How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Occasionally, you will get a piece of gorgeous wood that has voids or knots in it. You wouldn’t want to add wood putty, because it wouldn’t retain the look of the knots. But, you want a smooth surface. The solution is to fill the wood knots and voids with epoxy. The results will be beautiful and you’ll be hard pressed to find the patch afterwards.

Materials:

(contains affiliate links)

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Instructions:

Begin by taping off the area around the holes, voids or knots. Press the edges of the painter’s tape down to seal it against the wood.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Remove the epoxy from the packaging. (I used Gorilla Glue Epoxy glue that sets up in 5 minutes.)

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Snip or snap off the tip of the epoxy tubes.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Press the cap out of the plungers before trying to depress the plunger. Retain the cap to use if you have any leftover epoxy.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Depress the plungers and squeeze the two part epoxy into the packaging mixing tray. Stir the epoxy with the enclosed wooden stick until the glue is thoroughly mixed (should appear cloudy and all one color.)

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Pour or spoon the epoxy into the voids, holes or knots. Do not let the epoxy touch your skin. Be sure to fill to the top or slightly over the top of the holes. Use disposable wipes to clean up any misplaced drips.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Allow the epoxy to harden and dry. Depending on the weather, the epoxy will likely need to dry and harden overnight.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

When the epoxy has fully cured, remove the painter’s tape.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Sand the epoxy until it is smooth and level with the rest of the wood surface. Avoid the temptation to keep the sander on the epoxy too long or the glue will gum up the sandpaper. It’s better to use several passes and allow the epoxy to cool off between sanding.

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Finish your wood with stain and/or topcoat of your choice. You can see my tutorial for refinishing reclaimed lumber for more details. You can read more on repairing holes in wood in “This Whole Post is on Repairing Holes.”

When you’re done it should be hard to locate the epoxy filled area! Can you spot it below?

How to Fill Holes and Knots in Wood | Pretty Handy Girl

Want more details about this wood table top and how to build the table?

How to Fill Voids and Knot Holes in Wood

 

Pin for later!

59 replies
Newer Comments »
  1. Matt
    Matt says:

    I’ve seen something like this on worktops where in largish holes interesting objects e.g seashells have been added to the resin how would you go about doing this?

    Reply
  2. Bret
    Bret says:

    Can I add a little color to the epoxy so it’s darker when dry? I’m planning to stain my wood a dark color and I’m afraid since the epoxy is clear you will see the lighter wood thru the epoxy.

    Reply
  3. joe burttcshell
    joe burttcshell says:

    This is a great idea! I wonder if table top epoxy can be applied over .also the lumber in this project is long leaf pine a beautiful lumber, heavy , dense, hard as oak and can be past down generations.

    Reply
  4. Jyl
    Jyl says:

    Would this work on a vertical surface, like a door frame? I have a door that’s been scratched up by the previous owner’s big dog – but the scratches are too deep to sand smooth

    Reply
    • Brittany Bailey
      Brittany Bailey says:

      Jyl, your surface must be flat and horizontal when working with the epoxy. For dog scratches, I’d use Bondo or strong wood putty instead. The epoxy is when you want to keep the knot hole or imperfect look.

      Reply
      • Jyl
        Jyl says:

        thanks! I liked the idea of the epoxy because it’s clear and my door is just stained and I’m not sure I could get a really good match if I used bondo/stain (it’s an ancient door, with some kind of shellac on it) It’s probably time to just fill it in and paint it a wild colour! Thanks for your help!

  5. Christina
    Christina says:

    Hi Brittany, Like Erin, I enjoyed this tutorial but want to know if I should stain first. What say you? 🙂 Thanks for the tip about sanding over the epoxy too! Wow, this table looks great! Thanks so much!!
    ~ Christina

    Reply
  6. Erin
    Erin says:

    This is awesome. I have an old table with a couple gouges that I’ve been wanting to refinish and this will be perfect!

    One question, you say to stain after the epoxy. Is this true even if you want to use a dark stain, or would it make more sense to stain first in that case since the epoxy will be covering the wood?

    Thank you!

    Reply
Newer Comments »

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.