Building Boxes: Any Special Treatment of Knots?

[Adam Foster Collins]

I'm wondering what advice you might have for treatment of knots when building gear. Some of the wood I have is pretty knotty, but they're sound. Do you just paint them, or do you have a particular approach to keeping them solid?

Thanks,

Adam

[gmcharlie]

work the paint in good, spakel with construction adhesive before paint if in doubt.

[Michael Palmer]

When you cut up the wood, keep knots away from edges and ends of pieces. Milling and assembly will be much easier.

[signalten]

I like the construction adhesive idea. I usually put a good coat of Titebond III on the knots before priming and painting.

[Mr.Beeman]

Definately (use good quality) primer then paint two coats. Typically they will not fall out unless the are loose from the start.
Loose ones... Titebond glue.

[KPeacock]

I tried to trim away knowts when ripping boards down and avoid getting them on the cut ends, so that assembly would be easier. The knotted areas soak up a lot more paint, so i just kept applying paint until they wouldn't soak up any more. I like the idea of squishing in some glue before painting. I wish i would have done that.

[irwin harlton]

hot glue gun fixes them pretty good

[Sharpbees]

A friend of mine staples screen over large knots he thinks may come loose.

[RAK]

We cut all knots out andf make select boxes. Sometimes we let small knots go but we knock them out or drill them out. We use bondo(the stuff for cars) to fill.

[Mike Gillmore]

If I come across gaps around the knots I'll mix some Titebond III with sawdust from my table saw and work it into a paste-like consistency . Then press it into the gaps. After curing, sand it smooth and paint. It makes an excellent fill and bonds the knot to the rest of the board.

[jmgi]

The larger knots that look like they might loosen up I will coat them with Titebond III from both sides before painting. John

[Moon]

Like others have said, I prefer elmers wood working glue, but yeah I slather a bunch of glue on the knots on the outside of the box, my bees tend to cap them off on the inside with propolis (maybe due to their rough texture?) and then just paint over when the glue dries. Make sure I get a good coating of paint on them is all. Haven't had any problems since.

[CherylO]

oil based or latex paint?????

[KPeacock]

I used latex, as this is what I had on hand, but while looking through old posts, I found comments in a few places indicating that the use of oil based was fine. I think the oil based is overlooked becasue there are no monetary savings, and it is harder to clean up, requiring chemicals, also if sprayed, it nearly always requires a thinner to be used. Furthermore, Home depot doesn;t havea shelf of "oops" oil paints