Filling Drilling Mistakes

[greymount]

I made a mistake drilling a ramrod thimble hole in the forestock.  What is the best way to fix this.  I thought about using a round toothpick but feel that the patch would be the end grain of the toothpick and would show when the finish is applied.  For finish, I plan on using aquafortis if that makes a difference.

[keweenaw]

You can use a tooth pick or cut a small peg from a piece of your stock maple.  If the peg is tight in the hole with no glue line it really won't show much when you're finished.  The AF is never completely uniform as different grain orientations color differently so no big deal on the end grain.

Ttom

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

What Tom said. They disappear so well that even knowing where they are they are sometimes hard to find. If you don't know they are there you won't find them.

[JTR]

You're right that the end grain of a toothpick or plug will show up as a round black circle in the wood.
If you seal the end of the plug first with some superglue or something similar, the end grain won't color much, if at all. If you want to go that route, note what the final color of the stock wood will be where the plug is going.
No matter what, don't expect a piece of Chinese toothpick wood to perfectly match your piece of maple.
The Best choice would be a piece of you stock wood, fitted to the hole with correct grain orientation. 

John

[flehto]

A color matched epoxy over the superglued toothpick will hide the mistake. Using 1/16 dia pins also facilitates the "hide".....Fred

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I use the dowels that come with those long Q tips I buy for cleaning my dog's ears.  they are just over 1/16", are made of either birch or maple - light coloured wood in any event, and you can disguise the mistake by colouring the area around the repair very dark, as with a felt pen.  Just make it a bit irregular looking, if you know what I mean.

[Dennis Glazener]

I use 1/16" drill rod for these and I have filled (one side only) the hole with beeswax after I finished the rifle, then used stain to "doctor" it up to match the wood. On that one it was not noticeable to anyone but me.
Dennis

[Rich]

You can make a small peg that has the grain running in the right direction. Make sure that if your wood is figured that the wood you use is the same as where the hole is. Make sure the fit is tight because the glue will show. Even the stainable glues seem to stain really dark. You can further hide the repair by adding a faux stripe over it.  Another option is to color some epoxy a dark brown, fill the hole, fake a stripe over it (or not) and move on. You can fake a small stripe with leather dye or by careful woodburning with a hot wire.