"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...
Finished dadoing and carving my rails on the table saw. 4 ea. 12 foot long
2x6's. Unfortunately I had to use framing lumber. This is going to be indoor
paint grade railing. Need to fill dents, nicks and saw marks. Considering
Bondo or simply painters caulk applied with a broad knife prior to sanding.
Even thinking of joint compound.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Bondo will work for largish imperfections. Joint compound will work for
smallish ones. If you use setting compound you wind up with gypsum, same as
Durham Rock Putty.

A very handy material is auto glazing putty. Bondo is basically polyester
resin and talc, glazing putty is basically lacquer and talc in a tube.
Biggest problem with it is that it has become ridiculously expensive.

You can make your own glazing material with any fine powder such as talc,
calcium carbonate, diatomaceous earth, pumice, etc. and a binder. Binder
can be lacquer, shellac, varnish, etc. I prefer lacquer or shellac. You
can make a thick putty or a thin glaze; both can be reconstituted with
binder if they dry out, both dry quickly, sand easily.

Sawdust and glue works too.

All the fillers consisting of a fine solid + binder need a fresh, clean
surface. I suspect the main cause of the Bondo filler in the video Robert
linked was that the wood surface was weathered.

BTW, the talc I'm talking about doesn't come from a drugstore, it comes from
some place that sells epoxies, polyesters, fiberglass, etc.