Teak Plugs - How To....

[mlydon]

the trick is to use an incredibly sharp chisel, and to SLICE off the plug - sliding the flat blade from one edge to the other, by hand as you would slice into food with a knife. you are rotating the chisel blade flat against the wood surface, bevel-side up. Don't force the chisel directly into the plug - this will cause the grain to split, potentially down below the surrounding surface, which requires a new plug to be installed

This is after knocking off most of the plug with the chisel and a mallet.

You can get the plug dead level with the wood surface, no sanding required. I have a crank-handle chisel as shown below for just this purpose.

So - my method - install the plug, 'glue' in with varnish and allow to dry. 1/2" of plug sticking up above wood. knock off the top of the plug to roughly 1/8" by chiseling (tapping chisel with mallet), into the end grain of the plug. SHAVE the remainder, potentially a few passes, with the rotating, slicing motion. DONE

Matt

[guyrj33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Discovery 15797 View Post
Tap in plugs; don't hammer them in as they may split.
Get a good quality bench chisel (longer blade).
Lay the chisel as flat as possible.
Cut "with" the grain. (Look at the grain on the top and also side of the plug. If the grain on the side is at an angle, place the chisel on the side of the plug with the part of the grain that is deeper in the hole.)
Gently tap the chisel with a leather mallet or small ball-peen hammer.
Sand with very fine sandpaper.
Varnish.

Keep your chisel it really really really sharp.
The above! Bold on the key points to avoid the issues the OP is having.


This is not the correct way to use a chisel!
The bevel goes against the wood and you use the tilt of the handle to control where the cutting edge contacts the plug.
yes, cut with the grain in the direction that moves the chisel edge higher as it follows the grain.

[Dougtiff]

Realizing this does not answer your question, assuming you had to remove the old plug [bung], this can be done without damaging the edge of the hole by using a leather hole punch [the correct dia.],or a wood screw chucked into a drill [depending on the adhesive holding the fastening],when the wood screw hits the fastening, the plug [bung] will back out up the wood screw, that's why the plug dipped in paint allows the plug to be removed without damaging the plug hole, i have removed THOUSAND'S of plug's over the years' using these techniques quickly, as far as cutting the plug flush, a saw with no set works well, after a light sand should do the job, even with a razor sharp chisel, cutting with the grain, there is the possibility of remove some of the plug due to grain below the surface, that's a pain, now the plug needs to be removed and a another set, i have a tool that i have never seen another shipwright use, given to me many year's ago, its a tool chucked into a drill that is designed to cut rivet's on airframe [airplane] flush, can be adjusted to leave a small amount of plug above the surface,

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Always trim so that the chisel is cutting into the grain, not trying to dig it out. Each plug will have some grain surfacing in a pattern, you need to just slice the top of the grain with each pass of the chisel.
Hope that you understand what I have said, sometimes I get a little lost for words.

He beat me to it.

[Exctyengr]

What I do is first check the depth of the screw, you need about 1/4 inch below the adjacent surface to get enough "grip", after reseting the screw, (back it out, drill the hole lower, countersink then reset the screw), pick out a teak plug with similar color and grain, I use glue (usually Titebond III) NOT epoxy (you will play hell ever getting it out again - put the 5200 on a back shelf under lock and key), set the plug so the the grain aligns, let it dry then cut it flush with an offset handle back saw, fine tooth, then sand flush and finish. Voila!!

BTW, I cut my own plugs from scrap using a plug cutter.

[rhubstuff]

Originally Posted by gulfstar37

I've struggled with plugs, teak or any other wood, before.

Some things that seems to help me out are:
- Align the grain of the plug with the surrounding wood grain. This is not necessary but helps hide the plug austhlicaly.
- After setting the plug and allowing to dry, take a look at how much material needs to be removed. This is where most of my failures occured by taking too much off at a time.
- take a sharp chisel at least twice as wide as the plug diameter and remove half of the unwanted material by pushing chisel forward in same direction as plug grain and holding the chisel at angle and slice the wood in a sideways motion as you push the chisel forward with the plug grain. If the chisel does not slice through the plug by pushing only, it is not sharp enough.
- Now you have the practice repeat until you are down to a wafer height above the surrounding material.
- Your choice either slice the last bit with the chisel or sand down.

