I generally don’t like any store bought wood putty.
But upon finishing a new railing for our stairs to the garage, I do have a small gap. Not really a big deal.
The rail is made of oak. and I have a lot of very fine/small oak sawdust.
Hum…
What about making a paste of that sawdust and Tight Bond glue to make a putty to fill the gap? I think that would work great.
Anybody try this?
In high school wood shop in the 70’s we just used sawdust and Elmers glue. It was good enough for those old school wood shop teachers.
Tightbond is yellow, which will change the color of your putty somewhat. Elmer’s glue dries clear.
It just seems like a perfect fit. I’ve got the very fine saw dust, and now Tight Bond glue. I need a shot glass or something to make the mix.
Hmmmm. No shot glasses. I need a very small container that I can mix this in.
Good point, but I’m not too worried about the color. And I know Tight Bond. Don’t have any Elmers (or kids).
They are stairs to the garage afterall. Looks real nice. I doubt I will even stain it.
Oh, I know what my container/mixer will be. Very easy to cut off the bottom of a pop or beer can.
Which is good, because … one issue with the glue+sawdust approach is that the glue generally makes the uptake of stain or finish very different from the uptake of the ‘normal’ wood.
Kind of like how they tell you not to treat your cast iron surfaces (eg, cabinet saw, band saw) with a silicone-based product because the silicone prevents some better finishes from ‘taking hold:’
I might choose clear epoxy mixed with sawdust over titebond, because titebond shrinks significantly as it dries. But if the gap is small, it will do the job
Very commonly done.
Yeah, done that many times. If it’s outdoors, use TiteBond III, which is waterproof. But you probably know that.
Thanks all. Looks good. I’m gonna let it dry a bit more and sand it.
Now I need to clean up all the sawdust in the garage.
This was a little project, but I had to move stairs and build a landing and new handrails.
One of the reasons I did this in oak was the pine available was absolute shit. And the only round type handrail Lowes had was 12’ long. Umm… no I don’t need that much at all. I didn’t buy that based on general principle. “Where’s your red oak?” That’s what I went with. Better overall. Twice as strong.
Photos?
I use small bathroom cups or mayo jar lids for mixing these kinds of things.
I’ve used water putty and sawdust to make a wood putty type stuff. It worked really well.
I love water putty powder almost as much as JBWeld. I keep them both for a rainy day fix-it project.
(Durhams rock hard water putty, this stuff is magical)
It’s possible to do this with epoxy plus filler/thickener - and the filler can be wood flour; this might be more physically durable than a standard wood glue, but epoxy does tend to yellow over time so it might not stay matched.
Here you go.
The whole reason for this project was to get that 2’ landing at the top. Also to extend that to the wall.
The door is on spring hinges (building code) so it automatically closes. I did add a magnetic door stopper to keep it opened. But it was still a pain. This also is a place to set things down when unlocking and entering the house. I also but an electronic lock on all of our doors. But you still have to key in your code.
There is another hand rail to the left that is not shown.
The other reason is, well we are newly retired and not getting any younger.
It’s weird, the photo looks a bit out of proportion.
That’s just the preview that’s been stretched to fit the window. Clicking through to the actual image makes things right. As did you. That’s one fine looking set of steps!
Yep. I had my contractor friend come out and put a metal handrail on our front steps last week after almost 30 years in this house. We aren’t getting any younger.
Looks just right on click-ghrough.
And I agree…that’s one fine looking set of steps.
Thanks for the compliments. It came out pretty good. And the home-made wood putty worked great.
I may put a steel railing on some back steps. But ironicly, they are sort of just a series of three landings.
Our next project is to figure out why our refrigerator is not dispensing water or ice. This frige was switched out when we bought the house (we knew they where going to do it). I suspect they forgot to hook up the water line. I donno, and it’s not that big of a concern.
That would do it 
As would them having hooked up the water line, but not turning a possible – if not likely – water valve back on.
How did you attach the treads to the stringers?
