Michael Dresdner » pore filler

Gaps away

Michael — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:00:30 +0000

Q: My floor looks good but there are some small gaps between the floor boards. It is an oak herringbone floor with a polyurethane finish. What is the absolute best product to use to fill the existing gaps?
A: In my opinion, it is trowel filler or pore filler, depending on the size of the gaps, but those are meant to go on before the finish, or at least before the last coats of finish. There are several good brands out there, but my favorite is Timbermate, which works as either a trowel filler (thicker) or can be reduced with water to work as a thinner pore filler. Again, that is a filler that is easy to use, but must have finish put over it.

Timbermate as pore filler

Michael — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:00:04 +0000

Q: I plan to paint oak cabinets. Someone suggested Bondo for pore filling but I am considering Timbermate instead. Any tips on grain filling with that product?
A: For the record, polyester body fillers like Bondo will also work just fine as pore fillers under painted surfaces. As for Timbermate, simply thin it with water to whatever is the best working consistency for you. I like it about the consistency of heavy cream for pore filler work, but you may prefer it a bit thicker or thinner. Fill, let it dry completely, and sand. It’s very simple and there are no hidden surprises. Incidentally, it will work over both raw and sealed wood.

Open pore or filled

Michael — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:00:12 +0000

Q: I would like to use the shellac and wax finish we learned during the uke building class on a classical guitar I built, but it’s Indian Rosewood and the pores look a bit open. Do I need filler first?
A: The finish you used on your ukulele is a very thin, open pore finish. It will also work on a guitar made of open pore wood, though the pores will remain open. That in itself is not a problem; it is an option. If you like the look of an open pore finish, and I must admit that I do, there’s no reason to fill the pores.
If, on the other hand, you want the pores filled so that the surface looks more like glass than wood, you’ll save a lot of time and effort by filling the pores with pore filler before layering on finish. I should point out that pore filling is usually paired with thicker, multi-coat built up finishes that get rubbed out to gloss, not with thin, natural looking flood on and wipe off finishes such as what you have on your ukulele.

Matching Martin

Michael — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:00:05 +0000

Q: I’m restoring a Martin guitar, and after staining, I added three very
light wash coats of 1lb. cut shellac. I’d like to strike the pores black
with Finishers Glaze seal with sanding sealer, fill pores with Bartley’s dark, seal and topcoat. Martin mahogany pores are darkened nicely. I’m trying to do it the right way.
A: I’m afraid you are doing it the hard way. The easy way is to stain the wood, preferably with water soluble dye, seal with one thin coat of SealCoat or dewaxed shellac, then fill the pores with a dark pore filler. There is no glaze on Martin guitars, and many were stained and filled in one step, on the raw wood, with staining pore filler. Keep it simple and you will have better results.

Onyx oak

Michael — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:00:03 +0000

Q: I want to finish new oak plywood cabinets with onyx painted finish with an artistic sanding through on accent areas but I can’t get a smooth finish look. What do I need to use to get the smooth finish look?
A: You need pore filler. Oak is an open pore wood and the pores are, relatively speaking, huge. For that reason, we often eschew smooth finishes on oak, opting instead for so called open pore finishes. If you must finish oak with sealed pores and a smooth surface, the best way to do that is to fill the pores with pore filler, an inert putty like substance that dries to a solid. Once the pores are filled to the level of the wood, you can paint it and get a smooth surface. Before you ask, my favorite pore filler, and far and away the easiest to use, is Timbermate. http://www.timbermate.com/product_description

