Filling holes in oak

[Plwm]

Evening all

I picked up an oak dresser at an auction which I plan to refurbish.
There are 5 small drilled holes in the top (see photos, pencil for scale) which I'd like to fill before a finish coat but I'm not sure what to use to a) match the wood and b) be compatible with the final finish coat.

I was thinking of using Osmo Polyx as the finish coat but am open to other suggestions.

Fill with coloured wax sticks? Sawdust and wood glue (does it matter what type?) Or....?

Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Neil

 

[niall Y]

It depends on the look you are after. Wax sticks of a matching colour would do nicely and will stop your eye automatically homing in on the blemish.

If you like a fiddly challenge , you can use shallow, diamond shaped pieces of oak to patch in to the top surface. And, to give you a fighting chance that the repair will appear invisible, you might be able to cut some pieces of oak from where it won't show on the chest of drawers which, being the same stock, will give you a better match for the grain pattern.

Looks like there is a stain finish of sorts, as well, hence the blackish pores

 

[MF1000]

You could look for a hidden area on the chest and use a small plug cutter to create plugs if the same age material ….without weakening the structure too much of course - you could then fill the donor holes with another species

alternatively you could make a feature of the chests history and fill the holes with a obvious contrasting colour in a smiley way to bow tie pieces used on tables etc

If your sanding back the surfaces, consider using ‘mikes magic mix’ occasionally quoted on here - I use it on lots of my slab tables (1/3 pure tung oil, white spirit, outdoor satin varnish [solvent based type]).

 

[recipio]

Nothing beats a plug of matching wood. It's worth investing in a Veritas tapering plug cutter as they give an almost invisible line around the plug. The trick is to find a piece of oak with an exactly matching grain pattern and stain it before using the Osmo.

 

[Mrs C]

WRT Osmo, might be worth testing a hidden bit first as Osmo won’t be happy on something that has been previously sealed.

 

[HOJ]

Personally I wouldn't do anything drastic, maybe patch them so they look like small knots, I use Titebond 3 and oak saw dust, dries dark, closer to black, then once you park a few "ornaments" on it no one will know. And I'd go back to the auction house and see if I could find the missing top rack.

And as @Mrs C said be careful with your choice of finish, its probably been polished with "Pledge" in the past and won't take an oil finish.

 

[Plwm]

Thanks for all the useful suggestions (so far).

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sometimes a little brown/black "knot" is less noticeable than a badly matched filler.

 

[MF1000]

Personally I wouldn't do anything drastic, maybe patch them so they look like small knots, I use Titebond 3 and oak saw dust, dries dark, closer to black, then once you park a few "ornaments" on it no one will know. And I'd go back to the auction house and see if I could find the missing top rack.

And as @Mrs C said be careful with your choice of finish, its probably been polished with "Pledge" in the past and won't take an oil finish.

If you are sanding back to bare wood ….the pledge should only be top surface

 

[Phil Pascoe]

of a very open grained wood. I painted pine doors years ago that had been varnished and silcone wax polished - even after sanding the paint cissed.

 

[oak]

Plug the holes with a cross grain hardwood, then drill with a very sharp drill.
Use a cross grain plug oak plug (eBay), or make them using a very sharp chisel