This process has helped my results greatly. I use to think all you did was take a chisel and hammer, put chisel on surrounding wood and give it a thunk and magically it would sheer off clean and flat ready for finish. What I found is it takes a minimum of two steps and once done correctly, the time to do this is very fast.

Hope this helps good luck.

Ditto this! Do not make your first cut flush with the surface. Or maybe even your second cut. Take 2-3 cuts to get the plug down NEAR the surface, then carefully just shave off the last wafer-thin bit. And yes, make sure your working up the grain of the plug, not down.

[inspectr]

Look for a "Cranked chisel" - specialist tool for trimming plugs in decking etc.

[Happydrv]

Going to try these methods with good tools.
Not clear on some of the chisel motions described but understand taking it down slowly instead of one whack like I did.

THANK YOU ALL...!!!

[roverhi]

Use a #14 or 1/4" hex head screw in a nut driver socket to remove the plug. Use a scratch awl to make a starter hole and screw in the screw with the driver in a drill. If the plugs aren't expoxied in, have a good chance of them lifting out with no further attention needed. If they don't come out, the screw will have taken the heart out of the plug and you can use a 1/4" chisel to get the rest of it out. The hex head on the screw with the nut driver makes a very stable platform to drill out the plug.

[Suijin]

I used to use the Japanese flush cut saw until a professional woodworker shamed me into using a chisel. Won't mar the surrounding finish and does not require sanding after. Insert plug aligned with grain, sharp chisel, knock off most of the excess then shave it down flush. Actually easier than the saw when you get it down.

And I agree if you need a mallet the chisel is not sharp enough.

[Thumbs Up]

A 4 1/2" grinder with a flexible disc (36 grit) is my go to tool for everything, Melts teak like butter, just leave a little proud and finish with a sanding block. A forstner bit the same size of the plug works really good. It is not to hard to center it by eye. A drop of Gflex. You can get by with some pretty shallow plugs with a little epoxy. If you need to get it out use the forstner again and drill it out.

[Michael Pope]

Plug Trimming 101 Use a 2" to 2-1/2 wide longblade chisel ---- do not use it for anything else!! slice the major part of the protruding plug off by holding the chisel handle in your right hand --- bevel side of chisel down -- push blade with left hand side ways slicing first cut to leave 1/16 to 1/8' protruding then slice the final Trim with the next side ways slice . When you have a good plug cutter and sharp chisel takes about 3 1/2 seconds /plug little or no sanding required. Need to choose the piece to cut the plugs out of with good flat grain makes a lot easier Do not Buy Plugs Buy a plug cutter!! It is a fun skill to learn! Mike Pope

[clockwork orange]

I also use a forstner bit for removing plugs so gluing them in with epoxy is a non issue. For trimming the plugs it depends on the situation so I use most of the methods such as the small pull saw, multi master or sharp chisel for roughing them down and a sharp chisel to finish but there are some situations where you have a hundreds of plugs in a large wide open area such as a teak deck where I use a router with a custom base with a slot in from one side to the bit and a carbide mortising bit set exactly flush with the surface which allows you to come in from the side and basically plane the thing off perfectly to the surface. When I did a lot of this stuff I had a small 1hp black and decker router permanently set up just for this.

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by Happydrv

Going to try these methods with good tools.
Not clear on some of the chisel motions described but understand taking it down slowly instead of one whack like I did.

THANK YOU ALL...!!!

Absolutely. A cabinetmaker friend of mine told me that a chisel should always be used to halve whatever's sticking out. Cut off to leave 1mm or so, then use the very sharp chisel to halve that (and you will see whether you're approaching from the correct direction when you do that). Another stroke to take the 0.5mm down to 0.25mm, then when you're down to perfectly smooth you won't need sandpaper.

[inspectr]

Incidentally, using dry wood to make the plugs allows them the expand a little as they take up water and makes them fit better.
I use the same techniques in mortise and tenon jointing - if the tenon has lower moisture content than the mortise it will expand and snug up making a tight joint
I'm a building consultant and use my moisture meter all the time in my work and in the carpentry workshop!