20 Best Wood Putty For Staining (2023 Updated)

DON’T purchase this stuff if you’re going to use a clear oil-based stain on wood. I don’t mind paying more for a product that works—but, this is paying more and and getting far less. I bought it because it said stainable–to me, that means it will assume its place as wood where you put it.

No. The brad-holes were barely noticeable but because this gunk soaked in or made the area incompatible with oil stain, my eye is drawn to a pencil-eraser-sized bald spot around the holes themselves.

The beautiful cornice box project now looks amateurish. My husband did a lot of carpentry in the navy—he bought cherry wood putty to use on these cornices, but I thought I knew better. I sure wish I would have used what he bought instead of this gritty product.

It is dark out of the tube, gets darker when drying, then shows up in the middle of a stain-free area it creates. I hate to be wrong—I hope I save somebody the heartache of having a project ruined by this “professional strength” stuff.

Elmer’s Pro-Bond is a standout. You won’t be disappointed with the results. It does everything they claim, and more! Unfortunately, it’s packaged in a container that’s far from air tight. If not used often you’ll find it semi hard.

If you find this condition, all is not lost. just add some water to bring it back to your desired consistency. that is if it isn’t rock hard! I overcame that problem by upon opening I transferred the contents to an air tight jar where it will stay fresh until you use it again.

which could be months, even years. great product! Jeff, Vermont.

Excellent product. It did what it was supposed to do even in less than ideal temperatures. Prior to purchasing this item, I read reviews from various sources about the filler and was therefore pleased that my local store carried it.

Thank you Aubuchon in Sandwich, Mass!.

Wow , this Gorilla wood filler is so super easy to use. All you have to do is squirt some where you need it. Very easy to spread. It’s permanent and Crack resistant. Perfect to hold screws into a hole that may be a little bit too big.

We used it to cover screw heads on a coffee table. It’s pretty smooth so didn’t need to sand paper it after before painting. This will be what wood filler I purchase in the future for all my projects.

Quality is great and super good value.

Had a frying pan handle that was accidentally damaged. This filler did the job and the color matched very well that is very hard to see where the handle had the original damage. It doesn’t dry instantly so it allows you to apply and mold it as needed.

Once it dries in a few hours it can be sanded to a nice finish. It worked great and once dried it is quite solid and feels very durable.

This tube comes very handy for small house project, kids class work and filling nails hole in wall. I recently used this to fill few of the nails patch in my old bedroom where i need to change painting position.

Fixed few old furniture and applied wood filler evenly on the surface on cracks to give new finished looks. Loved it.

These are the best over-all and Rockler has them is various tints. Getting a perfect match is never possible and the filled areas will stain differently from the surrounding wood surface. The filler can dry out quickly but can be reconditioned by adding small amounts (5 ml) of acetone and/or methyl-ethyl-ketone (MEK), which I’ve only found at Sherwin-Williams Paint stores.

One method of use is to apply the filler on larger defects, then apply some CA glue (super glue) on top of it and drop some sanding dust from that type of wood on top of the wet glue. It quickly becomes extremely hard and will tend to stain darker than just the filler alone.

Heat and humidity help the hardening process.

Got the job done for the purpose project that I was on. Was a good match for the wood that I was refinishing. But it dries very quickly so if you work with the product you must work fast to make sure that you get it completed in time before the drawing.

It molds very easily it doesn’t take a lot of the product to complete what you need to do and feeling cracked so whatever your project might be. It does have an odor. So make sure that if you do work with a mask if the fumes annoy you.

Although the fumes may not be harmful it is rather a strong odor.

I tried out a small practice piece of wood before I use on our kitchen cabinets. They’re a dark stain, and I mixed a tiny bit with some of the DAP Premium Wood Filler with Color Blend Technology. I used a little deglosser on the wood.

I had mostly pretty shallow nail holes to fill, and a little bit of small cracks on one edge. After mixing a small amount of the filler with the stain, I applied it with a small plastic putty knife. Overfilled just a tad, let it dry for a couple of hours and then lightly sanded.

