Gaps in Hybrid Deck

Builder's Forum
1

Hello, I have some small gaps between some of my deck stripping (up to 1/16").  If I mix up some epoxy and wood flour to fill the gaps via a syringe, will the filler color remain the same or will it turn black when the final epoxy coats are applied?

I did a poor job filling a couple gaps on my hatch cover and I noticed that one of the gaps now appears to look like a black line.  Is that because I failed to fill it properly?   Thanks for your help.

2

Unless you use black flour it won't turn black.  It will be darker in color than the flour you use, though.  I often mix bleached cooking flour in with mine if I want the colo

Black lines are typically indicative of water getting to the wood rather than the epoxy darkening, at least in my experience.

r to be lighter. 

FrankP

3

Stupid editing window broke my sentence. 

4

You could make some wood flour out of strips of the same color. Or if the gaps are wide enough, shave some thin slivers of wood from a similar strip, and wedge them in where necessary.

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Ogata

5

You could make some wood flour out of strips of the same color. Or if the gaps are wide enough, shave some thin slivers of wood from a similar strip, and wedge them in where necessary.

 --

Ogata

6

In my experience, wood flour of the same species as the surrounding wood will cure somewhat darker when mixed with epoxy. If that is objectionable and you want a match, try using some sanding dust from a lighter-colored species of wood experimentally before you commit to your boat.

 Jim

7

I've covered off-color seams using model builders paint applied with a fine pointed brush with surprisingly good results. -Wes

8

My experience is similar to Jim's...when I made wood flour from the same type of wood I was trying to match, it came out way too dark. Next time I'll try something else.

Mark

9

I did a little of both. Some places I needed to wedge in some pieces of cedar and other places it just needed filler. I usually mix (50-50) sawdust from the cedar with silica to make a lighter colored mix since it does darken. It comes out better but I’m not very scientific with it.