# Filling Naill holes on Stained Trim



## spektrum (Mar 11, 2010)

Curious if any of you have ran into these issues. With the market going towards greener products and more and more water-based varnishes I've been having issues with traditional ways of puttying. I always used color putty brand intermixed maybe 3 colors to match different areas of the trim. Normal process as you all know would be stained then seal. Once its nailed up and puttied one more coat of varnish. I've noticed the color putty will turn somewhat milky. To avoid that I've resulted to finishing trim prior to install and filling then wiping excess with rag with subs but its nearly impossible to not leave residue, and I would follow with a clean rag wipe. I've used timbermate water-based wood filler and applied stain then follow up with final varnish, but that filler always seem to go very gray with stain or not. I know if I used an oil based system I could avoid this but I'm in Canada and its getting very tough getting a hold of oil based products and also for ease of application I want to make this work with waterbased polyurethane varnish. Lastly I guess Ill say varnishes used were either benny moore's stays clear or dulux wb polyurethane.


----------



## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

Yes that's a common problem. I noticed a brand of color putty sold locally has changed there label to say 'for use with oil base finishes'.

It's been discussed here a few times, and I think the only solution is to not use oil putty with WB finishes. 
So far, there is no WB alternative to the color match putties. The best thing I have come up with is to use a WB filler and touch it up with a stain pen to match.


----------



## spektrum (Mar 11, 2010)

I've never tried the stain pen, only artist brush with stain on that timbermate wood filler, but as I said no luck as it turns very hazy gray even after varnish applied over once dry. Ill have to experiment on some test panels with some wb filler alternatives if I can get my hands on any.


----------



## CliffK (Dec 21, 2010)

Have you tried a barrier of unwaxed shellac(SealCoat) after the putty/filler? I would stain/putty/sealcoat/then waterbased poly topcoat. I haven't really made the total switch to waterborne topcoats as of yet, but that is the order I would try .......


----------



## woodcoyote (Dec 30, 2012)

spektrum said:


> I've never tried the stain pen, only artist brush with stain on that timbermate wood filler, but as I said no luck as it turns very hazy gray even after varnish applied over once dry. Ill have to experiment on some test panels with some wb filler alternatives if I can get my hands on any.



Try mixing a small amount of stain into the sealer/top coat and put that on instead of just raw stain.

So instead of raw stain/finish. Do mix of stain/finish, then a clear on top of that.

Let us know how it turns out.


----------



## upnorthmn (Jun 14, 2009)

Dry your putty up with corn starch.


----------



## ridesarize (Jun 19, 2012)

When using regular lacquer my crews have either puttied (oil color putty) before last coat or puttied after final. Sometimes we have used orange oil to clean residue (when puttied after final). A couple times when puttying before final we cleaned residue with mineral spirits. I don't recall having any putty turn grey yet. I've used stays clear but not on a whole mill pack yet.


----------



## spektrum (Mar 11, 2010)

Thanks a bunch guys, I've got some great responses for different situations ill have to try. I have a job on the go currently with lots of puttying so I've got to make it work, Ill keep you posted on my results. Thanks again.

CliffK 
- Never tried shellac after the putty as I'd be scared of the residue on surface after applying putty with my fingers. Worth a try on a test panel I guess though, although I'd hope I can find another solution as facing off all trim once installed and then recoating with poly would be very time consuming.

woodcoyote
- In this particular case my stain was oil base wiping stain and as I said I had wb poly varnish. I guess I could just use some universal tints and match up the poly and apply that over the filler. although I still have some residue to contend with

upnorthmn
-corn starch? sometimes ill use fast set with regular mud to lessen shrinkage on painted trim to dry it up and make it easier to handle. does the corn starch affect the color much?

ridesarize
-ill try the orange oil on my finished trim, hope it works this solution would be best in this scenario. and the "putty" never turned grey. I had wb filler turn grey, specifically the timbermate brand. It says on the label will take any stain which it does, but then greys over the following days to the point it no longer matches surrounding trim


----------



## ExcelPaintingCo (Apr 16, 2011)

Apply the color putty prior to sanding your final coat. When you sand leave a layer of finish dust over the color putty. Then apply the final coat. The powder seals the putty and prevents blushing.


----------



## DeanV (Apr 18, 2007)

Color putty has come in oil and waterbase versions for as long as I can remember. It works fine.


----------



## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

I've tried a lot of tricks to keep the oil smears from happening with WB clears. Corn starch does help, it soaks up some of the oil from the putty making it less likely to soak into the coating. Just being careful when filling the holes helps, so does wiping with thinner.. 

But even if you can keep it from spotting right away, I have seen it slowly show up over the course of a year or two.. Some oil has to be left in the putty for it to be workable, and it will eventually dry out of it.


----------



## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

DeanV said:


> Color putty has come in oil and waterbase versions for as long as I can remember. It works fine.


 
Never seen a WB version. Who makes it?


Edit: been around since 96 apparently. Never knew

http://www.colorputty.com/waterborne.html


----------