It looks good and blends in well with the original color of the cabinets. Plus, when we get ready to paint these cabinets they’ll be nice and smooth already. I’m not sure if the product will dry out in the tub, the lid seems ok, but we’ll see.

Thank goodness for this product! As my floor boards have shrunk over the years creating gaps in between, this product is the perfect filler! Just match the color of your flooring, put a bit on your finger tip and fill the gap! Simple and easy fix! Love it!!.

This fill putty is oil based as opposed to others which are water based. The result is a superior color match as well as superior longevity. The water based versions firm up much too fast in the plastic container.

I’ve never had a problem with excess residue to its oil base. I find it wipes as clean as other brands.

I own a cabinet shop and fill a lot of holes. This product works better than anything else I have tried. It does not get hard for a long time. Can be mixed with mineral oil if it gets too stiff. You can mix colors to get a custom match if needed.

Stain, seal, putty holes, finish. Works great!.

I could not find a date on tube of Elmer’s Pro Bond Wood Filler tube. I was disappointed because as I squeezed the tube the fill would not come out. I cut wider and at an angle and still no luck. When the tube side gave way, I used what I could to fill my small holes.

What a mess. I do not recommend this product. I asked my man to get me the stuff in a tin but he did not listen to me and got me Elmer’s ProBond instead.

Great for filling nail divets in pre primed trim. Water clean up. Need 2 applications for deeper holes, no paint touch up needed over filled holes. An Ace associate sold me a tub of brown wood filler and said to use a small brush w/white primer to cover the brown filler.

Seriously? He didn’t know this product existed. Google did.

All the trim I install is touched up with this filler. It goes on easily with a fingertip and smooths out with a damp cloth. It makes my final paint coat flawless! I hate the look of the little divots left by an air nailer and this product does the trick! Also available in wood tones if you are staining rather than painting.

gave the product only 3 stars because the product actually does what it should. However, it lost the 2 remaining stars because of packaging. They should have taped the top down on all sides to keep it from opening in transit.

Once it got here, it was a total mess. I was able to save half of what spilled.

Easy to apply. Dried quickly. Was able to sand smooth and paint. Filled in the areas great. I would use it again.

This is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve ordered these on line from North40. These slippers take a long time to wear through them and I’m retired and wear them a lot of the day. They are comfortable and so I go back for more.

North40 itself has been first class s.

I had hoped that Elmers Probond Tinted Wood Filler would squeeze out of the tube like thick toothpaste and be easy to work with. My experience was a little different. The filler was very hard to squeeze out, even after enlarging the hole in the nozzle.

The wood filler was drier than I expected, giving less than a minute of working time. Maybe okay for small nail holes, (except I had to enlarge the nozzle) but difficult for larger dents. I will be pleasantly surprised if it isn’t dried up the next time I go to use it.

actually a common problem with many fillers.

I always make the mistake of purchasing this from my local store, if/when they don’t have another, better product available. and I always regret it! This stuff is rated for interior/exterior but is probably really intended for exterior use because it’s 1) greenish in color and 2) coarser than you’d want for an indoor project (i.

e. installing trim or building some item of furniture). My biggest beef with this wood filler is that it comes in a tub with way more than I need, yet, once you store it, it instantly dries out and becomes useless and a total waste! I’ve tried sealing the lid with duct tape, etc.

but the product still dries out, and this is frustrating because I’m 100% confident that the manufacturer could provide a good-sealing container IF they weren’t mostly interested in selling more and more tubs of this junk.

p. s. Did I mention that you can’t fit a standard putty knife into the top of this container. Ridiculous!.

Giving one less star because while it is stainable, I don’t recommend it for that aspect. Works as a wood filler just fine. I have a review on my YouTube channel, Crafty Rescue.

We used this in various places in our remodel. It is a great product. Goes on easy Sands easy and ready to paint very quickly.

