staining filler

Been asked to restore a dresser probably 1920,s art decor style mostly ply. Honestly not worth it however has some sentiment value to my niece. It has a few chips on the edges of the ply tops and normally would replace or repair these but in this case I want to fill and restain the top. My question is after stripping the ply surfaces I will need to retain then finish is there a filler that will blend with the surface using the same stain? thanks John.

Hi John,

Without knowing the timber (of the ply) and the colour it is difficult to know how to answer your query. Staining a filler to match a final colour is always a challenge in my experience. I have had some successes but also a few failures. What I have found overall is that it is best to have the filler darker than the timber - that works better than a patch of light-coloured filler (which I have also managed to fail with in the past!)

If you are going to use a spirit based stain to re-colour the plywood then one way to get a similar effect is to use a filler that will accept the same stain. For example, i fill large holes with an epoxy made by Bote-Cote Pacific (Epox-E-Glue I think it is called). It will accept colour from spirit stains (as well as other stains) so, with a bit of experimentation you can measure the drops of spirit stain to the grams of epoxy and do a trial for the final colour. I'm always too impatient - I just mix a bit darker and run with it. Seems to work out. I never use epoxy for an antique or any old item of value, but from what you say, this piece doesn't fit in those categories.

I have also used standard coloured wood fillers (sorry can't remember company but can look up if you need to know) and mixed up the standard colours until I think I'm close. That technique is a bit hit and miss for me, but has sometimes worked.

For valuable antiques with holes that cannot be properly repaired with a timber patch I have used brown button shellac melted into the hole with a cheapie soldering iron. Completely compatible with a final shellac or French Polish finish, looks like a dark knot in the wood.

Good luck

David

thanks David,
I will probably go with my old method of spirit stain in timber mate with crossed fingers. by the way it is cedar in colour. John