10 Best Wood Fillers of 2022 – Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

In excess of generations of woodworking, individuals have created some fascinating and progressive techniques for restoring, becoming a member of, and operating with wooden. With the right abilities, tools, and components, you can fix or correct just about any wood item. Furthermore, you can use wood to construct practically anything at all you can imagine, from a creating to wonderful art.

Regardless of what variety of woodworking you’re performing, 1 point that’s widespread to all woodworking is wood filler. This useful things finds its way into masses of repairs, artwork, household furniture, and much more. If you’ve got a fix to carry out (or any type of undertaking to build out of wood), you’re likely likely to want some wood filler.

You could operate to your regional components retailer and get whatever’s on the shelf, but there’s no ensure that it will work how you hope. The good news is, we’ve previously examined a lot of merchandise so that we could write up the following wooden filler critiques evaluating every thing we’ve discovered. We’ll explain to you about how each and every 1 performs and their weaknesses way too, so you can decide on the right filler and fail to remember about the poor performers.

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A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2022

The 10 Best Wood Fillers

1. FamoWood 40022126 Latex Wood Filler – Best Overall

With so numerous killer fillers on the industry, it can be challenging to select just 1. But following very a few projects, we’ve identified that the FamoWood latex wood filler is our favorite for most tasks. It’s obtained some superb characteristics that make it easy to work with.

1st, this filler dries in just fifteen minutes, that means you can get your venture concluded speedily and do not have to devote days ready for drying occasions. When it’s dry, you can simply sand it and move on to your following coat. When you’re concluded, this filler can be planed and drilled just like typical wooden. Additionally, it can be stained or painted, and it seems like genuine wood when you’re concluded.

As this filler dries, it doesn’t shrink or crack. Even so, sometimes, it does cure to a marginally lighter coloration than envisioned, which can make it much more hard to get an even appearance amongst your wood and filler. But when your project is finished, cleanup is a breeze. All it will take is some water considering that this filler is solvent-free of charge.

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2. Goodfilla Water-Based Wood Filler – Best Value

The Goodfilla wooden filler offers a great deal a lot more than just a witty name. This non-shrinking formulation is one particular of our favorite wooden fillers. It provides superb attributes at an reasonably priced price tag, which is why we believe it’s one particular of the best wood fillers for the funds.

When you’re making an attempt to accomplish a steady appearance in your wooden, you’ll want to match your filler to your wood as closely as attainable. But several fillers only appear in 1 color, creating that fairly challenging to handle. Thankfully, the Goodfilla wood filler is obtainable in several hues, allowing you to match your normal wooden a lot more intently.

After this filler dries, it’s extremely tough and can effortlessly be sanded. Even so, it is very challenging to shade once it’s dry. You will not be able to stain, tint, or even dye this filler once dry. You will be in a position to paint in excess of it, although.

One of our favorite factors about this wood filler is its cash-again gratification ensure. Goodfilla is so self-assured in their item that they’ll refund your money for up to a year right after the day of purchase if you’re not satisfied.

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3. Bondo Home Solutions Wood Filler – Premium Choice

You have practically certainly listened to of Bondo as an autobody filler prior to. But it’s considerably less likely that you ended up conscious of Bondo’s wood filler choices. This wooden filler offers some wonderful attributes, though it is a little bit pricier than other wood fillers we have examined. Nevertheless, if you want highest toughness, this is the stuff we’d advocate.

Significantly like Bondo’s autobody filler, this stuff dries challenging as a rock. Just 15 minutes right after software, it is dry enough for you to sand. This implies you can swiftly shift on to your up coming coat. You do not need to have to commit times waiting on drying and curing.

Nonetheless, that swift-drying characteristic is also a little bit of a ache. It makes this filler quite challenging to operate with. You have to use quite modest quantities and perform rapidly. Otherwise, your filler will commence to harden up although you’re nonetheless making an attempt to work with it.

On the upside, as soon as it is dry, this filler is so sturdy that you can treat it just like wood. You can form it, sand it, plane, drill, or lower it with a saw. It is even a medium-brown color that dries to a wooden-matching hue.

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4. Minwax 42853000 Stainable Wood Filler

Minwax is a large name in woodworking products like stains and fillers. This filler is stainable but can also be painted above instead. Nonetheless, we did discover that it doesn’t constantly match the bordering wood when it absorbs the stain. It does not respond fairly like organic wood. Nevertheless, it’s one of the greater fillers we have located, providing outstanding overall performance at a realistic price.

This system dries really swiftly, enabling you to go on with your operate. It also sands nicely after it’s dry, making it simple to form as effectively. When it is entirely healed, this filler is almost as hard as wood, allowing you to screw or nail into it if essential. It is totally secure for equally indoor and outside use, so drinking water will not influence it after it is dry.