This wood filing kit is exactly what I needed to do a quick repair on our kitchen counter trim piece. The corner of the trim had gotten bumped pretty hard are cracked about 4 inches down the middle. This crack was very noticeable and was going to be expensive to replace.

I took the wood filler kit and was able to fill in the crack evenly and waited till it was ready to be painted. Once I painted over the wood filler with white paint to match the trim the crack was no longer even noticeable The repair time took 5 minutes to fix and I waited a day just to be safe before painting over it.

The overall results are great for such a simple and easy to use kit.

It’s hard to find locally so great find and price.

I bought this to repair some 2x6s, used in a bridge over a small wash, which had cracked in places. I cleaned out the cracks with a Dremel tool to provide solid wood for this to bond to. I used it the day after I bought it.

When opened, there was a thin film of liquid on top of the material. I mixed it in well. When I attempted to repair the cracks, the material would not fill the voids and smooth out. It was too stiff.

After 10 minutes of pushing harder and harder on the putty knife in an attempt to make good looking repairs I gave up and threw the container away. I am a very experienced do-it-yourselfer, and have made such repairs countless times.

Thought this would fix the issue of a south facing front door with a crack, and Ive tried several brands like DAP. After two days post application, and then paint, it proceeded to crack, again. At this point with $35.

00 invested I think the best solution is simple clear silicon paintable caulking=$6. 00 Ill let you know if it works.

Easy to use. Noticed some shrinkage in areas that my kids helped with. As long as you’re over 8, it shouldn’t have shrinking issues.

Like the spreadability water clean up no conflict with topcoat when touching up prefished materials reasonable dry time would love to see more colors available

Easy to use. You don’t need a big amount to fill up a crack. once the job is done, the clean up is simple and neat. The result is quite satisfactory: the imperfection was gone and no trace was visible.

Color advertised was not what the product produces. Dries and falls out.

I love the way the Wunderfil filled grain and sanded. It dried really fast (1 1/2 min) so I had to seal small areas at a time. Wunderfil’s ability to fill deeper pores and tearouts was superior to the other grain fillers I tested.

I thinned with water to the consistency of heavy cream to fill grain. Wish it came in black, I used universal dye to dye it jet black, over a vinyl sealer, so my pores would be black. Wunderfil sealed the grain beyond 90% and the neck (mahogany guitar neck) is more or less smooth like glass.

I will continue to use Wunderfil. Having had issues with Aquacoat turning white inside the pores of mahogany (probably my fault, but unsure) , I dug out a jar of Wunderfil (water based ) I bought from Rockler at least 10 years ago.

After a stirring session (20 minutes maybe) I tried it on a test panel, and it was good. Very amazing. You have to stir this product folks, and its not the like stirring a cake mix, it takes a lot of time and effort.

I dyed it black (took LOTS of black dye) and tried THAT combination on the test panel, and it was good. After a nice coat of vinyl sealer, I grain filled the mahogany, which had been stripped. The water-thinned and dyed Wunderfil grain filler worked marvelously.

Used 2 applications. After the 2nd fill was applied, I bagged my filler cup in saran wrap so it might be good the next day. Next morning, the filler was still usable, so I did a spot fill of a small but nasty little grain tear out and two DEEP long grains, and they filled famously.

Sanded the whole affair lightly and carefully with 320 fre-cut (I used dye on the bare wood as the stripper bleached it out a little). The filled mahogany looks like I envisioned it looking, with the pores black from the dye.

I am 94 yeards old and enjoying my senior woodwoorking years. I started using this filler back in El Cajon Cal. a number of years ago. It fills where needed and lasts. I alos now appriciate the various colors that it comes in All I can say if what’s not to like, It also does not dry out in the jar but remains useable for many p[rojects.

Duane Bud Close.

I read the reviews that this was too thin to fill deep holes, however: I had resourced some some 50 year old oak plywood with multiple holes (1/4″) drilled completely through the 3/4″ sheets and this filler filled the holes as easily as anything I had used before without run-through and minimal recoat.

Will re-purchase when needed!.

