Filling in knotholes in flooring

ellmoe · October 21, 2008, 08:05:42 PM

I have a customer that purchased some rustic, spalded oak flooring from me. He kept all the knot holes. He wants to fill the holes in with something clear so the hole will show, but still seal up the hole. He will be using a water based urethane as the finish. Any suggestions?

Mark

jason.weir · October 21, 2008, 08:34:19 PM

look into a pourable bar top epoxy, the stuff is self leveling and hard as wood pecker lips when cured. Its expensive but just a little bit would fill a bunch of knots...

-Jason

ellmoe · October 21, 2008, 09:03:52 PM

Thanks Jason. Do you think that there could be a problem with the finish applied over the epoxy?

Mark

metalspinner · October 21, 2008, 09:55:20 PM

The problem will be the epoxy oozing underneath the floor. If a leveling type liquid is used, he will need to dam up the bottom of the knots prior to filling. If he has not laid the floor yet, he can put tape on the bottom of the holes to seal them up. Spinkle in a little saw dust on the exposed tape to match the color of the floor.

jason.weir · October 21, 2008, 10:03:31 PM

No idea on final finish compatibility..

-J

pigman · October 21, 2008, 11:05:05 PM

I have filled nail holes in furniture with clear epoxy and the poly finsh seemed to stick to the epoxy just fine. At least it looked fine when I delivered the furniture to the customer. ;D

ellmoe · October 22, 2008, 06:29:43 AM

Thanks, guys.

Mark

Larry · October 22, 2008, 07:31:00 AM

Epoxy has worked well for me. I also tried body putty one time dyed black. It worked just as good as the epoxy. I've never used a water based finish as your customer plans...he might want to test a couple of samples first.

Dodgy Loner · October 22, 2008, 08:47:26 AM

I've used clear epoxy with a polyurethane finish to fill knots in some cherry flooring and an apple coffee table. It's been 2-3 years and I have no problems to report.

Chuck White · October 22, 2008, 09:18:07 AM

Quote from: metalspinner on October 21, 2008, 09:55:20 PM
The problem will be the epoxy oozing underneath the floor. If a leveling type liquid is used, he will need to dam up the bottom of the knots prior to filling. If he has not laid the floor yet, he can put tape on the bottom of the holes to seal them up. Spinkle in a little saw dust on the exposed tape to match the color of the floor.

Another way would be to pour a little of the epoxy into the knot holes (to seal the bottom) and once it's cured, just fill the holes the rest of the way.

ely · October 22, 2008, 11:57:38 AM

and if you want it to look interesting you can drop in a few quarters or 22 shells and fill them on up. makes a nice conversation piece.

ellmoe · October 22, 2008, 12:29:18 PM

Quote from: ely on October 22, 2008, 11:57:38 AM
and if you want it to look interesting you can drop in a few quarters or 22 shells and fill them on up. makes a nice conversation piece.

This is Florida. I was thinking about palmetto bugs (cock roaches on steroids). :D

Mark