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5. Elmer’s E855 Carpenter’s Wood Filler

The E855 carpenter’s wood filler from Elmer’s is wonderful for fixing little holes and cracks, this sort of as nail pops, scratches, small chips, and much more. It is not good for use on bigger repairs, though. This filler comes in a tube, which tends to make it simple to use in tiny quantities. However, it is more challenging to work with employing a putty knife, so if you have an region that needs masking instead of just a tiny spot, then we’d propose finding a distinct filler.

As soon as it dries, this filler is straightforward to sand easy. It rarely shrinks –– but there is some shrinkage, so if you don’t overapply, you may require a next application. Right after it is totally healed, you can effortlessly paint in excess of this filler, but it doesn’t acknowledge stain very nicely.

Be aware: this is one particular of the weaker fillers we examined. It doesn’t dry sturdy sufficient to nail, screw, aircraft, or something else. After dried, you can sand this, but not considerably else. This can make it ideal for filling little imperfections, but there are a lot far better possibilities for filling everything greater.

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6. Timbermate Hardwood Wood Filler

As soon as the Timbermate hardwood wood filler dries, it’s quite near to the organic coloration of wooden. This makes it much less complicated to get it to blend in with your authentic wood, especially if you are staining above it. Luckily, this filler functions very well with stain, accepting it very easily and responding in the identical way wooden does.

When you implement this filler, it dries specifically how it’s utilized. Not like other fillers, Timbermate does not appear to shrink. But it does generate a really powerful and quite foul odor. It is very disagreeable, and no one particular desired to work with this filler. On an additional observe, it’s also much more pricey than several other fillers, taking into consideration the small quantity you get.

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7. Elmer’s E842L Carpenter’s Interior Wood Filler

Even though several of our favorite wood fillers dried inside of fifteen minutes so you could sand and keep shifting, the Elmer’s E842L carpenter’s inside wooden filler requires 12-24 hours to dry. This is heading to stretch your undertaking out, forcing you to wait around an whole day amongst apps, or between your filler and end. Either way, it’s a good deal of time wasted.

On the other hand, this filler is very simple to function with. It is smooth, mild, and will take long adequate to dry that you by no means have to hurry. After it does dry, it’s challenging ample to sand. It also accepts paint properly, blending into the wooden surrounding it.

That mentioned, you really don't want to use stain with this filler. It does not take in well and will not turn out with the complete you’re hoping. But our largest situation is actually with the packaging. The lid refuses to keep on! If you have filler leftover soon after software, you won’t be in a position to store it just by changing the lid. Regrettably, your filler will dry out and turn out to be unusable.

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8. DAP 00525 Plastic Wood Filler

This wooden filler from DAP is named plastic wood, though it includes real wood fibers, so it dries and functions like real wood. Following it’s totally cured, you can lower, drill, sand, and screw this wooden filler, just like standard wood. It’s also quite accepting of paint and stain, generating for straightforward ending following application.

So, why is it rated so reduced on our checklist? Simple a lack of longevity. Nicely, that is the major explanation. This filler can not endure drinking water. It is labeled as interior/exterior, but even soon after our filler had been dry for several days, contact with rain caused it to soften and bubble, ruining all the operate we had completed.

Even when it is fresh, this filler is far more difficult to work with than others. It’s quite thick and doesn’t utilize effectively. You’ll also discover that it shrinks a significant sum even though drying. We’ve experienced excellent luck with DAP products in the previous, but this is not a filler we’d advise.

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9. NADAMOO Wood Filler

When we 1st received the NADAMOO wooden filler kit, we imagined we experienced found a true winner. It will come with 12 diverse wood fillers, which can all be combined and matched to support find the best shade to match your existing wooden. That appears fantastic on paper, but it is considerably much more tough than you might anticipate. Nonetheless, we ended up capable to make it work with respectable benefits. At the very least, which is what we considered ahead of it dried.

With really small pinhole-sized marks, this filler does wonderful. Butstart filling greater scratches, and you’re likely to operate into some problems with shrinkage. This filler shrinks considerably, demanding a number of purposes, which indicates mixing up colors numerous moments. This produced it progressively difficult to get the right combine. Furthermore, the consistency of this filler tends to make it quite tough to work with, even when it’s fully fresh.

In the stop, we feel this is a wonderful concept, but it is way too hard to put into action, and the filler shrinks as well significantly for this to be our go-to selection.

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10. Varathane 215202 Wood Filler

Usually, you get what you pay out for. So, when we see a premium-priced item in some high-finish searching packaging, we normally expect an superb outcome. The Varathane 215202 wood filler definitely seems the part, and the cost is up there, but it lacks in the efficiency department.

On the bright aspect, there are a number of colors to decide on from so you can get as near of a match to your natural wood as possible. We also seen that this filler does not crack.

But the record of negatives significantly outweighs the positive characteristics we can identify concerning this filler. The included volume is very small, and it charges very a good deal. Worse, the filler does not dry to the shade on the tube. It is numerous shades off, creating it exceedingly challenging to match to your wooden. Then, the shade truly comes off right after it dries!

