Fill screw holes in wooden staircase

[köksbyggaren]

We are going to paint our pine staircase white. All the screws are sunk in holes, about 1 cm deep and 1 cm in diameter. They are covered by wooden plugs that stick out on the outside. I don't think this looks very nice. I would like to fill the holes with something that can be painted over. I considered puttying them up but the putty might crack? I thought about cutting small pieces of dowel and pounding/gluing them in and sanding them down, but that feels like a lot of work. Any other ideas?

Martin

 

[cecar33]

There are plugg borr at Clas i sjön and others, so check if they have it in your diameter first.

 

[larsbj]

The best thing is to do as cesar33 says, if you're going to fill use plastic padding or similar, it doesn't crack and holds (smells bad for a few hours)

 

[köksbyggaren]

Thanks. Good tips. Plastic Padding sounds clever. Is it easy to fill and sand? In that case, it sounds easier than drilling and sawing and pounding in and sanding down träpluggar?

 

[larsbj]

Thanks. Good tips. Plastic Padding sounded smart. Is it easy to fill and sand? If so, it seems easier than drilling, sawing, hammering in, and sanding down wooden plugs?

Plastic Padding is easy to apply and quite easy to sand (as always with filling, spend time filling well so it becomes easy to sand)

 

[Alfredo]

Is there no one who sees a "risk" with filling it in if you might someday need to "retighten" the screws?

 

[Luxman]

I would go with dowels. If the holes aren't perfect along the edges, buy a plug cutter and drill out the holes. Buy dowels and glue them in with wood glue. Dowels can be purchased at a fine woodworking shop or a builder's supply store. If you live in Stockholm, there is a workshop on Kungsholmen (Hantverkargatan) that sells small packages with both glue and dowels in the wood species of your choice. The dowels are then trimmed off with a sharp chisel.

When drilling out the holes with a plug cutter, you should drill through a template that guides the hole. It can be a small piece of plywood.

 

[Alfredo]

The plug is then knocked off with a sharp chisel.

I would probably saw it off with a fine-toothed saw. I think it's easy to get splintering, so you might end up having to use a little filler if you knock off the plug with a chisel.

 

[Luxman]

That can be done.
But a tip for succeeding with the cut is to look at the grain pattern in the plug. Cut from the direction where the grain on the wood plug "swings" upwards. And cut in several steps, so you can see how the cut surface turns out. The last part is done carefully by hand with the chisel.

 

[Phille82]

Does anyone know the easiest way to remove the original wooden plugs that were in the staircase and that Martin wanted to remove?

 

[köksbyggaren]

Anyone know the easiest way to remove the original wooden plugs that were in the stairs and that Martin wanted to remove?

It was easy, I just put a chisel behind and wiggled a bit, but if they're stuck hard, you could drill in the middle and they'll probably crack.

 

[z_bumbi]

Anyone know the easiest way to remove the original wooden plugs that were in the staircase and that Martin wanted to remove?

Place a screw in the middle and pull it out with a crowbar. Place a protection under the crowbar.
If you don't intend to use them again.

 

[Phille82]

In this case, I want to keep them. Will there perhaps be ugly marks on them with a chisel?