Filling gaps

[Brian]

So the might be cheating and the honest thing to do may be to recut the piece...but how do you fill in gaps for pieces that are a little short or narrow due to sanding or from cutting too much. For intarsia there is obviously no stain or paint so the filler would have to be similar to any wood color and be fluid enough to fill in narrow and small spaces. I'm thinking that enough wipe on poly would work with plenty of dry time.

 

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Oges]

Maybe a type of clear glue mixed with sawdust from the sandings of the timber you are trying to fill the gap on?

 

Have seen this done before, but cant recall what the person mixed the sawdust with. Others may have a better solution to this.

[amazingkevin]

Hi BRIAN ,Rather than sand too much to get a ggod fit i take the too mis fit pieces and squeeze them together and cut between them again.It corrects any unforgiveing sanding mistakes and salvages the pieces useable again.maybe you'll have to cut between them a few times to correct the problem.It's a great quick fix i use.This way you see whats happening immeadiatly if it's right or not,sanding is trial and error.Hope this helps you!Your allmost there.!

[Huntter2022]

BRIAN

I use the same method as Kevin .

 

Filling gaps use only for small gaps

Mixing a small amount of glue (something that drys clear) and sawdust.You want to get a thick some what runny paste mixture .

 

David

[Clayton717]

I most generally sand them to get the fit. I use an oscilating spindle sander, that way it sand the entire edge of the piece to 90 degrees. I try to do this to all pieces before I start fitting them together, to make sure I get the tight fit. If I have a small gap I need to fill I use the glue and sawdust method. I use CA glue(super glue) that I use on my pens. It dries fast and clear.

[tbphotos]

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my first intarsaia project. I had a couple of minor gaps, nothing too serious. What I did (just yesterday) was to take a bit of wood filler and add a lit bit of latex paint the same color as the wood pieces where the gaps are, mix the paint into the wood filler really well and then just smear a little bit of this into the gaps from behind the art piece. Just don't push too much into the gap(s) or it will be noticeable. I'm quite pleased with how mine turned out.

[toolbeltman]

Some good useful information flying around in this topic...thanks for sharing guys..

[Goat]

Sorry to bump an old topic, but I suppose better than making a duplicate.

I could only find Super Glue at my local stores, from what I read its the same as CA.  Would Gorilla Glue Gel mixed with sawdust work ok?  Would it stick out once finished with polyurethane? 

In my current project I have 1 gap I'm not thrilled with.  However this is a tricky piece that touches 7 other pieces.  I feel its at the point if I do any more passes with the blade I'll risk losing the piece.

[tgiro]

I'm a purist - I'll recut a piece for a better fit.

But, you'll find that no one sees those gaps but you. So, if the gaps aren't so wide, you can see the backer board, don't worry about them and don't tell anyone about them.

If I'm doing inlay, then I fill any small gaps with sawdust and a little glue.

[trailfndr]

On ‎2‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 6:37 PM, Goat said:

Sorry to bump an old topic, but I suppose better than making a duplicate.

I could only find Super Glue at my local stores, from what I read its the same as CA.  Would Gorilla Glue Gel mixed with sawdust work ok?  Would it stick out once finished with polyurethane? 

In my current project I have 1 gap I'm not thrilled with.  However this is a tricky piece that touches 7 other pieces.  I feel its at the point if I do any more passes with the blade I'll risk losing the piece.

You can get good CA glue from  https://www.caglue.com/  This stuff works really well, and if you get the accelerator,  it dries almost instantly.  Great for glue-ups

[Jim Finn]

I recut intarsia pieces as suggested by Kevin. ............................ I fill in small gaps , when doing inlay, using a mixture of sanding dust and white glue.  I mix it to the consistency of mayonnaise and apply with an old plastic gift card used as a squeegee. You may want to apply this from the backside for intarsia.  Elmer's white glue, like the kids use in school, dries clear, is water clean-up, quick drying, and is cheap.  I use two gallons of it per year.