Staple hole filler

[Charlie on Manitoulin]

If epoxy is thickened with white flour, will the staple holes be white? : :lol:

[Glen Smith]

Only if you bake the holes for one hour at 350 :lol:

I have used baking flour to whiten my epoxy/sanding dust mixture but I have never tried it with just flour.

[denis gagne]

There is no need to fill in the staple holes. They might even be more noticible if you do.

Denis

[Jack in Stoughton]

I agree. They get filled quite nicely when you glass the boat.

[DortoH]

I did not bother filling the holes on my canoe. They are almost invisible after glassing.

[Guest]

Hi Rob
Enjoyed your web site. Beautiful job.
Thanks

[Nachako]

:( Could someone give me an idea on why mine came out quite dark then ????????.I vacumed them out and left them for the epoxy.

[Glen Smith]

Staple holes filled with epoxy usually do end up being darker than the rest because the hole is showing end grain. There is no way you can make the staple holes "magically" disappear. If you don't want to see staple holes, don't use staples.

I have built 3 boats without staples and 4 boats with staples. Thousands of people have seen my boats and noboby has pointed out or questionned the staple holes.

[Dave]

I've tried a number of concoctions to fill the staple holes. They all seem to look good on the final sanding but once the epoxy hits they appear again. Check out this site tho http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Wshophtm/Shop9.htm
Dave

[Todd Bradshaw]

The first stripper that I ever used epoxy on after switching from polyester resin exhibited an "interesting" problem... It was a light-colored, sitka spruce marathon C-2 with a couple dark redwood stripes down the sides and solid redwood, vertical, rabbeted stems about 2" deep. The wood layup went well and the boat really looked nice after sanding. However, when we applied the glass, a small bright green dot about 1/4" in diameter soon formed around almost every staple hole! I was totally freaking out at the thought of owning a classy racing boat with green polka-dots all over it.

After much brainstorming and double-checking we finally found the problem. That particular brand of staples used some sort of green colored varnish (or whatever the binder is) to glue the individual staples into a strip. When we pulled the staples out of the hull, most of them left bits of this green stuff down in the holes. The epoxy dissolved it and it wicked out into the surface layers. We had been using the same brand of staples for years with polyester resin on spruce boats and had never had any trouble, so it must not have been soluable in polyester or styrene, but it sure was with the new epoxy resins. Luckily, the green dye in it must have been very sensitive to light or something, because the spots faded away in a few days and never came back. A close call to be sure.

[canoeblderinmt]

I used Elmers sandable, stainable filler (it's water-based) to fill the holes I had in my first White Guide 18 1/2 footer. The stuff comes in a couple of colors, so I was able to mix and match pretty well. It dries fast, and did a good job of making the holes disappear, though it took some time. It sands easy, which is a concern if you are using soft Western Red Cedar like I do. You might try the Famowood line of fillers also, but they are mineral spirit based, and a little messier.

[Guest]

One thing you can try is to steam them out. After pulling staples, place a damp cloth on the wood, and iron it. Steam can make compressed wood swell and remove dents; since the wood from the holes is still there but squished on the sides, this can make the holes a lot smaller. You then need to let the hull dry very thoroughly before applying epoxy, but some have claimed that this made their staple holes almost unnoticeable. I was in a hurry at that point in my canoe, and did not try it. Don't overdo the steaming which might undo the glue. It's probably worth testing the procedure first on a couple of scrap strips.