Smoothing wood filler

[grsjax]

I use Elmers wood filler for a number of purposes and find it to work fine.  Only problem is that sanding it makes a mess of find white power that gets everywhere.  Today I tried a different method.  I used a single sided razor blade as a scraper over the area that had been filled and it worked great.  No dust and I got a very smooth finish.  Just need to sand in a few areas that I couldn't get the blade into and a little finish shaping.   End result is a good surface and far less cleanup.

[bushman32]

That is a good idea. On the few areas that you need to sand, can you wet sand? I have wet sanded bondo on basswood with no problems, but I haven't done that on wood filler.

[grsjax]

That is a good idea. On the few areas that you need to sand, can you wet sand? I have wet sanded bondo on basswood with no problems, but I haven't done that on wood filler.

Good question.  I have never tried to wet sand wood filler.

[jbshan]

You want to watch out that the filler isn't much different in hardness than the wood.  You can wind up sanding too much on the softer material trying to get the harder material to match.

[captainbob]

Be carful with wet sanding.  Too much water will re-soften Elmer's wood filler.

 

Bob