Doughnuts, doughnuts everywher and not a one to eat!

Okay, have any of you ever heard of a 'Doughnut', or 'donut'?

I'm sure you have, but I'm not talking about the eating kind, I'm talking about the wood filler/putty kind.

I HATE THEM!!!

This is what one of the nasty buggers looks like.

They are made by the putty resins seeping into the surrounding woodwork of whatever hole your filling.

It doesn't sound too bad, but it is. If you do not get all the resin out you end up with a 'doughnut' effect when you stain the wood.

Here are a few that showed up during the bleaching process.








It was very disheartening to see these. I thought I had sanded them all out!!

And here are some more.



AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

So, what to do what to do....

I turned to the great guys over at the In The Workshop forum.

Basically, what they told me is:

try scrubbing it with water and a stiff brush to get it out of the pores of the wood. Not easy.

...if the water doesn't dissolve it, try a little lacquer thinner...and some course steel wool,or a brass "toothbrush"...one last thing is to use some stripper over it...that usually always cuts the filler...

Mr. Neil also gave me an incredibly easy tip to keep this from happening in the future:

A trick to avoid the donut issue is to ,use a piece of masking tape to avoid getting it all around the area...

The worst part about it...I have two rather large areas where I used the filler.

Here...













...and here.

As soon as I learn how to deal with these big spots I will let you know.

I have found out a great deal about Minwax and their products. Let's just say I won't be using them again.

There are two new (to me anyway) product lines that will be used for this project. When they were first suggested to me I knew nothing about them. After some digging I discovered they are some of the brands the pros use. You won't find these at the 'big-box' stores!

Once the products get here, and I've played with them, I'll post what they are and tell you what I think.

Well, that's enough for now; I better get back to the kitchen.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry