Nothing says good quality woodwork like well concealed screw holes. Be it in the teak deck or on some other piece of furniture either on deck or below being able to properly conceal screws is a good skill to master. Amateur woodworkers tend to use lots of wood putty or other fillers but the results almost always look poor and the results are disappointing. The best method is to bung or pellet screw holes. Faster and cheaper than applying lots of filler the results are better and best of all when done correctly the screw hole all but disappears.
The main tool, that you will need is a bung or pellet cutter. Some good marine and woodworkers supply stores sell ready cut bungs but making them yourself is fast and if you cut them from an off cut of the wood you are using the grain and color of the wood will match. Bung cutters come a different sizes and there are a bunch of different manufacturers. I like the cutters from Veritas which cut a slightly tapered bung which ensures a snug fit. Cutters come in several different sizes but for most jobs you can get away with a 3/8th inch size which is good for both number 8 and 10 screw heads.
Using a scrap of the same wood that you are making the main components from use the bung cutter to swiftly drill out as many as you need. In this scrap of wood there are about 40 or so and they took little more than two or three minutes to make. Although you can at a pinch use a hand held electric drill a drill press is the way to go, it's safer and faster because as the cutter has no point the bit will tend to wander badly if you try to use it in a hand held drill.
The bungs are then simply broken out with a screw driver.
I am using 3/8th bungs so have drilled a couple of 3/8th holes in a scrap of mahogany for illustrative purposes .
After the holes have been drilled a clearance hole would normally be driven through and the components screwed together but as we are just showing the bunging process I have forgone that step.
A little glue or epoxy depending on requirements is then squirted into the hole.
Place the bung into the hole making sure that the grain orientation lines up with the work.
The bung should be a snug fit and may require a few light taps with a hammer.
Allow the glue to dry then pare down the bung to almost flush with the work with a sharp chisel.
Use a block and abrasive paper for final smoothing.
The completed bung, you have to look hard to spot it. (click on the picture to enlarge it) The mahogany could now be varnished or painted and unlike filler will accept the finish as well as the surrounding surface.
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