Black Korina/Tung Oil questions (first time doing this type of finish)

[Peccavi]

I'm a total n00b at finishing with both Tung Oil and Korina, so here are my questions.

Is grain filler absolutely necessary? (I assume it is, since the wood has lots of open pores)
if so, how exactly should I go about filling it and what's the best filler to use?
Are there any other preparations I should be making before doing this that I'm just too ignorant to ask about?

I'm gonna start on the finish as soon as my Pure Tung Oil arrives, I'm using this Tung Oil http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html.

 

[Steve_Karl]

Even though this tutorial is about Truoil, (not Tung) it seems a good layout of steps, especially for the sealing and grain filling.
http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/TruOil.htm

I used it to do my black korina strat http://www.sightsea.com/gallery/main.php
and at the last minute switched from truoil to Behlens Master-Gel and it came out great.

I don't think anything is absolutely necessary, but without filling it will just soak up a lot of finish and still feel rough to the touch when done.

I used the mahogany filler here: http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Filler&NameProdHeader=LMI+Micro-bead+Acrylic+Paste+Filler
It looks like melted Hersheys chocolate in person and worked well.

Note that the "natural" color is actually creamy white and not clear. I made that mistake when ordering the first time.

I've heard some talk about an other product that was reputed to be easier to work with.
Maybe someone will post what that was again in this thread.

 

[m4rk0]

check this:

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=2929.0

 

[Peccavi]

Thanks guys, I'm getting the Mahogany grain filler soon and will be starting on this sometime this week... or whenever I can find enough free time to dedicate myself to this finish. videos/pics to come.