Advice on using wood plugs

Are you gluing the plugs in place? If so, there is likely a layer of glue being left on the surface which is preventing the finish from penetrating the wood. Paul has mentioned this sort of thing in past videos and and one of the reasons why he frequently doesn’t wipe away glue squeeze-out during a glue-up.

My recommendation would be: Glue the plugs in place, but don’t wipe away glue squeeze out. Once the glue dries, flush cut the plug and plane even with the surface. This should prevent any issues in the future. For the current project, you could try to plane the surface down and hopefully take the glue layer off with it. This will be easier on closed grain woods like cherry, but will be more difficult on open grains like oak or ash.

Hope this helps.

And it helps if you use a glue that doesn’t seal the pores of wood permanently.
PVA glue is essentially plastic ( poly vinyl acetate) and doesn’t perform well with stains and finishes.

Hide glue or cyanoacrilate ( superglue ) are better choices.

I use hide glue because it can always be cleaned up with a rag and hot water, even after it has dried. It also can be stained.

There are clear hide glues.if you can’t find some, it’s in your grocery store sold as gelatin.

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/TipsTricks/KitchenGlue/kitchenglue.html

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Larry Geib.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Larry Geib.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Larry Geib.