The Easy DIY Wood Filler You Can Make At Home

If you're creating a custom piece of wood furniture and realize you have a crack or chip in your project, you might run for the wood putty. But what happens if you're fresh out and don't want to head to the store? You can easily use sawdust from your lumber and mix it with wood glue, creating the perfect putty for any type of carpentry. You can also use this awesome hack to repair wood furniture and flooring that may have sustained some type of damage, whether it's from shoes or animal scratches. And if you want to repair an old and damaged wooden deck with wood filler, then this hack is worth a try. Additionally, you might even find yourself skipping the wood putty altogether, once you realize how beneficial this trick can be. 

For starters, wood putty doesn't always work on unfinished wood. Wood glue, however, is ideal in this situation. Wood glue also hardens when it dries, whereas wood putties don't. Even better, when you use wood shavings from your current woodworking project, you're working to create a seamless finish that blends perfectly so that you never see the cracks or gaps you worked so hard to repair. You'll have a flawless bespoke item without any sign of imperfections if you follow these simple steps. 

In an inventive TikTok video shared by @woodshopdiaries, it's best to use sawdust from your current project. This ensures your wood is color-matched. All you need to do is mix a little bit of sawdust with wood glue and combine the two until you have a putty. Then use it to fill in any cracks or gaps in your work. After your wood glue and sawdust mixture dries, sand the area until it's smooth. It takes upward of an hour for wood glue to dry, and if you sand it before it's completely hard, you run the risk of your patched area shrinking ever so slightly once the glue is completely dry. 

However, you might need to utilize this helpful trick even if you don't have matching sawdust on hand. If this is the case, it's best to look for sawdust from a similar wood. If you need to repair cherry or walnut wood, for example, you can use alder wood sawdust. You can also use red gum sawdust in place of walnut or even mahogany. Keep in mind that this trick works best on unfinished pieces, as stain doesn't always work on glue and sawdust. An exception is Gorilla Wood Glue, which claims that you can sand, paint, and stain it.