I use waterbased pore pac grian filler for filling the grain in mahogany, but it is messy
and makes the grian look hazy. I am thinking of building up the finish and wet
sanding it back to fill the grain. I use shellac for my finish. What I am trying to
achieve is a filled grain without obscuring the beauty of the grain.
What are some of the methods/ products you have used and what have been the result good or bad?
Thnks to all.
Replies
Using shellac for filling pores can work well, but I caution that once you dye or stain the wood the process becomes much more difficult.
On unstained wood, you apply several coats of shellac and sand back until you are just cutting through the shellac. You keep doing this until you can sand the shellac to a uniformly sanded surface without cutting through and without shiny spots at the bottom of pores. If the wood has been dyed or colored you have to build a thick enough shellac film that you can sand without cutting through.
Personally, I much prefer oil based pore filler, which I usually apply over a surface that has been lightly sealed with shellac. The oil based gives a lot more time to work. With care I can pretty much avoid leaving much if any haze on the surface to obscure the grain. I find that tinting the pore filler to a shade that contrasts a bit with the base dyed color adds a lot of depth to the finish. Pore filler can either be darker (the usual situation) or lighter than the base.
George Frank even used to do things like having wood dyed with a yellow base color and then coloring the pores with purple tinted filler. I don't think that would work on the 18th. century reproductions that I like to make.
I recently tried something different to fill the pores in the ash guitar body I was building: epoxy thinned with denatured alcohol. I used the 5 minute syringe stuff. Mix it to a syrupy (maple, not the thick as glue fake stuff) consistency, apply a small amount and spread it around with a plastic putty knife. Clean off the putty knife and scrap the glue off the surface applying firm angular pressure with the putty knife to pack it into the pores. When done, sand to remove the surface film and dye/stain/topcoat as normal. Although I did not, (shame on me!) you should try it on a test piece first. It is most likely as messy as any other method/product but it produced a fabulous surface -- the grain showed gloriously through the lacquer topcoat.
Here's a link that explains it more fully:
http://www.exit45.com/ttnp/GrainFilling
Paste wood fillers and shellac finishes are old school, real old school and a pain to use for the results and durability of the finish. IMO. There are lacquer based pore fillers that are easy to use. Tint the color you want, brush on two coats and sand. Quick drying easy sanding. Compatible with a range of top coats from conversion varnishes to waterborne. Here's one brand.
http://www.hoodfinishing.com/finishing_prod.htm
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Gizzo,
My projects have always been maple and or cherry based. Recently I have used some walnut on series of 8 custom tool boxes, and had to deal with the open grain.
Jeff Jewitt had a good article in FWW#177 regarding making your own grain filler using boiled linseed oil (BLO) and 4F pumice. My finishing skills are very basic and I had no idea what pumice was or where to find it. I used cheap Borg BLO and found the pumice at Lee Valley. Here is the link to the article if you have access:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=24148
I have no skill in dealing with open grained woods, so I assumed this method would be cheap and effective - it was! I tried Jeff's method and it works nicely! But the farmer in me thought could I make the process better so I tried wet sanding the BLO and pumice mixture on a highly figured walnut door panel and WOW!
My favorite regime was 3 coats of shellac, then the filler treatment wet sanded followed by some more shellac built up and polished out. More work than I am used to using in finishing - but the results were very nice and several customers after seeing the tool boxes ordered more!
Read Jeff's article and try this simple recipe - BLO and 4F pumice.
Good Luck!
My grandfather used plaster of paris. Mixed to a soupy consistency like thick cream & painted it on the wood. Next morning, after sanding it off, he'd apply a stain.
I've used it on oak with excellent results, one caveat, you may get flecs of color as the particles of plaster in the pores may absorb stain faster than the wood.
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