# How to seal and fill sap veins before painting.



## fritzycat1 (Aug 5, 2007)

I'm prepping some outdoor trim for paint. Several of the trim boards have veins of sap that bled through the previous coats of paint. Since these veins are essentially large gaps that bleed sap, is there a good way to seal and fill them?

I live in southern california where it can get quite warm. I've noticed that the sap can get tacky to the touch on warm days when in direct sunlight. I'm concerned that simply painting over it with a sealing primer would not fill these gaps suffficiently to prevent the sap from eventually oozing out again.

Should I rout-out the veins to remove the sap that is in there and then fill the larger gap with wood filler then prime and paint?

What would you recommend to fill and seal these gaps??? 

The photo is just one example. I have several veins like this to contend with. You can see stalagtites of sap in the gap - that's a quarter next to the vein to give a sense of scale. The wood is about 8 years old.


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## fritzycat1 (Aug 5, 2007)

I decided to just scrape each of these pockets of sap down to the bare wood with a utility knife - the router bit on my dremel just got plugged up with sap.

Can anyone recommend a good outdoor wood filler to fill in the large gaps? Should I use an epoxy based wood filler?

Some of the gaps I cleaned out are almost an inch deep, 1/4 inch in height and 3 inches wide. 

Here is a photo of the cleaned-up gap - ready for some fill.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

An expoxy based filler would probably be best, then prime with Bin shellac primer.


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## fritzycat1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Thanks Chrisn! Epoxy and BIN it will be!

:thumbup:


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Just so you have the source, I really like working with these wood restoration products.

http://www.abatron.com/cms/buildingandrestorationproducts.html

Might be overkill for you application though.


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## poppameth (Oct 2, 2008)

Abatron would definitely be the way to go. Also keep in mind that BIN is only for spot priming outside. always coat over those spots with a proper exterior primer and paint after using BIN.


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## fritzycat1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Thanks for the additional direction. I already got some Minwax high-performance wood filler and started the work - it seems to be working well.
http://www.minwax.com/products/wood_maintenance_and_repair/high_performance_wood_filler.html


I'll be sure to give the Abatron product a try next time - thanks for the suggestion.

Good tip on the BIN + Primer. I'll be sure to do that - thanks!


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