I transplanted a curved staircase out of an old victorian to my house. The painted fascia trim that the treads seat in were made by kerfing the backs to get the curve. It was transported in pieces and had to be cut down to fit in the lower ceiling height. The process was hard on the painted trim and shows multiple paint cracks and joints where different pieces meet. Some guys mentioned using auto body bondo filler as a durable filler for the cracks and joints prior to smoothing and painting. I was hoping someone might have some experience in this and be able to recommend a favorite product and technique. Thanks.
Half of good livin’ is staying out of bad situations.
Replies
rez,
I have a lady working for me that does all of our furniture restoration and stain and finish work. She uses Bondo brand body filler to rebuild missing wood, smooth out joints, and a host of other things. She recently filled a damaged area in some mahogany casing that slipped past my lead carpenter as he was installing it. Once she tinted it and added some graining you would be hard pressed to find the repair. On the other hand MinnWax makes a two part wood epoxy that is mixed and applied like bondo, the hardener is just a different color. I have used it in the past to rebuild missing pieces of newel posts and porch railings on some of our historic restoration projects.
Hope this helps.
Tim is right. I've gone to using the Minwax product more because it texture is like wood morre than the Bondo.
With either of them, be sure to sand first so you are filling filler to wood and not filer to paint or it might chip out at the edges from old weak paint bond
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
I've used Bondo many times for repairing wood. A long time ago I bought the Minwax stuff and after opening the can I realized that all it was was Bondo tinted a wood color. They could not hide that distinct smell. I've used body filler ever since and never had a problem.
Nothing wrong with Bondo but I like Martin Senour's Microlite body filler better- think it works easier. Any NAPA store should have it. About the only things to watch out for is dust control and protection when sanding ...... Bondo dust is rotten stuff and make sure it doesn't stand proud after sanding. It happens more on white pine, the body filler is harder than the wood- a sanding block will do the trick. It works well on exterior work too. Tear out the rotten wood and use 2 part fiberglass resin to stiffen and stabilize the punky wood. Fill with the body filler and sand. No need for the resin in your case if the wood is sound.
rez,
I've used Minwax with wonderful results. Just play with the hardening time. Overfill it......then start using your sheetrock knife and cut back the oeverlaod.then swith to a rasp/ file to sandpaper.....after its hard paint in the grain with a tripple zero Windsor Newton artists paint brush after staining the thing first. No need for Bondo altho that works well outside. HArd to sand for detail work IMO. Look at the website for Condons lumber here in NY (Bronx). I spent many a Saturday early mornings taking classes there on furnature stuff. They have awesome furnature refinishing packs that will help you. Oldest yard in NYC for veneer work.
Be fine
Namaste
Andy
You don’t complete your inner work before you do your outer work. Nor do you say, "Well, the hell with the inner work: I’ll go do the outer work because it’s so important and pressing." That’s not conscious either. The conscious thing is the simultaneous doing of both. "Ram Dass"
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Once, out of laziness, I tried this Bondo product that did not require mixing (came in a can) and claimed to be activated by UV rays. Thinking this was the perfect wood filler for some exterior trim, I gave it a try. Everything looked great for a month, then it lost adhesion with the wood and I had to do it all over again. I haven't had that problem with regular bondo.
Sure, Bondo is handy as could be for repairing all kinds of wood damage. We used to keep a can handy at all times in the cabinet shop, anything paint-grade could be fixed even if it got damaged on the way out the door.
If there's any rot or decay that Minwax wood hardener works really well proior to the Bondo.
I just repaired a couple of big 1940's corbels that were so beautiful I couldn't bear to replace them, but they were really rotten inside.
Now they have a few pints of wood hardener and a couple gallons of Bondo. Worked great -- they look original with the rest of the old house because they are (as long as you don't look inside).
If you use red cream hardener or white cream hardener, it changes the way the Bondo takes stain. Try both, it's worth it.
DRC
I've used Bondo to fill seams in exterior Fypon. You can also use the red filler (scratch filler I think) to smooth out any final details after the major Bondo work sets up. When you get god at this you can help mw with the body work on my 1977 Chevy custom 20 pickup truck. Get ready to buy Bondo in the 55 gallon drum size.
Let me guess- somewhere between Buffalo and Chicago?
Just remember it ain't really bad till you hit the puddle and it splashes your face. Roar!
Half of good livin' is staying out of bad situations.
Edited 12/12/2002 11:49:09 PM ET by rez
I went to the Fypon factory to check it out before I started using it. When I asked them what they recommended for scartch, nick, dings, etc. filler.
She smiled and used the B word.
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
I used Auto Body Filler (aka Bondo) but not the same name for repairing exterior columns this summer and my neighbour used it for filling in cracks in his house exterior too. Worked great, but I prefer 2 part epoxy plus stabilizer when possible.
