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I’d like to preface this question by stating I am a complete novice when it comes to woodworking and this is in fact the very first time tackling anything like it.

I bought a 1920s oak desk chair which was in very poor condition and decided to give it a try and restore it. I used a standard off-the-shelf oak wood filler to repair some parts. However, after drying and sanding the colour is noticeably lighter than the actual wood and this will most certainly show after staining.

Is there any way of getting the filler to match the wood (perhaps paint?) or do I have to retroactively remove it and use a different product? Any help would be appreciated.

user11298
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    Check out some of the answers from https://woodworking.stackexchange.com/q/5873/5572 (and possibly others: search for "filler stain") Probably the usual advice will apply here: try a few methods on scrap pieces until you get satisfactory results. –  Nov 17 '21 at 12:43
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    Also, make sure you take the [tour] so you get a feel for how SE sites work if you've never been here before. –  Nov 17 '21 at 12:51
  • As you'll discover following the link provided by @jdv (and from numerous other sources online and in books) it is pretty much the norm that you can't directly stain filler material so that it more closely matches the wood around it (despite all the manufacturer claims to the contrary). However, you can still colour it, with any of a number of coloured products (some of which are in fact quite close to just being paint, "gel stain" being one of those). A few of the furniture-restoration channels on YouTube show this being done on a regular basis as pieces are repaired and/or refinished [contd] – Graphus Nov 17 '21 at 15:28
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    .... but do be aware, self-coloured fillers and fills coloured by brush afterwards can be very close matches to the basic tone of the surrounding wood colour but still remain highly visible because filler is sort of 'dead' and the wood isn't. This is why fillers are (or at least were) really only intended for things like nail holes, minor voids from lifted flakes or chips and other very small repairs. – Graphus Nov 17 '21 at 15:31

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