Pore Filling

[Gibsonman]

I know that when you do the pore filling that you do not pore fill a spruce top, or that was what I was told, but can you and why not would you not do that??

[ruby@magpage.com]

Certain woods don't have open pores. Common hardwoods are maple, cherry, and birch, but none of the softwoods - conifers - have open grain. No need to fill.

Ed

[Diane Kauffmds]

Some hard woods, like maple and cherry, have such small pores that they don't have to be filled either. You can pretty much see which woods need pore filling. I built a cherry guitar that didn't need pore filling, yet the walnut that I built had huge pores.

[tippie53]

On spruce , filling is a waist or material. There are no pore for it to fill .
The process for filling is as much technique as it is material. I have used so many fillers in my building history and here is what I learned

A SEAL FIRST

if you don't the filler will shrink , the object is to seal the wood , that will help block the pores so the filler will work better

B NOT ALL FILLERS ARE THE SAME

I have used pore o paq from behlen for a long time and have very good success with this product. I would get it in natural and stain it for each application.

my new favorite one is the LMI water based filler. It has ample work time , and does a great job. You can rub it in by hand and unlike other water based fillers it doesn't dry so fast as to make a mess of the job.

C EGG WHITE AND SANDING
Yes this does work the protien in the egg white will adhere with the dust and fill pores.

The best advice I can give is #1 READ THE LABLE #2 Sample the product and your technique.


Martin taught me my process and I do pretty much what they do. Apply let flash and rub it with a wool bonnet on a hand help buffer or hand rub with denium or something rough like burlap.

I do this at least 2 times
so

STAIN ( minwax brand is also a sealing stain ) I still shoot a coat of sealer over it.

allow a few hr to dry depending on product. Apply filler then seal

If I am using Nitro I hit the sealer in about 10 min with a wash coat of nitro as there is no need to sand a seal coat.

apply finish per instructions or your technique.


learning to do a good finish is often harder than building the guitar.