and router it flat. I call that method, "Embrace the Crack" rather than trying to hide it. Don't know how it will work out, as I've never done it before. But we shall see! ;)
A clear silicone works well and leaves the crack visible giving it a natural look. Then when you apoxy the table it too is clear but doesn't seep into the cracks.
Bondo sounds like a good way to go those polyester melt sticks would be like the epoxy they are cheaper than epoxy but you will go through a few of them try it in one or two of the cracks I would try a number one Artis brush to paint grain lines especially on that through crack let me know how it works out
Enjoyed your repair methods, as for the cracks. I work with a lot of wood with cracks, knot holes, worm holes and just holes and find that sawdust from the same board mixed with wood glue works well. On a job as large as this I will premix a batch, sometimes thin it a bit with water, but then just rub in more wood dust on top of the glue/dust mix to smooth it out. Sand it all again. If I am worried about glue stain I will spay a coat of finish first to seal against the possible glue stain, then add the glue/dust.
Yes, I agree. I would have opened the crack, cleaned it out and filled with epoxy, maybe topped with clear plus colour. Perhaps a pocket screw joint to stop the crack travelling.
I'm just watching this now, but here is what I would have done. Cut across the slab on one side of the crack and another cut on the other side. A thin pie-shaped section containing the crack is firewood. Now you have two semi-circles of slab. Use them as the seats of two chairs, to match the table you made from the other slab from that tree.
Sure wish I had good advice for you on that. That's what I've been working on all week is end grain pieces like that. I still haven't found the ideal solution
I think I would have titled this "How to REMOVE a crack" rather than "How to REPAIR a crack" in a wood slab. Your repair turned out pretty nice, though, even if the center rings didn't quite match at the end. Was that construction cement you used to rejoin the sides?
i'd rather try to keep and stabilize the crack instead of this solution. the problem is: everybody is a general when the battle is over :) very informative video, thank you!
You did good with the repair, but I would suggest you could have used all sorts of coloured resin into all the cracks, then rubbed it down and finally added clear resin, then when dry attach 3 or 4 legs to it's underside, it would be a one off coffee table, sign it!
I think I died a bit on the inside seeing you use a hand plane to remove the remaining bark...on a curved surface... a chisel would have been much more effective
Run the saw back thru the glued crack and it will fit up seamlessly. I say a powered metal with epoxy or some glow in the dark powder mixed with epoxy.
My 2 cents about filling the other cracks, either match the glue line as close as you can or go for a complimentary contrast. A sort of close match in color would just look shoddy. ?A glaring contrast wouldn't look good either.
Would you put anchorseal on a fresh cookie slab? I just got a beautiful german oak, it must be around 40% or whatever. I was actually planning on using a massive strap and tighten it every now and then.. Any suggestions?
I know it’s 7mo old but maybe you procrastinate as well as I do. Just fill the cracks with regular wood filler, if you’re worried about any of them, pour some minwax wood hardener into them, that stuff is far underrated. Next time use some chalk when dry fitting the two pieces to see exactly where it needs shaving but with such a large piece just fit a bow tie into it and don’t be afraid to leave a gap.
Nice work. Got me thinking. 1) Did you try it with a strap clamp? 2) I wonder how finished product would look if you just cut out the check and fill it with something cool
Thanks! Using a rachet strap was the first thing I had in mind but then I figured it would not work because the sides are tappered. Ya some people on RU-vid fill the gaps with coloured epoxy.
Already tried it on the back side. The problem is that it leaves the inside full of bubbles. Like inside an aero bar. Then it's almost impossible to sand. I gave up and took it outside to my router table and took the glue out with the router. Thanks for your input!
Might as well have just cut all the way across with two parallel cuts, one on either side of the crack to remove the damaged portion completely and then glued them back together. The joint would probably have been less visible.
i been doing cars for a wile and in my opinion bondo is a bad idea it wont expand and contract like the wood will and it absorbs moisture and then it shrinks over time and cracks if you use too much witch in this cas it would be too much =/
Use epoxy but when you apply it use a medical syringe for baby or liquid obviously not the needle kind !!!you can pick them up at any pharmacy or anywhere you pick up prescriptions
My comment to the guy who repaired the big ugly. Crack in his table top. May. I give you a small tip on fixing. Cracks. I also work with all types of wood some call me. A wood. Designer slash carver. I noticed you said that you thought about using some type of cement or that plastic type of stuff neither works. Well. Try this next time. See all of that sawdust you had leftover from the sanding well get yourself and old flour. Sifter. Remove the bark and larger pieces of wood from the sawdust place the rough sawdust in the. Sifter and sift as you would flour when you get a flour like powder pour into a large. Plastic mixing bowl add tour favorite wood glue. Viola you have the best wood filler you never used. Note. I misspelled. The word. Your. My favorite wood glue is. Elmers. And no. Elmers doesent pay me for the shout out its just a good product. Once you have the right texture in your sawdust glue mixture then you may use an ice scraper as in windshield scraper or your favorite tool such as putty knife to spread like icing on a cake then clamp and let dry usually a large crack takes 24..2. 48 hrs to dry for sanding. Hope this works for you. John
