Sawdust on the Floor

In a recent magazine interview with Norm Abrams, Norm defended his practice of using nails when constructing his woodworking projects, by stating that if you were to look at any of the antiques, that often sell for thousands of dollars, you will find they were constructed with nails. I like Norm’s logic because it makes me feel better when I use one of my nail guns to apply a piece of trim molding or to hold pieces together while the glue sets. My reasons aren’t as lofty as his, mine are because it is the best method to complete the project, plain and simple. But using nails in any wood working project brings up an another interesting issue, how do you treat the nail or nail holes?

The answer to that really depends on how you intend to finish the project and where the project is intended to be used. Painted projects that are intended for use indoors are handled differently then painted projects that will spend their life outdoors. For an indoor painted project taking care of nail holes is really easy. If you used a pneumatic nail gun to set the nails, all you have to do is cover the hole. However, if you used a hammer to apply the nail, then you will need to set the nails before you can cover them, assuming that you used “finish nails” for your project.

Most DIY store or hardware stores carry Nail Sets .  These come in three different sizes, covering the different sizes of finishing nails commonly used. Simply select the one that fits into the head of the nail, and then set the nail into the wood with your hammer. Now you’re ready to cover the hole.

I like to use a product like “Fast Patch” which is a light weight plaster for indoor projects. Use you finger to apply the plaster over the hole, allow it to dry then sand it off. I recently started using a compound that goes on pink, then when it dries it turns white, this way you know when to start sanding, kinda cool. This method will not work for outdoors projects, instead of the fast patch, use a quality painter’s putty. This is an oil based putty that is applied with a putty knife, instead of the finger. Like the Fast Patch, you allow it to dry and then sand it off. It’s best to over fill the holes, as painter’s putty tends to shrink as it dries. Also remember if you are using nails outdoors, to be sure that the nails are galvanized as standard nails will rust outdoors.

If you intend to use either stain or oils to finish the project, then you would use an oil based filler to cover the nail holes. I like to use a product like Famowood, or Minwax Wood Putty to fill nail holes. Using either product is relatively easy, simply apply the filler over the nail hole and allow to dry then sand smooth. These oil based products will sand smoothly and when covered with either stain or oil, will blend into the finish. The same can not be said for some of the other fillers on the market. My experience with the so called plastic wood filler is that they do not blend into the finish, but rather leave a very obvious blemish on your surface, so I stay away from them.

A couple of words about using either of these oil based fillers, both tend to dry out quickly once you have opened them. For the Famowood product make sure that the lid is secured when your done using the product. For the Minwax product, I store opened jars inside a zip lock bag once I have opened the jar. While not perfect, it helps increase the shelf life of the product. The other is that both of these products will load up your sand paper quickly, particularly if you start to sand before the product has time to dry. So either be patient or plan on using a lot of sand paper.

I haven’t made many project that were stained and spend a lot of time outdoors. The exception was an Adirondack chair, made of Cyprus. On the chair I used stainless steel nuts and bolts, instead of nails. So there were no nail holes to fill. I suspect that the oil based fillers would work, but have never really tried it.  Maybe if I can think of an interesting outdoor project, I can try the idea.

One thing that Norm didn’t talk about was that our ancestors didn’t always try to hide the nails. Maybe if a guy could find the old “cut nails” that were used back in the day, then you would want to make them part of the look of the project instead of covering them. An interesting idea.