Wood fill on a deck railing

Funny (at least to me) that there's a similar post, but related to the deck floor that I just saw when I went to post this question.

This is in a 30 year redwood deck that's in pretty good condition. This is a railing piece. Carpenter bees made a nest 5 - 8? years ago and then I guess a woodpecker went there for lunch.

I've tried wood filler years ago. Then it dried / cracked after some amount of time.

When we had the deck stained 2 years ago, the painter used a 2 part epoxy with a long nozzle that mixed the 2 parts by the time it got to the end of the nozzle. Not sure of the brand. Recently, most of the epoxy came loose, like marksr talked about in that other thread.

Is that the case? Just resign myself it's a maintenance issue every few years?

It's too long a piece to replace it.

I see that some of the epoxy is still in place - likely locked in to the tunnels the bee made? I guess the upper part should be shaped to lock in the upper part (inverted pyramid?) - that would help a little? But then too much will make the railing weaker / could break?

 

can you replace just the damaged section?

 

Yes it will be a continual maintenence issue. You may get more life out of it if you treat the wood with a wood hardener first. It will help the epoxy bond better and maybe last a bit longer.

And keeping it painted will help too. The minute water can seep into the wood, it starts to affect the bond.

 

Bondo is good waterproof material for filling wood, it's not going to stop the continued decay around the void but probably better than trying to glue that piece in and having a small void that will collect water.