We Test... wood fillers for repairs

Hey everyone,

We love testing stuff and learning things. On this one we tried to figure out what is the best way to repair deep chips and damages on hardwood floor. Nothing scientific here, just our experience and opinion.

Don't get scared, this is not what it supposed to look like on the end. The purpose was not to make it pretty, but to test different types of filler, putty, epoxy... for hardness, adhesion, ability to accept stain, ease of use and time needed.

What Im looking for:

something that can set quick, be smooth, stain easily and coat-able.

What I found:

hard wax is outta the question since it's soft and can't take poly

putty and filler without hardener takes longer to dry on deep damages, some shrink

epoxy could be hard to work with and hard to make it smooth

The winner in my book:

Bondo. It dries quick, I can slice it with razor blade to make it smooth without sanding, it stains great, finish adheres very well and it's hard.

Which bondo? they all very similar. I'd use Bondo wood filler for wood-like tones and regular bondo for grey-ish.

Tips:

use white hardener so it doesn't turn pink or blue.

use coloring pigments like Mixol to match the color

slice it with razor after about 5 minutes so it's still elastic

use pencils or fine markers to add grain effect

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Credits:

the idea to use bondo I heard on a Bona podcast episode with John Highlander. Thanx guys!

here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3Y0kOjRdm4&t=50s

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here's a link of me using it: https://youtu.be/OgNPEfvArOY