I have used a lot of Timbermate over the years and I have found it one of the most versatile wood fillers around. To David from Melbourne, who gave it 1 star, you can add water to it when it dries out and it as good as the day you bought it.

I have added water to this product after not using it for 2 years and it worked perfectly. Another tip, if you want to fill large holes, do it in stages of thickness no deeper than 3mm and then add more, when each stage has dried.

It’s always a good idea to seal it , if putting it out in the weather. I am an average handyman but I find if you’re going to do anything unfamiliar, read instructions or do some research first.

I used Timermate for a grain filler on small vanity before trying it on my kitchen cabinets. I’m glad I did. The stuff worked great at filing the grain but the smell is terrible. I didn’t mind the smell so much when I opened the container b/c it smells kind of like a band-aid/medicinal.

After putting a coat of primer and 3 thin coats of pain on the cabinets they look great. but the odor is like a nursing home. and not a clean one. I have ordered a different grain filler to try one the kitchen cabinets.

I have about 3 8oz containers of Timbermate left over.

This is best stuff and I have used a number of different products for gap filling! It dries fast, it sands easily and it just all around amazing. I will criticise the size of the container because I wish it was bigger, but that’s besides the point.

For under $10 it is still more expensive than others products but I will always come back to this one now!.

I recieved this for free in exchange for my honest review through viewpoints/ PowerReviews! I love diy and he love in a home that was harshly lived in before we got here. I couldn’t tell hou how many gouges and missing pieces there are throughout the whole house.

For this review, I have chosen to only focus on my using this to help repair the underside of my french doors would had a serious 5 inch gash on the bottom. First I scraped away any flaking wood and deglossed the area so i would have clean template to work with; next I started with the first layer of the DAP Wood filler and let it dry over night, the next day I added another layer and let it dry for half the day and then added another layer.

It is definitely key to make sure to allow each layer to completely dry! Thankfully My dad has worked with a similar putty and guided me a bit but the directions on the back are pretty clear. There was no expansion that i could tell, it was like a hard plastic and was super easy to sand down with a bit of patience.

I highly recommend fine grit sandpaper for this part. I have yet to figure out what i want and with winter here, i can’t really work on the gash on the other side but I am very happy with DAP. Next year I’ll know if it can take a stain like it says it can.

I also would like to mention, this should work way easier on a small project than what I accomplished, but why not out it text right! I docked it a star because right now only time will tell how well it stays in place and replaced the missing wood; as of now I am quite impressed and highly recommend for any Do it yourselfer like me.

I use DAP Plastic Wood Filler to repair wood trim in my rental units. Tenants are notorious for putting holes in the wood work for everything from window treatments to hanging potted plants. Even though you tell them to put holes in the plaster instead, many do not listen so I am often filling holes in woodwork after move-out to make things look nice for the next tenant.

This wood filler works quite well for small applications and is best for sanding and painting to look seamless. In larger applications, even after following instructions for multiple coats to build up thickness and allowing adequate time for drying between, it still isn’t the most effective fill product because it tends to pull away from the edges as it shrinks and moves different from the wood through natural thermal cycling.

It also is pretty obvious when stained that it is a patch since it doesn’t take stain the same way the surrounding wood does. Most of the competition behaves the same way, so it’s not that this product is not as good as others, it just advertises a bit more than is practical for use if you want a nice looking finished product.

About 10 years ago, we finished our bare Civil War-era heart pine floor with Pure Monocoat. And truly, the oil has been remarkable given the fact that we did not maintain properly! Using the woodfiller, I was able to do some repairs to nail head holes and other needy areas.

I did have to find stain to color the medium woodfiller to the appropriate color, but besides that, it was easy to use, hardened well, and accepted the oil.

I liked that you can mix to the consistency you like, it sands well and takes the oil pretty well, though some pigment gets stuck in the fills. The major down side is that if you use the filler before finishing, it stains anywhere it touches and takes quite a bit of sanding to remove.

This was with the medium tone on Doug fir.