Milliput opinions

[Alan Weinberg]

Milliput is an epoxy that handles like wood putty, comes in various colors. Mix equal parts of the two putties for 5 minutes, then stuff into cracks. You can sand, drill, screw into it. I saw it at our woodturner club, searched some threads on this site, and bought on Amazon. Used it on two pieces—jarrah burl and olive. I’m not impressed but will keep trying. It kept falling out, especially when I jam chucked the piece and applied a bit of tailstock pressure.

I’m wondering if others have advice and experience with this product. So far, I think the two part liquid 5 minutes epoxy works better and one can easily add color or sawdust to it.

 

[Paul Paukstelis]

You can wet it to get it a bit more paste-like to fill regions. I used it a few times for filling in routed designs. I think that was the silver which pretty much looks like the white. I tinted some of the white with alcohol dye as well. It worked, but was hard to get very blue.

 

[Warren Grill]

I have used black Milliput to fill worn holes, cracks and voids of a variety of sizes with excellent results. I leave it at least 12 hours to cure and then it cuts really well with a gouge and is easy to sand. It ends up with a matte finish when sanded to 400, and I have not tried to polish it.

An example in lightly spalted silver maple after sanding but before finish.

 

[hughie]

An interesting product that I havent come across

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I have not used the Milliput brand but I did use the common hardware store version that comes in a stick with the 2 parts surrounding each other.
Before putting the putty into the void I would rough up the fibers to give it a mechanical bond, then after it has cured turn it smooth and under cut the surface about 1/16th" deep. The surface is then refilled with powdered mineral like turquoise.
The fill process is to first spray the surrounding wood with thinned shellac to keep the CA that will be used to solidify the mineral does not soak into the wood. the next step is to support the area in as level as possible, spread the mineral, drip CA onto it and when the CA has set smooth over with rasps. This is an example of the method used to fill worm holes in mesquite burl.

 

[john lucas]

Ive used all 5 colors of milliput. I find you need to wet the surface slightly that you are going to epoxy. It does not color well. I mixed Trans tint dyes. It looked great in your hand but after dry and you cut into it there is only a slight pastel of the color. I used it as a sort inlay to glue to parts together on ornaments abd it worked great. Ive also used it to fill voids and cracks. Some of these have the milliput filler

 

[Richard Coers]

I never fill cracks. If I have something that cracks, it becomes fodder for smoking pork loins. I really don’t want to draw attention to make the crack a major design feature in a finished piece. So very few of professional turners that never come here allow cracked work to leave the shop either.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

I never fill cracks. If I have something that cracks, it becomes fodder for smoking pork loins. I really don’t want to draw attention to make the crack a major design feature in a finished piece. So very few of professional turners that never come here allow cracked work to leave the shop either.

Nice to know but not the subject of this thread. There are many pros who highlight cracks—especially the Hawaiian turners like Kelly Dunn who uses pewa and fills cracks.

 

[john lucas]

I don't fill cracks often. I'm a firm believer in John Jordan's quote. Life's to short to turn sh$%y wood. However sometimes you have a piece of wood you just can't let go.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

You can wet it to get it a bit more paste-like to fill regions.

Getting back to the subject, I’ll definitely try that and thanks.

 

[Richard Coers]

Nice to know but not the subject of this thread. There are many pros who highlight cracks—especially the Hawaiian turners like Kelly Dunn who uses pewa and fills cracks.

Sorry, I didn’t know there was response restrictions on your post. Maybe you can mention that next time. No wait, I’ll make it simple for you and just click the ignore for you.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Sorry, I didn’t know there was response restrictions on your post. Maybe you can mention that next time. No wait, I’ll make it simple for you and just click the ignore for you.

Sorry if I offended you. I was seeking opinions on Milliput.