At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
I use a 2 part epoxy that I bought as a kit from Albatron the kit included 2 paste type epoxies and two liquid epoxies you mixed either type in equal ratios. the liquid type could be poured over rotted wood to harden the wood.The paste was used as a filler and you could add some of the liquid mix to the paste mix to change the consistancy this eased the application. This stuff does not dry near as fast as bondo so you have to come back in a couple of days to sand. the only problem I have had with bondo is in a wet enviroment the feathered parts would break off so make sure you paint right after your application.The kit was over a hundred bucks but it comes with two sets of epoxy and can of cleaner and plastic gloves which I highly recommend because when you get this stuff on you it takes a dozen washings to get it off.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Andysz2
always wondered about that stuff. So you like it enough to spend the big bucks on it? Does the money compare to bondo or the Minwax stuff for the amount you get? Shelf life?
Thanks for sharing that.
BE well
Namaste'
andyYou don’t complete your inner work before you do your outer work. Nor do you say, "Well, the hell with the inner work: I’ll go do the outer work because it’s so important and pressing." That’s not conscious either. The conscious thing is the simultaneous doing of both. "Ram Dass"http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
The hundred bucks seems a bit much for the product in comparison to bondo which would be about 20$ but it does let you make a range of consistancies that I could not do with plain bondo. The liquid part works great for turning soft wrotted wood hard which to me makes doing the repairs alot easier.I will probably buy another kit when I run out and just increase my billing to cover the extra cost. The one thing I like about bondo is that it hardens so fast that you can do the job in one visit.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
I also used the hardner/catalyst which I got from my local Lee Valley store to stiffen the punk wood before I used the Bondo. The kit cost $45.00 Canadian, but it is made in Wisconson or Minnesota or somewhere like that. You can also be refill bottles of things you run out of.
Your case may be different, but I had the problem of trying to get the inside of the columns treated just so I could bondo them. Trying to fill with the 2 part epoxy would have killed me.
John Stahl has posted here and he carries a full set of restoration epoxies, but we could never get together so I could get a sample. Still, the Bondo worked.At my age, my fingers & knees arrive at work an hour after I do.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
YES to the Abatron product....I've used lots, including six weeks (times two guys) restoring three big windows in a church/museum that were in a bad way.
I've used bondo a lot also, but the Abatron is supposed to be formulated to move a little, at the same rate of expansion /contraction as wood; not so with bondo.
As far as customer relations go, in my shop, it's not bondo....it's proprietary non-shrinking catalysed polyester filler.cabinetmaker/college instructor. Cape Breton, N.SWAY too conservative to be merely right wing
"As far as customer relations go, in my shop, it's not bondo....it's
proprietary non-shrinking catalysed polyester filler."
Cool. I'm going to feel so much better next time I use this stuff.
Now all I need is the thin plastic reuseable generic label to go over the outside of the can, kinda like the fake soda-can covers you can wrap around your beer can so you can walk down the street drinking alchohol at big parties without getting busted for public consumption . . . oh, never mind. <G>
DRC
do like they do on some of the HGTV shows, paint the label black.bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's cheat sheet
Bondo Credibility
In '88 we were restoring a house involved in the "underground railroad" at the same time Lincoln's home was undergoing a mil+ remodeling. The guy doing the Lincoln job was interested in seeing our house and invited us to tour the job "under the bubble". The guy was giving us the tour and I spotted something light pink on the outside window trim. I ask him and it was and we have been using "bondo" ever since.
There is a green bondo we have mixed oil based artist colors with the paste, used red hardener and after testing matched and filled finished hardwood bad spots. Later I had trouble finding them. You could do it with the standard stuff, we just had the green at the time.
We like to use a surform blade, no holder, for the initial shaping. Staying with it makes it easy. There is a new surform blade that has a saw-toothed edge which is really handy for some rough shaping.
Great thread. I've been using Bondo for awhile, myself. Here in Naples, FL, I get a lot of jobs from condo associations repairing rotted ext. door jambs. It seems the painters never caulk the jamb to threshold joint, or the bottom plate of sidelights, or back prime anything. During the summer it rains virtually every day for an hour or two, so if any ext. wood is not properly sealed, it's gone within a couple of years, since it never dries for that several month period.
Anyway, after digging out the rotted wood, I use a hair dryer to dry out any remaining wood in the cavity. Then I mix a bit of Bondo but with less hardener so it stays workable longer, and using one a proper size artist brush or a throw away 1" brush, I work that into the cavity to coat the remaining wood. Then while that "coating" Bondo is still wet, I fill in the cavity with the proper mix stuff. Never had a call back. I just figured that "coating" would give the finish proper mix Bondo something more substantive to grab as they cured together.
Before priming and painting I wipe some Polyseamseal caulk onto the surface joints where the wood meets the Bondo. I figured if/when the wood expands and shrinks from our seasons, that caulk film (I smooth it well) will span and camouflage any future developing hairline cracks at those joints.
At a garage sale a few months ago I bought a small tool that looks like a dime with a small metal handle attached to it's center. Don't know what trade it's for. It looks like the letter "T", with the top leg being the dime and the vertical leg being the 4" - 5" handle. I use it to push the Bondo into the cavity. Works better than a small putty knife to assure filling the entire cavity.