Anyone know a recipe for grain filler?

[John Bauers]

Filling the pores in mahogany prior to spraying, has anyone made there own grain filler?

I have heard or read a long time ago about using Linseed oil, FFFF pumice stone, Nitro lacquer and red aniline dye.

I have no idea of ratios, I am not sure if the linseed is boiled or refined.

I used a home made filler made this way years ago, brushed on then left to dry for about 30 mins then rubbed into the pores with hessian cloth. No sanding required.

Any suggestions would be very helpful.

 

[pshupe]

one egg white sand into the pores with fine sand paper. I haven't tried this myself but have heards lots about it.

Cheers Peter.

 

[tommyd73069]

Peter - you funny funny guy

John - I think that's overkill. Deft, Zinnser, and Minwax all make good pore fillers that are designed for different paint systems (lacquer, poly, waterbourne, egg white).

I like the Deft products in lacquer. Their Clear Wood Finish in the rattle can is awesome.

I stained the whole back of the body and neck first. I used Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain in Cabernet. Once I had wiped it back down and got off all the residual stain. I mixed some of the stain in with their pore filler and spread with an old credit card (maxed out from too many guitars) or other stiff plastic squeegee-type tool.

Sanded it back to level and wiped it down with stain again.

Here's where I'm at this morning with the project:

 

[MATTM]

Curious as to why you want to go homemade?

I am a huge fan of timbermate. Inexpensive, easy to use, compatible with most finishes.

 

[Jay Jillard]

eggwhites actually work well. use an eggwhite, sand it into the wood using 400 grit wet/dry. it creates this wood/egg slurry that fills the pores. a couple coats of that followed by clear. ive done it on a few guitars now.

 

[pinefd]

I think there have been a few threads here on using egg whites, although I haven't tried it myself. Here's one of those threads: http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/custom-shop/207264-egg-white-varnish.html


Frank

 

[pinefd]

Curious as to why you want to go homemade?

I am a huge fan of timbermate. Inexpensive, easy to use, compatible with most finishes.

+1 for Timbermate. Although not vintage correct, it is very easy to use and you can get great looking results.


Frank

 

[TKOjams]

I almost never grain fill, to me the wood looks nicer without all that stuff in the open pores of the wood. JMO, YMMV

 

[Murkar]

+1 for egg whites

 

[SG John]

+ another for eggwhites. It worked well on my first attempt. It'll be better my next time around.

 

[Jay Jillard]

to clarify:

i also use timbermate, but only when i want a stained or black grainfill to add contrast.

eggwhites will leave a completely matching very nice natural looking fill, because it uses the actual wood dust to fill with, and the eggwhites dry perfectly clear.

 

[John Bauers]

Thanks for the advice, the egg white system is interesting and I shall try it out and see how it goes, but my reason for trying to mix my own is to try to replicate the fill and look that Gibson used on the mahogany parts of their 58/60 Les Pauls' where the pores are filled with a red filler prior to spraying, leaving that characteristic red [FONT=&quot]speckled look with the pores filled with the cherry red filler and a slight staining of the surface.

I have attached a couple of well known photos to show the fiiled pores.

[/FONT]

 

[tommyd73069]

So, when I first read eggwhites as a pore filler, I thought John was pulling the OPs leg. Wow, amazing what you can learn on a guitar forum.

With my first kit build coming to an end, I have learned that keeping a build as simple as possible is more important to me that exotic techniques. As I gain some experience and have a few builds turn out really nice using "store-bought" stuff, I may try some of them.

As always, thanks for the education.

 

[mlp-mx6]

Search preeb's big LP thread on tdpri.com - he gives a recipe on there.

 

[Daniel]

one egg white sand into the pores with fine sand paper. I haven't tried this myself but have heards lots about it.

Cheers Peter.

Whip the egg white then let it stand for about an hour... skim the foam off.

It takes 3 or 4 "coats"... wet sand the wood into a slurry then squeegee the snot into the grain... Let it completely dry between "coats" the first one raises the hell out of the grain... The last one will just about polish to a shine.

Takes more work but... Best grain fill and seal ever.

 

[tommyd73069]

Whip the egg white then let it stand for about an hour... skim the foam off.

It takes 3 or 4 "coats"... wet sand the wood into a slurry then squeegee the snot into the grain... Let it completely dry between "coats" the first one raises the hell out of the grain... The last one will just about polish to a shine.

Takes more work but... Best grain fill and seal ever.

does it take stain? I normally use a sanding sealer to prevent blotches in the stain.

I have a piece of red oak scrape at home. It's got huge grain canyons. I may try this on it and see what I learn from it. The education here so far has been great. Weeding through all the opinions to get to it sometimes is frustrating, but the information is pure gold. Thanks all

 

[John Bauers]

Search preeb's big LP thread on tdpri.com - he gives a recipe on there.

I will have a look at the Preeb thread, thanks for the suggestions.

I'm sure the egg white will work to get a natural fill but I am after the pores to be filled with a red which is much brighter than the mahogany.

 

[Brian I]

Late to this thread, but I only pore fill my guitars with egg whites and really like the results; although you can't stain the wood, the filler matches the color of the wood perfectly. Here are some pics of what it looks like under finish:

 

[Minneapolis Slim]

...I only pore fill my guitars with egg whites and really like the results; although you can't stain the wood...

By this, do you mean you can't stain the wood at all after using egg whites, or that you can't change the color of the pores with stain?

 

[Mr.Ploppy]

Will egg white work with tru oil for a good finish.