Most woodworkers that are novices do not realize how powerful wood putty can be. Most of them have probably heard about what wood putty is, and they may have even worked with it in the past, but because they never learned to harness its great powers, the results were poor. They may have chosen the wrong application, or they may have chosen the wrong product, or possibly even both. Sometimes wood putty is also known as wood patch or as wood filler, and sometimes wood putty is solvent based while other times it is water based. The solvent based type of wood putty has typically been the favored type of putty in the past, but in recent years excellent strides have been taken by water based products in terms of performance, and as a result the water based versions of wood putty are being used much more regularly.
>> There is also a nitrocellulose based type of wood putty that is capable of drying very quickly. To clean this type of wood putty up, all you need is some lacquer thinner or diluted acetone.
>> There is also a gypsum based type of wood putty that is available in a powdered form. You mix the proper amount with water and receive the right consistency. Plain water is all that is needed to clean up while the putty is wet. Water isn’t going to be enough to clean up dry gypsum putty, though.
>> Finally, there is also an acrylic based wood putty that cleans up with water as well, but only until it dries. Once the acrylic based wood putty has dried, you have to use toluene or acetone to clean it up.
There are a number of advantages associated with water based wood fillers because they do not add the same heavy smells and fumes that solvent based wood putty materials do, and also because they are significantly easier to work with. What most wood workers seem to like the best about water-based wood putty products is how simple and easy they are to clean up. This form of wood putty is also quite economical when it comes to storage because it does not dry out nearly as quickly as the solvent based putties are capable of doing.
All wood putties are really just glue that is mixed with a material, such as gypsum or sawdust for example. What this does is creates a binder that allows the filler to be held together. Once you get used to working with different applications of wood putty, you will want to keep both types on hand for whenever you are working with wood, regardless of whether you are an avid wood worker or just mess around in the shop on the weekends. Wood filler is definitely an important item to have on hand when you work with wood, as it literally has a thousand different uses that will serve you well.