knot sealer

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Central (upstate) NY
What is good for sealing knots?

I'm working on a tabletop glue-up that I'm going to use a router sled to surface plane. There's a couple hard knots in it though - one even has a partial void. I was going to worry about this void closer to the finishing stage of the project, but now I'm wondering if the force of a high rpm router bit might rip it out, leaving me with a hole instead of just a small void.

First, do I even need to be worried about this?

If I do (or if I'm just paranoid), is it ok to just "soak" the knot with CA (superglue)? Or is there a better product for this purpose?

I'm going to be taking a bit off the surface, but would try to be careful to not get more than the knot with whatever sealer is best. I'm going to be using Bush Oil for finishing in case this dictates what knot sealers are appropriate or not.

Thanks!
 
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Shellac works fine. Zinsser B.I.N. works too but is blazing white. The "active" ingredient is shellac anyway ;-)
Epoxy to fill voids and secure loose parts.
 
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Mark,
To just secure the knots, superglue will work fine. Use the thin stuff and allow it to penetrate a bit, then fill small voids using the thicker stuff, with accellerator.

For the knot(s) with bigger voids, I'd use epoxy - either just clear, or tinted if you want. For your Bush Oil finish, I'd leave it clear. The five minute epoxy works just fine, but be aware that while it hardens in five minutes, it still takes 24 hours to cure. Wait for the full cure before hitting it with a router bit - otherwise... DAMHIKT!
 
The biggest void is a bit more than half the circumference of the knot, averaging 1/16" / 1 mm thickness. I've started applying the thin liquid CA. The next step should be the gel CA, or is this epoxy land?

Thanks!
 
so your syun this knot is under a 1/16 dia.? if so it doesnt even count as knot its just squirrly grain:) sand it and fill if nessacary relax mark this is gonna be fine your gettin way to stressed on this..look at what the turns like vaughn use in ther hollow vessels ,,shucjks you can see right threw some of there stuff and they holding it together going at fast rpms....:)
 
The knot itself is about an inch diameter, the void between the knot and the wood is 1/16". Since I won't be machining I'll just pack it with clear acrylic gel medium shortly be fore I get too high up the grits for sanding.

I'm just trying to minimize issues with this project. There's a bit of a time frame and this will be my first fine furniture piece. I'm not stressing so much as maybe having expectations too close to ideal than is what wood will deliver. :dunno: At least this way I'll know I've done the best I can do and that the rest is up to the wood itself.

Having fun, regardless. Thanks for putting up with my fussiness! :wave:
 
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