Filling Small Screw Holes

[mandrian]

Hi,

I need to relocate a tailpiece. The new screw holes will be well clear of the old ones.

I have furniture repair wax sticks. Could these be used for a satisfactory result in filling in the old holes? They would seem to work colorwise and would be mostly under the new tailpiece any how.

My research of the cafe seems to point to either plugging wood (toothpicks, etc) or filling with matching wood particles (sanding) mixed with glue. In both cases would then have difficulty matching color.

Any reason not to go down the wax route? Seems easier for the less skilled, but there may be some reason not to pursue it?

Regards

[Rick Lindstrom]

Since this has nothing to do with structural integrity, how you deal with the screw holes really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If it's your personal instrument, you might want to just move the tailpiece and leave the screw holes as they are. You can think about it and do them later if they bother you. Or just leave them alone.

If you're working on this for someone else, find out what they would like to see.

I'm not making any suggestions on how to do it because there are many ways to go and others will fill you in on that. All the way from very simple to very complex.

[mandrian]

Hi Rick,

Just doing it for myself, but would like it to look and play as nice as it can. It's just a cheap EBay purchase so it's not worth taking it to an expert so I'll do as best I can myself and try to learn something.

Regards

[MikeEdgerton]

I fill small holes with round toothpicks and glue and touch them up with stain. I'm sure everyone has their own methods. Elmer's has a glue that's stainable. I don't use it for anything structural but for filling holes it has been fine. I use a razor blade to cut them off flush.

[Paul Busman]

Try the wax on one of the holes that you know will be covered. If it looks OK, do the others. The more complicated the fix, the more likely it is that something can go wrong and make it look even worse than the holes.

[multidon]

I am a big believer in the toothpick method. I have become pretty good at it. I put a little titebond original on the toothpick, jam it in as far as it will go, then snap it off. The trickiest part is sanding it smooth without affecting the surrounding finish. I use a Stew Mac fret dressing stick for this, but you could jury rig something yourself I'm sure. Then you can get a set of furniture touch up pens at any home improvement store. They are like a bunch of sharpies only they come in an assortment of wood colors. I have found they go on darker than you think they will so I always start with the lightest color and see if that will do, if not I go up one shade until the match is good. Most of the time the resulting repair is for all practical purposes invisible unless you are looking for it with a magnifying glass.

I don't think the wax sticks are a great idea. The wax may shrink back an leave gaps, and if you change your mind the waxy residue will be impossible to remove and will interfere with the glue for any other repair attempts.

[MikeEdgerton]

The problem with using wax is if it doesn't work you can't fix it.

And multidon just said that

[Jim Adwell]

You're more likely to make an ugly mess filling a small hole with a toothpick and trying to make it blend in than filling the hole with colored wax, not mention spending a lot more time doing the former. Since you are apparently not reusing the holes there's no reason to fill them with wood.

[Bill McCall]

Using a toothpick or small dowel exposes end grain to a flat or vertical gran surface and takes stain quite differently. Wax can always be drilled out slightly larger and then plugged if a new screw needs to be utilized. Best would be a matching grain plug but I've never seen a plug cutter that small, but it could be made by hand with a slight taper for a good fit. Or just cover it and forget about it.

[MysTiK PiKn]

Filling with wood and glue is more of an attempt to create solid wood when moving the tp screws comes very close to the old holes. If there is adequate distance between the old holes and the new holes, there's little concern, especially if the tp will cover the old holes. The main focus would be on installing the new tp screws in good wood. Having said that, the old holes can be converted to reasonably strong wood by filling with glued, and close fitting, dowel wood - toothpicks in small screw holes are imitating the dowel idea. If it won't show, you have more options, none of which will likely matter. Only you will know.

And Don's idea of cutoff w a razor blade is pretty clean, flush to surface, touch up and done.

[Willie Poole]

If you cut the toothpicks off first and make the ends flat and clean then you can just push them into the holes as far as you need to and no sanding will be required and won`t mess up the finish on the mandolin...This isn`t rocket science by any means since no one will even see the repair...

Willie

[Rick Lindstrom]

For something as small as screw holes you might want to fill with epoxy dyed the correct color. Fill slightly proud, slice flush when cured, wet sand and polish.

Or, if you want wood, fill with a toothpick to just below the surface of the finish, drop fill with dyed lacquer or CA, sand and polish when cured.

[mandrian]

Hi,

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated. I went the toothpick route and it seems to have worked out fine.

I've been researching the next task which is to fit the bridge. I know you use sandpaper to do the final fitting, but won't ask whether you do it up and down or side to side as that seems to have been a major debate in the past. I'll toss a coin!

Regards

[multidon]

I like Mike's idea of using a razor blade to cut them flush, even though it has always worked out for me just snapping them. But if anyone tries that, I think it would be a good idea to scotch tape the sides of the blade edge, leaving only a small part of the edge exposed in the middle, just a little bigger than the toothpick. That minimizes the chances of more damage from an accidental slip.

[Cush]

Instead of filling the holes with something permanent the holes could be filled with wood putty tinted to match the surrounding wood. Then if you want to use the holes again for screws you can just clean out the putty.

[MikeEdgerton]

Instead of filling the holes with something permanent the holes could be filled with wood putty tinted to match the surrounding wood. Then if you want to use the holes again for screws you can just clean out the putty.

If you want to use the holes again after filling with toothpicks you simply reuse the holes. It ain't rocket science. You have plugged the hole with hardwood. You can drill it.

I like Mike's idea of using a razor blade to cut them flush, even though it has always worked out for me just snapping them. But if anyone tries that, I think it would be a good idea to scotch tape the sides of the blade edge, leaving only a small part of the edge exposed in the middle, just a little bigger than the toothpick. That minimizes the chances of more damage from an accidental slip.

Don, you get pretty good with the razor after a while. I go real slow.

[DroneAlone]

I've been researching the next task which is to fit the bridge. I know you use sandpaper to do the final fitting, but won't ask whether you do it up and down or side to side as that seems to have been a major debate in the past. I'll toss a coin!

I've just done it (for the first time) on my Eastman MD 515. I've used Frank Fords method, which worked well and wasn't too difficult. For the final sanding I put on an old G and an E string to create some down pressure (I found this tip on Red Henry's pages, if I remember correctly).

Peter

[Cush]

The reason I like putty for this is because I have had to reuse holes that were filled with epoxy. Drilling out epoxy is more demanding than a simple putty removal. The problem lies in the epoxy being harder than the wood making the drill tend to wander into the wrong location.