Railway ties might be a powerful, durable material for retaining walls, outdoor measures or other landscaping jobs, but they are not completely exempt from wearing down. When cracks or splits are on your railroad ties, use a wood filler product to seal those openings. As with all projects that involve wood treated with creosote — as railroad ties are, take additional precautions to guard your health.
Wear long pants, a blouse top and closed-toe sneakers in addition to plastic or rubber gloves and a dust mask. Squeeze a dab of a wood filler kit’s lotion or putty material on a piece of polished cardboard. The dab ought to be large enough to fill one little crack at a railroad tie.
Squeeze a line of this wood filler kit’s hardener gel on the dab of lotion or putty, applying the amount appropriate for the amount of lotion or putty on the cardboard. The directions on the face of this hardener gel or about the lotion or putty container should describe the right percentage to use.
Pour a disposable trowel or other tool throughout the surface of the cardboard’s lotion or putty and hardener gel to allow the two substances to combine. Sweep the trowel or other tool across the two stuff several times to blend them, but the hardener gel doesn’t need to blend completely with the lotion or putty. It’s OK for the hardener to be more observable in the mix.
Scoop the cardboard’s mix with your trowel or other tool, and slide it into one of those railroad tie cracks. Continue scooping the mix into the crack until it’s filled and a little bit of this mix extends beyond the crack.
Smooth the outside portion of the filled crack together with all the trowel or other tool, building a flat surface. The railroad tie is probably rather demanding, so you do not have to make the surface completely smooth, just flush with the surrounding area of this railroad tie.
Await the mix to dry at the repaired crack. The mix may require just 20 minutes or a longer time interval to dry. Assess your wood filler kit’s directions for the product’s drying time.
Repeat the procedure to fill different cracks at the railroad ties. Spray dark-brown spray paint within the filled areas as soon as they’re dry if you want them to blend with the railroad ties’ coloring.