Wood filler or generic filler?

pledgeX

I've got some Ronseal wood filler which I was planning to use to cover some nail/screw holes and dents in some mdf skirting and some pine doors/door frames. I tried using it last night and it's horrible. It goes off incredibly quickly, it stinks, you have to constantly mix up small batches as it goes off so quick and it's a faff to tidy up.

I've also got some no-nonsense all purpose filler which is much nicer to use and I can get a much smoother finish on it.

Any reason why I shouldn't use the all purpose stuff over the wood specific stuff?

Poppycat

I like the polyfilla wood filler myself. I dont particularly like epoxy fillers due to the smell but they do have there advantages of being quick dry

bris

It depends on colour match, or as near to it as possible. In pine, oak etc I get as close a wood filling match as possible and use that, on MDF skirting I use decorators caulk.


The problem with all purpose filler in wood is movement, wood moves due to the climate so if it's rigid it will crack.

benjus

Also depends on the job. The epoxy filler is very strong and doesn't crumble, so you can form it into pretty much any shape you need and sand it after it sets if necessary. For example, I removed the skirting boards from my bedroom a few months ago to lay a wooden floor, and left them in a bit of a mess (they were extremely firmly attached to the wall). Using epoxy wood filler I was able to completely repair them so that I could just re-fit them after the floor was laid. I don't think other types of filler would have coped with the more intricate parts I had to repair.

Grenage

I use a plug cutter on offcuts if it's proper wood, or 2-part filler if it's being painted. The wickes own-brand filler is pretty decent.