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Best thing to fill them with and do I fill prior to bending the sides or after? There are just a couple in each side.
Thanks, Wendy

I would fill them just prior to finishing.

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Pat

I'm sure you'll get varying answers to this but I'll put forward what I would probably do. I say probably
because I don't have the wood in front of me. Black colored epoxy is all. If the holes go all the way through it
might be easier to fill prior to bending but probably doesn't matter, which ever is more convenient. The black
epoxy will be less visible in the finished product, imo than other methods with regards to EIR. Only if the wood is a
very light color would I try to color match. For me anyhow, it's safer to use this approach. Others with different
skill sets will perhaps take a different approach.
Ken

I would bend them, then fill with epoxy and fine sawdust mix of similar or darker color. Then you can work them as you would any other set of sides.
When I laminate sides from rosewood veneer it often has worm holes. Since I am laminating the veneers as they came off the log I can actually use the worm holes to help me line them up. The worm holes are "self filling" with epoxy in this process but seem to pull some color from the wood and look fine. I like the worm holes filled but visible.

Depending upon how tiny and your method of filler prior to finish, you might not even have to do other that apply the filler. Some people prefer to use dark filler on rosewood, even black. Having said that, I would personally fill them prior to applying the filler. I used to hear many people recommending packing in sanding dust, applying thin CA, and then sanding some more.

black epoxy it is I guess. Not worried about color matching as they are very small. They do go through so I will probably fill prior to bending, unless the epoxy would cause a problem when heated? Thanks!

I would do it as part of prefinish surface prep. The first step in final sanding.

All I do is dab a little medium CA in the hole and sand over it with 100 grit til it fills. Color match happens by itself.

Sorry I'm no help, but I was just wondering
Is these flight holes from the common furniture beetle anobium punctatum?
If not, would you have any idea what other possible species.

I have to live with all four species in the dampest rented house in Ireland
grubs in your teabags, and everywhere else kinda thing, a regular occurrence

Does this particular sample or IRW have sapwood on it, guessing/hoping this is the affected section?


Should be coming down the rafters once again (East er)
They'll be coming out your skirting once again MIck ey
They'll be mating on our teabags
Frassing on our auld rags
They'll be.....
Dang staying the hell away from my poisonous African hardwoods they will,
provided it dont kill me first


Thanks
Tomas

I agree with wbergman and Ed Bond. Wendy, any heating of the sides is going to potentially cause any adhesive to flow and will likely result in your having to fill again. Since you will be pore filling after the entire box is assembled, you can fill the holes at the same time you are pore filling. I typically use ordinary glue to fill small imperfections and sand over the hole, thus filling with wood fiber of the same color as the surrounding area.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Agreeing with Steve, I switch to ordinary Elmers school glue for sand/filling.

I prefer CA because it doesn't shrink like wood glue does.

I'm with Ed. A little CA in the hole with the sanding dust. If it is small it will probably fill with dust during sanding in which case I just wet the " dust plug" with CA and it's pretty much filled. If the hole is bigger I put the CA in first and then sand. For me also it seems there is less trouble with CA showing under the finish if it is not completely sanded off the surrounding area than with a normal wood glue

Kent

Another way to fill: mix some matching, really fine, end grain sawdust with some hot hide glue that has been cut with urea to make it liquid at room temperature. Mix to a paste, and fill the holes with the paste, leaving a bit of a pimple on top of each filled hole to allow for shrinkage. Let it dry overnight, then sand the pimples back to level.

I also use sanding dust and CA, works just fine, I would do it during final cleanup before pore filling

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

So I'm taking a guess these critters will eat rosewood heartwood by the sounds of things,
if in a hospitable place

Borax it is, so I guess

Thanks
Tomas

So I've decided to wait and fill after bending with either black epoxy, which I'm having trouble finding, or CA and dust. I'll do it before closing the box though because the holes go through and I want access to both inside and outside of the side when I fill. Thanks for all the answers.

I bought some black epoxy from StewMac years ago that I have never used and never will. I am way too allergic. The package seems to have leaked a little, but I am told that epoxy keeps forever. I will send it free if you PM me an address. Test it before applying to your guitar.

I'll do it before closing the box though because the holes go through and I want access to both inside and outside of the side when I fill.

Not a bad idea...

Another way is to mix sanding dust with the finish material (lacquer, shellac) to make a paste and apply and sand that to fill small gaps and divots.
If you use yellow glue as a binder it can sometimes be hard to get it completely sanded off of the surrounding areas.

You can also get black CA in a thick form. Has anyone tried that?

To fill worm holes or other small irregularities in dark wood I've used black CA, regular CA mixed with dust, wet shellac sanded to get mixture in the hole and epoxy mixed with dust. They all work fine, I usually use CA and dust now because it's very fast and easy.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"