Using saw/sanding dust with epoxy as filler??

[Steve Blackdog]

I am nearing the end of a telecaster guitar build, so as you can guess I am starting to get cocky and the errors have been creeping in.

One such error was to round over the back of the neck socket with a 9mm round-over cutter, when I already knew that I should leave that and hand sand it to enable me to fit the neck mounting plate. Another win for stupidity

So without too much thought I decided to fit some nice chrome countersink washers and fit the neck without using a neck mounting plate. The washers are 15mm. I do not have a 15mm router bit, drill bit or other "designed for the job" cutter to hand. So rather than waiting until the shops open tomorrow to buy the right drill bit, I used the closest think I have, which is a 14mm countersink. I wanted a flat bottom to the hole, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to use the countersink.

When I had my holes drilled, I went about the painstaking task of widening the holes to take the washers. To cut a long story short I made a right bog of it. They work and will be on the back of the instrument, but it won't do. In the cold light of day, I do not want to spoil the ship for a halfpennyworth of tar at this late stage in the build. So I want to fill the holes, fill the rounded over edge, tidy it all up and do what I have intended in the design stage.

My concern is how to make a filler that will blend well (and possibly take stain)?

Question:

The wood is American Cherry. I have lots of wood dust. If I mix the wood dust with clear epoxy so that it is a pretty stiff consistency, will it work as an effective filler and how will it look? Another thought was to mix wood dust with CA glue.

All help and tips will be gratefully received.

By the way, this goes to confirm Frank Zappa's theory that the scientists are wrong to say that the universe is largely made up of hydrogen on account of it being the most plentiful element in the universe. His view was that it was made up mainly of stupidity on the basis of his observation that stupidity is more plentiful than hydrogen :lol:

Thanks

Steve

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The lesson there is when you start to make mistakes on something important, walk away from it for the day. You know you will only make more.

 

[JakeS]

The wood is American Cherry. I have lots of wood dust. If I mix the wood dust with clear epoxy so that it is a pretty stiff consistency, will it work as an effective filler and how will it look? Another thought was to mix wood dust with CA glue.

Neither epoxy nor CA will take stain, and I suspect that if you pack them with enough sawdust to be porous enough to stain, they wouldn't have any integrity any more... and it would probably still be patchy.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

I might then be better filling the holes, which won't be visible and gluing strips of wood to deal with the round-over and maybe routing that over with a smaller radius cutter - what you think?

Steve

 

[deserter]

I would fill the holes with timber plugs if you have a plug cutter big enough, even if it meant making the holes bigger to take the plugs.

As for the rounded part, could you use a rebate style cutter to make a square step instead and then again fill with timber and plane flat.

 

[Steve Blackdog]

I would fill the holes with timber plugs if you have a plug cutter big enough, even if it meant making the holes bigger to take the plugs.

As for the rounded part, could you use a rebate style cutter to make a square step instead and then again fill with timber and plane flat.

Spot on. I don't have a plug cutter so I'll do some shopping!

Thanks very much for the assistance. It is what this forum is about isn't it

Steve

 

[woodbloke]

As a general rule, mixing wood dust with glue tends (for some unknown reason to me) to set a much darker colour than the original, so it's something I don't do. The plug is the way forward here - Rob

 

[jimi43]

I had exactly the same problem on one of my Telecasters Steve....nightmare...

I had a chipout on the rounding of the front of the pocket...you can just see the filler on the bottom edge (left).

That is coloured epoxy car filler...and I tried really hard to get it to match...it never will.

Even though it was so small...and barely visible..I couldn't live with it and had to get a Strat neck with overhanging last fret to cover it. But even then I know it's there!

For your case..if it were just the holes I would make a brass plate and be done with it but the body edge roundover...I am stumped what you would do there.

I think you have to say we live and learn.

Jim

 

[Steve Blackdog]

That's a very sweet looking top Jim. What is it?

I've just had a brain wave (well sort of) and I think I have come up with a solution that will save me the risk of making everything worse. Making everything worse is a special talent of mine.

I have just opened the holes out to 5/8ths" with a forstner bit, which is nice and neat. The chrome countersink washers sit in those holes nicely with about 1/2mm gap all around (sorry to mix my imperial and metric!). I am going to sit the washers in clear epoxy, therefore the washers will look much neater. More to the point, they will look deliberate - someone looking at it might well say - I wonder why he did it like this. Only we will know!

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[Benchwayze]

Steve,

If you envisage using sawdust as a filler, stain the sawdust first. When it's dry you can mix it with your chosen 'carrier'.

I can't really advise on how best to fix, but can you not get a slightly different sized plate, to cover the whole lot? Then after filling the holes re-cut the plate recess (If there is one) and drill with the right size bit.

HTH

 

[Steve Blackdog]

That sounds helpful, John.

I sent off for a 16mm plug cutter last night, so I will be able to fill the holes if that is the route I go down.

I think I'll take Phil.p's advice and not touch the project until next week, when hopefully all of these ideas will settle into a plan.

In the meantime, I'll take some photos to give a better idea what I'm on about.

Cheers

Steve