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Hi,

I am at the pore fill stage in the Ziri Blake I am building. Does anyone have any recommendations? I used ivoroid bindings.

I have some Zpoxy but it tested it on a scrap piece of the back. I didn't like the way it yellowed the zipperstrip. I am trying to maintain the white binding and white zipperstrip white for contrast.

I have somne cardinal porefiller that is rosewood, but it is so black, it drastically changed the color of the wood...

CA is clear but I tried that on a test head plate and had adhesion problems with Nitro on my last build....

Any suggestions welcome,

I haven't used zpoxy much, last time for my kit without problems. Similar to your case, I didn't want to yellow the white holly in my purfling and had no trouble scraping back to bare wood. Does the zpoxy chemically change the color on yours? Shellac will also fill pores and preserve some of the depth of wood grain that mud fillers won't give (blonde or super blonde, not the amber stuff). Don't know how it interacts with nitro though.

West system 105 resin with 207 hardener work like zpoxy without the amber. If you use it you need to be very careful with the mix. I use their pump system. Once primed the pumps give the perfect mix of resin and hardener.

AquaCoat from LMI is clear.

I'm very pleased with Aqua Coat on my Sapele OM build

System 3's SB112 is a great pore filler as well, especially when mixed with some of their fumed silica.

Thanks guys for all the replies. I think I will try the Aqua Coat. I can pick it up locally from Woodcraft here in Houston. I sprayed a nice coat of Cardinal Vinyl Sealer on it to act as a wash coat.

I have been using Aqua Coat for a couple of years and am in fact in the process of writing a review of it for the Guild of American Luthiers journal. It is very easy to use, compared to any other filler I've used. Like any filler, it is not absolutely perfect in filling all pores, but it does a pretty good job. I'd recommend 2-3 coats, which sounds like a lot of work, but really isn't. I timed a coat on a guitar neck recently, and application for a coat was abut 1 1/2 minutes. I apply it in a French polish style. You can work a whole back at one time. Although it says you can apply it to bare wood, I never do that. Because it is water base, if you miss sanding any of it off, it can block any solvent base finishes from wetting the wood and you will get blotchiness. I do the back, then 1 side, the top, and finally go back to the last side. If the neck is separate from the body, you can work on that while the last side dries. I put on a lump of filler and just French polish style with a cotton cloth until I've dried out most of the filler. No sanding between coats. You can do the 3 coats within the timespan of a day. It dries fast, but I always let it sit overnight before continuing with the finish. I then sand it with 320 until it is off of the surface and only left in the pores and go on with the finish process. It dies very clear. Finishes are tough. Plenty to learn. Good luck with yours.

Thank you for all the recommendations of the Aqua Coat. I like this much better than Z Poxy. I had to put about 6 coats but I sanded it down each time. It dries so fast 6 coats can be done in an evening. It doesn't stink, easy to apply, and almost water clear. I shot a coat of Cardinal vinyl sealer before I out it down, and the photos are with just a sealer on afterwards. Sanded to 500 grit.

Thanks again,