questions

[becks2055]

hello newbie here, we were going through all my stepdads scroll stuff and came across cherry dust(sawdust of cherry im assuming).what would this be used for? also he had a bunch of fabric dye. is this used as a form of stain in woods?again i wished i would have watched him more and learned some of these things first hand. thanks

[jttheclockman]

The answer to your first question about the cherry sawdust is it is used along with some carpenter's glue to make a putty filler. He must have been doing some work in cherry and had to fill some holes or some not so tight fitting joints. As far as the dye goes yes they can be used to stain woods when mixed with alcohol or water.

[CanadianScroller]

I save some of my sawdust from each project. It can be used as JT said.
I have found though that sometimes the glue based wood filler is hard to cover with certain finishes.
My last project I used some waterbased varathane with the sawdust to make the filler. When I finished the piece with water based finish it blended in very well.

[PiALaModem]

Stainable putty/filler in the "natural" or uncolored variety can have sawdust mixed into it to color it as well. Then the whole area takes stain or finish pretty much like the rest of the wood.