This is a simple, fast way to plug a knot hole, whether in a wall, floor or furniture. I’ll show you how we used common tools and materials we had on hand to make these knot hole plugs.
What you’ll need for this project:
- Hole Saw Set
- Screw Gun
- Sander
- Rubber Mallet
- Wood glue
- Wood Filler
- One Screw
let me show you our knot holes
If you have followed along with one of my previous blog post, you’ve seen how we exposed the original shiplap walls in our house. When we exposed them, we had a handful of knot holes that needed to be plugged.
Here are the two knot holes we discovered in our bedroom before we made the wood knot hole plugs.
let’s make some easy wood knot hole plugs
My husband had a brilliant idea to cut plywood plugs to go inside the knot holes. Luckily for us, our knot holes were circular. Had they been wonky, this might not have worked as smoothy as it did.
Cutting the plugs out
First we had to head on over to Harbor Freight to purchase new and unabused hole saws.
My husband measured to find which saw blade would be slightly larger than the knot hole itself.
You are going to want to make your plug a tad bit bigger than the knot hole. You will need extra material to sand down to make the plug fit super snug in the knot hole.
After finding the perfect size, grab some scrap wood you have on hand. I’d make sure the wood is at least a 1/2 an inch or thicker. We have a ton of 3/4 of an inch plywood laying around, so we used that.
Once you have your wood picked out, simply cut as many pieces of wood you need to fill the holes.
They will look like this after they are cut out. The plugs will have straight sides and be too big to fit in the knot holes. Don’t worry though, we will shape them down to fit perfectly!
Making the plugs the perfect size
Now is the time to get the dimension of the inside of the knot hole. You are going to need to taper down the sides of the plugs, creating a cone like shape. The widest part of the plug will sit flush with the rest of the wall once this process is complete.
We used a belt sander, but any sander will work just fine to taper it down. To give us something to grip a hold of, we inserted a screw into the center of the plug. Don’t worry about this small hole, because it will be covered up with wood putty in a later step.
Sand a little bit at a time, until the plug slides into the knot hole, gradually getting tighter toward the top. You want it to become increasingly more snug as you push it in. You do not want the plug to slide all the way in! If it slides all the way in effortlessly, it could fall into the wall and not be a secure permanent fix.
Gluing them into forvever
When you know the plug is the correct size and have dry fitted it multiple times, now you can grab your rubber mallet and wood glue of choice. Squeeze a reasonable amount of glue into the knot hole. As well as smearing some onto the sides of the plug. You want some glue to squish out, but not pouring out down the wall.
Just tap them in
Now insert your plug into the knot hole and tap the rest of it in. “Just taaap it in” until the plug is completely flush with the wall. (Happy Gilmore reference. HA!)
Making them seamless
Wipe any remaining wood glue off he wall and wait a little bit for it to dry. Once it is dry, go back in with your wood putty. Fill the center of the hole in the plug, along with the edges, to make it seamless. When the putty is dry, simply sand the wall, making everything smooth. Then you’ll be ready to paint or stain, whichever you choose.
It’s really that easy!
Here are the knot holes in the walls after we plugged them and then painted. It is hardly detectable!
I hope this helps y’all!
If you try this out, I’d love to hear from you!
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