Pore it on

Michael — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:00:21 +0000

Q: I would like to finish some oak with solid color lacquer from a spray can. I want the finished surface to be very smooth and have the grain completely hidden. I’ve been using Crystalac brand grain filler, but after five coats the grain is still visible in places. Should I continue with more coats, or is there another product I could use?
A: You could continue with more coats, or you can use a different filler, or you can do the last bit with finish. At this point, the last option may be the best.
As you have discovered, the one problem with clear fillers, all of them, is that they tend to shrink and are thus not as efficient at filling as opaque fillers. Had you asked me in advance, I would have suggested the following. Filling woods like oak and ash is an exercise in frustration, because the pores are so large and taper so gently that you will spend a lot of time filling and still have some undulation. For that reason, we rarely do filled pore finishes on such woods. If you must, the best filler is one designed for filling the pores of oak flooring. There are many brands, but my favorite is Timbermate, which comes in more than a dozen different colors and is very easy to work with. http://www.timbermate.com/
At this point, since you have already mostly filled the pores, the simplest option may be to switch to primer. Most primers, whether brushed or aerosol, build quickly and sand easily, making them ideal for filling the shallow depressions left after clear filler. Expect to apply several coats and do several sanding operations, but that should give you a surface smooth enough for your colored aerosol topcoat.

To fill or not to fill, that is the question

Michael — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:14:58 +0000

Q: I am in the process of completing a kitchen full of cabinets and need some advice about the proper finish to use. The face frames and drawer fronts are walnut. There are several lower cabinet doors that are walnut frames with a maple panel. Do I need to seal the wood to obtain a really smooth satin finish? Some of the walnut looks pretty porous, kind of like oak.

A: That depends on your definition of smooth. If you mean that you want the pores filled and not open, then you will need to use a pore filler (not a sealer) prior to the finish. Pore filler is a thick paste that gets packed into the pores and the excess removed with a squeegee. Once it dries, it forms an inert material that fills the pores and allows the finish to sit atop it. Some brands of filler, such as Timbermate, come in as many as 22 different colors, and can be custom tinted as well. Whether or not you fill is a personal choice based on the appearance you want. I’d advise making samples on walnut scrap first to see if that is the route you want to go. Once filled, I’d use oil based polyurethane as my topcoat. It’s one of the best finishes you can choose for a kitchen, can be applied by wiping, brushing or even spraying, and like other finishes, is available in satin.

Filler up

Michael — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:22:31 +0000

Q: Would you apply waterbased pore filler directly onto wood or give it a wash coat of something like shellac first?

A: With most waterbased fillers, you can do either, but there are reasons to go one direction or the other. If you are not staining the wood prior to filling, and don’t mind the stain in the filler coloring not just the pores but also the background wood, you can apply filler directly to the raw wood. You can, incidentally, stain filled wood afterwards with most pigmented stains.

On the other hand, if you want the filler color only in the pores, or if you have dyed the raw wood and don’t want to risk cutting through the color while sanding filler, or contaminating it with a contrasting filler color during application, then it’s best to seal the wood with a coat of Zinsser SealCoat prior to pore filling.

Pore filling’s best kept secret

Michael — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:27:26 +0000

Q: I know that in USA you have three pore fillers: oil based, waterbased and clear filler. Here in Italy there are no such pore fillers. We have nitro pore filler sealer that is sprayed on, but the problem is that it does not fill
pores. It is impossible for me to order solvent based pore filler because they are flammable items and don’t ship overseas. I found one waterbased one that works great, but it is white, and I need to fill rosewood pores.

A: For the record, the clear fillers you mentioned are also waterbased, though admittedly some guitarmakers here in the US use clear crosslinking coatings, such as polyester or UV cured acrylics to fill pores. It’s often more labor intensive and may have to be sanded off instead of wiped, but it does work.

What you need, though, is simply to be pointed in the right direction. The product you want does exist, and can be shipped to you. Go to the www.timbermate.com website. They sell a waterbased filler made in Australia that can be shipped anywhere, as it has no solvent in it. You can reduce it to any consistency you like with water, and it comes in 21 colors, (yes, I said twenty one colors) including at least two dark enough for rosewood. If that’s not enough, you can also color it with almost any coloring medium, including acrylic artist colors.