Bondo is a lifesaver for woodworkers!

Body filler can get you out of some jams. It's not just for covering the crap!
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[tropifiori]

I’ve put bondo on moldings (over tin foil) to make sanding blocks. This makes it so much easier to sand intricate moldings.

[robrobinson]

Bondo makes a great wood repair for upholstered furniture frames where a knot falls out on an edge or the edge has been chipped or damaged. It fills in quickly and sets fast. When the padding and fabric is pulled over the filled in area it gives a clean edge. 15-30 minutes to repair versus 1-2 hours replacing the board. Love it.

[ChavezDIY]

I tested bondo and wood filler on damaged wood on the exterior of my house. After a couple of years the wood filler cracked and became loose but the bondo is still holding up strong. Lesson learned, don't use wood filler, use bondo instead.

[TRL]

I have used bondo to fill old door knob holes in our six panel solid wood doors. They are original to the 100 year old home I am remodeling and have suffered multiple layers of paint and damage. Bondo has held up better than any other wood fillers I've used. Sands beautifully and gives a strong solid base to work with.

[mikaleinderlied]

Bondo works great on old veneer and repair of broken decorative trim and moldings that you plan to paint, sometimes wood filler makes it bubble more and doesn’t sand as smoothly. It’s a game changer when decorative painting.

[jamesstanlake]

I love bondo, it is strong, it bonds, and durable. Now you need to ditch the pink hardener and go with the white or clear and if you want to color match mix dye powder and it will work. If you happen to break marble and in particular white with black graining mix the bondo with lamp black for the perfect match. I even did a test after mending with bondo, the marble broke in a different place. for fiberglass columns or the gypsum reinforced plaster ones bondo is the ideal compound to hide seams and glue two halves together. I got so good at it on jobs I was known as Bondo Man.

[chrisgraham]

I haven't been without a can of Bondo in the shop for 45 years. Buy the gallon, it's cheaper and can lasts for years. Stir vigorously if it begins to separate. For any project to be painted, I use Bondo rather than wood fillers. Perfect for filling Kregg pocket holes. Because it's a fast setting epoxy it's perfect for building up multiple layers to achieve a desired profile. Cut the rot out of exterior wood moldings, like window sills, anchor with a couple of coated Tapcon screws for reinforcement, fill with Bondo, shape and sand, prime and paint. I've repaired the chipped corners of exterior concrete stairs with Tapcons and Bondo before epoxy coating the stairs with no failures for ten plus years.

[jshink]

I have been using Bond o for years in my workshop for exactly the examples you illustrated. It works great and has endless uses.

[simonhopkins]

Bondo and paint makes me the carpenter I ain't. ;-)

[slcustomcarpentry]

I use it all the time, for many years for repairs on painted surfaces. It's also the only thing that can perfectly repair MDF

[edcrego]

I've been using Bondo for a long time and not ashamed to kit it it has saved my day more than once don't use alot of it but boy is it nice to have on hand when you need it I've learned to blend it in and when done right you can't find my repare small can will last along time if pie is on good and tight don't let it freeze you stop be glad you have it

[smtkelly]

If you own a house you should own bondo. I've fixed so many things with it and its fast 15mins of down time and your ready to get back to work. The house these nice old soft pine wood doors with brass knobs but almost every one had an over-tightened screw or enlarged hole.

I tired a bunch of different way to fix it tooth picks jammed in the hole was one suggestion, wood filler but the outside would set inside wouldn't, longer screws didn't work either because due to door thickness and thicker screws wouldn't fit though the handle or sit proud. Then i was suggested bondo (wat! that's for cars..) in 15mins i had a something i could redrill.

Ever since i keep a can around. Will pretty much fix any 'void' mistakes that are going to be painted or out of sight.

[benbirdsill]

Charles Neil had some good tips on bondo. One I remember is using it to make custom shaped sanding blocks for odd shapes. Useful stuff!

[davidkay]

I needed this info today. My project was stuck because I couldn’t figure out how to proceed. Thank you.

[bendaniel]

As a granite countertop guy that moonlights as a woodworker I can’t live without polyester knifegrade epoxy (bondos gluey component) I use bondo too for the extra body and have always used epoxy tints to color them. Works better on the uncut polyester epoxy but does okay on bondo too. A kit of 8 basic colors literally does every tone of stone and does great for matching wood too! I’ve color matched and repaired everything from hand carved corbels to a dog chewed finial on a provincial table! Works a treat and the regular knife grade epoxy will actually takes a shine if you polish it with 600-2000 grit sandpaper!

[Alitlittlehedgehog]

I'm a finish carpenter and we use this stuff all the time. I have made some impressive repairs with this stuff, just build it up into the shape you need and sand it down till smooth. if you mess up sand it off and try again, lol. the one thing about this stuff is that is it really, really hard. if you catch it while its half dry you can carefully cut the excess off and save yourself alot of time.

[AB-nuwe]

Yes on the Bondo! Great tip. Works great. I like to use it to cover the exposed edges on frameless cabinets instead of edge banding. Gives them a nice contemporary look. Easy to paint.

[tommythiel]

Bondo makes a wood filler as well, which is tan and can be stained

[gregmislick]

perfect for the plywood end / edge grain of templates....
...and now that I'm reading these comments and such have a "D'oh!" moment - for filling and smoothing the OSB top to the router table build I have on the bench right now ( using reclaimed materials has become the new theme to all the shop furniture etc - just want it to look like I didn't use trash, scrap, and old pallets / shipping crates - which, by the way, can often give you some amazingly pretty stuff once you get past the crud - spaulted poplar, oak, and the other oddball exotics that show up in pallets is really cool stuff - you just want to watch it on the dust - don't want to breath that stuff in from well used pallets and shipping crates, you never know what has soaked into them.


Anyway - off to the auto parts shop to get some bondo!



I was using fine sawdust mixed with the water based poly which I'm sealing it all with... that works well to, sands well....like poly...but getting the paste the right consistency is a guessing game, and you want to apply a fresh coat of poly down to the wood first before the "putty" as this will ensure good adhesion ... Since the putty is made up of the sanding dust from the parent wood, it blends in perfectly, so the additional layers of clear poly don't readily give away that you used filler ... I just keep using the dust I get when sanding down the previous coat and from the original bare parent wood, the OSB in this case.

[chrisp]

Thanks for the video. I am building my granddaughter a toy box with common b/c plywood and was planning on try to use something to coat the rougher spots so that after it is painted it will be as smooth as possible.