Filling Screw Holes In Ipe

Bodger

I searched the forum before I posted about this, found nothing.

Is it possible to use putty to fill the screw holes in Ipe and have it hold up to the elements?
If so, what product is best?

I Googled this and found that someone recomended Titebond II mixed with fine Ipe sawdust and a light sanding then oil after.

Anybody ever filled holes in Ipe?
Thanks

redwood

TB3 and ipe sawdust.

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Bodger

Excellent. Thanks.

rotarex

elmers wood glue and dust, dont dry sand it, ull kill your self, hose it and wet sand it, my top secret, dont show them illegals that eh

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Bodger

So, mix it to a consistency that will make it like putty, fill the hole, wipe the excess with a damp cloth, let dry, then hose it and wet sand it?

SLSTech

Plug it?
Just 1 site I found... http://www.advantagelumber.com/ipe%20plugs.htm

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Bodger

I've used plugs, taken a good 3/8" plug cutter on a drill press and cut them out of the face grain and then used TB to glue them down and slice 'em off with a good sharp chisel.

This time I've got some nice leftover lengths of 1 x 6 Ipe that I want to put on my truck racks as siderails and I think the way I'm going to do it will require me to use some trimheads in places and I don't want to go to the trouble of counterboring and sinking a plug.

rotarex

use a putty knife or something like that, make a paste and plop it in, if you wipe it, you will have to fill again, just like nail spotting with plaster, when you wet sand it comes off sooooo easy, when its hard all you do is make the IPE look like crap for visual here is a pic, you cant really tell with the pics, but trust me wet sand is the only way to go, and for the plugs,
gorilla glue polyurethane is the only thing that i know works

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Greg Di

Gorilla Glue and plugs is how I do it, but instead of a chisel, I use a Fein Multimaster to cut the plugs flush. Works excellent.

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BlakeS

Glue and plugs for me too. All 2000 of them and I'm not sure I'd do it again. Had a real problem keeping the plug cutter cool and they would warp thereby causing the plugs to become smaller in diameter. Went thru four of them. Customer is letting this deck go grey and I'm afraid the glue and dust would stay on the dark side. Not sure thats a good look. Ipe clips are the prefered method.

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Bodger

Damn, I hate using Gorilla. Works great, turns my hands and tools into a mass of crap. Good tip though.
And the Fein tool sounds like the way to go. I just got mine a while back, and haven't had a deck job to use it on yet.

I'm confused on the wet sanding though. Plop in the goop with the chisel, let it DRY like any other compound, THEN wet sand it?

Sorry to be dense about this. And fer chrissakes, it's just for side rails on my truck racks, but it's a good thing to know anyway.

neolitic

How about, grey SS trim screws,
and have a couple of shots?

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rotarex

here is the trick to the plugs, you have to soak them overnight in water then go to each hole, do a drop of gorilla glue in then come by and plug and pound in, ull see foam coming up the side, that will fill any gaps

as for the goop (IPE dust and glue) it gets so freaking hard when sanding you destroy the IPE grains and destroy the sand paper, thats why i said wet sand, have the water running slowly, wet then sand,

in face try it at home rite now, the glue drys quick

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Stone Mountain

countersink the screws, and then order the plugs (3/8" or 1/2" ) from... wait for it....The Widget Company. Over 100 plugs is around 16cents/plug. Why bother making your own, or mixing glue/sawdust, etc.
We did a major deck in IPE, used plugs on the steps. Looks great. Easy and cheap.

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Bodger

Are these plugs cut from the face grain? Looks better than end grain like a dowel.
Yeah cutting them on a drill press is bad news, Dulls the cutters even if you use that spray lube stuff from Rockler.

John Hyatt

Lee Valley sells a Veritas tapered plug cutter that works great. I dont know what kind of steel they use but those little suckers stay super sharp even doing ipe plugs. Put a fan up to keep the smoke away. I can make a couple hundred in an hour or so. They do get gumed up after a while so just keep them clean with a small scraper and your good to go.

I dont like the monkey glue for a lot of reasons. Tightbond 111 works well for me. J.

Bodger

That's exactly the plug cutter I use. It tapers the plug, has prong-like cutters on it. Rockler sells a spray lubricant for drilling and sawing, and that stuff kept the smoke down and extended the sharpness of the cutters too.
And yeah. like I said, I know Gorilla glue works great, but I've always made a mess with it on my hands. One time with an Adirandack chair I made, I used Gorilla for the plugs and put too much in the holes. When it foamed, it pushed all the plugs out about a quarter inch. BEFORE I noticed it.
It dried that way.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Stone Mountain

I honestly couldn't tell you. I'm not a carpenter so I wouldn't know. I can tell you that they fit and matched perfectly, and the customer, who was very very picky, was pleased.

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redwood

If I gathered the question right. You have some existing screw holes in some excess ipe and you want to use them as side boards.

No way do I plug that. I assume that you have holes on both sides of the boards and both sides will be visable. Make some ipe paste and sand it down. Unless they are huge holes, they will not be any more noticable then plugs that don't match in color or grain.

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