If it's interior woodwork, just dip the ends of the plugs into varnish, let
it soak in a bit, give them a wipe so they don't drip while you're inserting
them, and tap them in. Let them dry, cut them off, varnish over them, and
then when you need to get them back out they remove easily with any of the
usual techniques. The varnish as adhesive keeps them from showing much of a
glue line under the varnish top coat. Nowadays I cut tapered plugs for this
application, using the Lee Valley tapered plug cutters. If you cut your
plugs from offcuts of the boards you made the woodwork from, the plugs will
just about disappear.

My favorite way of removing plugs that I've put in this way is with a
gimlet. Twist it in a couple of turns and withdraw. The plug should come
right out.

Don't use this technique outdoors, such as on a deck or on the hull of a
carvel-planked boat. For that, Weldwood glue is pretty good above the
waterline, epoxy below, although some people seem to think epoxy is better
all the way around. I've done it both ways and nowadays almost always use
epoxy, thickened with colloidal silica. In either case, for exterior work,
the quickest way to get the plugs out is to drill down the middle of the
plug with a Forstner bit, maybe an eighth-inch smaller than the diameter of
the plug, until the bit just hits the screw. Then excavate the remainder
with a 1/4" butt chisel and a hammer. Follow up with a jeweler's graving
tool to clear the screw slot. I've done thousands of plugs this way, and
believe me if there was a faster way I would have found it by now.

Tom Dacon

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
What is the proper adhesive for holding teak bungs in so they can be dug
out again if you want to remove the trim? I can't believe I've spent a
life around boats without having this answer right at hand. Too much steel
and aluminum.

--

Roger Long