Producing things even worse, drinking water will even hurt this filler days soon after it’s cured, so exterior longevity is a no-go. With so several flaws, so few positives, and this sort of a high cost, it’s no surprise this filler finished up at the base of our checklist.

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Buyer’s Guide – Purchasing the Best Wood Filler

On the area, choosing a wood filler seems like a basic sufficient selection. Soon after all, you’re most likely likely to paint or stain above it when it’s dry! But amongst software and concluded product, there are a whole lot of methods that can either be made far more challenging or smoother, depending on the filler you choose.

If you are even now uncertain of which wooden filler is appropriate for you, then with any luck ,, this brief buyer’s manual will support. Our aim listed here is to narrow down the crucial traits that we think you must be evaluating in purchase to discover the appropriate filler for your wants.

Choosing the Right Wood Filler

Wood filler does not seem to be like a challenging item, but there’s much more to it than fulfills the eye. Soon after testing so a lot of fillers, we’ve compiled a record of the most crucial qualities to evaluate them on if you want to gauge their functionality properly. Check out wood filler evaluations like this to slim down your selection.

Shrinking

When you implement wooden filler, you normally above-use just a bit so that you can occur back again once it is dry and sand it down to be even with the relaxation of the wood. But if your filler shrinks, it’s likely to substantially complicate this method. You will appear again to see your dry filler with an indentation in which the unique imperfection was. This implies you are going to have to reapply the filler and wait around by means of the complete drying method again.

Drying Time

No matter what, you’re likely to have to hold out for your filler to dry before relocating onto the up coming phase in your task. But drying moments vary drastically. You might hold out 24 hrs ahead of shifting on, or you could transfer on in just 15 minutes. It is dependent on the filler you select.

On the other hand, rapid-drying fillers are frequently more hard to perform with. They begin to dry although you are nevertheless making use of and shaping, so you will have to perform quickly.

Sanding and Shaping

Couple of people can make a restore in wooden that doesn’t call for any sanding. So, it’s important that the wood filler you decide on dries tough ample for sanding and shaping, so you can blend it in with the relaxation of your piece.

Overall Durability

Frequently, wood filler is utilized in places that are currently at higher chance. There is a chip there to fill now due to the fact it’s found in an region that sees a good deal of speak to. It will very likely carry on to see get in touch with right after your fix is created, so the filler need to be resilient enough to keep up.

Also, you might need to have to drill a hole in your filler or install a nail or screw. This requires a really sturdy filler. If you know you need to have this capacity, make confident to appear for the strongest filler you can locate.

Cracking

Most fillers these days offer you rather very good safety from cracking. Nonetheless, the larger your region to fix, the much more probably it is to crack. If you are making huge repairs, look for a filler that especially claims it won’t crack.

Color Match

Wood fillers appear in a range of diverse colors, so you can attempt to match your repair to the organic wooden you are restoring. But not every filler comes in various colours. Of training course, this will not matter if you’re just likely to paint more than it in any case. But if you prepare on staining the wooden, then you are going to want to match your filler to your wooden as intently as achievable.

Staining and Portray

After your fix is finished, you will possibly want to refinish the entire piece with both paint or stain. Thankfully, paint goes on very easily and handles the floor, so it will work with most wood fillers.

Stain is a diverse story however. Although paint addresses, stain must be absorbed. Some fillers dry too hard and will not absorb stain, so they’re horrible options if staining is your ultimate aim. If you plan to stain your piece when you are concluded, look for a filler that accepts stain.

Exterior Durability

Several wood fillers assert indoor and outdoor use. But we located many fillers that have been easily ruined by h2o, even numerous days right after they experienced entirely dried. If you are heading to be generating a restore that wants to hold up by way of the components, you are going to want to prioritize exterior sturdiness so that your mend will not soften and wash absent when it rains.

Conclusion

Picking the mistaken wooden filler could be the dying of your task. Some fillers are pure irritation to use, whilst other folks are an absolute satisfaction. We want to make positive that you only have to deal with the latter, which is why we took the time to compose these testimonials in the very first area.

For us, the ideal wood filler is the FamoWood latex wood filler. It dries in just 15 minutes, so you can move on with your undertaking as an alternative of waiting for it to dry. After dry, you can sand, aircraft, drill, stain, or paint this filler. Because it doesn’t shrink or crack, you will not have to implement as several coats as you may with other fillers.

If price is most essential to you, we suggest making use of the Goodfilla wood filler. This non-shrinking formula is obtainable in a number of colors so you can uncover a near match to your wood. It dries tough so you can sand it, does not shrink, and even will come with a money-back again satisfaction guarantee.

Lastly, our premium suggestion is the Bondo wooden filler. It is one of the strongest fillers we’ve witnessed, with a swift-drying time that retains you operating instead of waiting.

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