Quick Grain Fill Questions

[Mr. Neutron]

Hey, All!!!

Working n my Hybrid RSA body. It's been dyed black (came out kinda brown), stained it with some ebony stain (got blacker), and then sealed with 2 coats of tinted (Blue Transtint) shellac.

I've mixed up some Timbermate for the highlighting grain filler. Used Natural Tint Base Timbermate putty, tinted with a little bit of silver water based craft paint and some more Transtint Blue dye. Thinned to a runny snot/ketchup consistency. I dribbled some on the body, then smeared it around with either a bondo spreader working it all kinds of directions, or using a finger in a kind of "French Polishing swirling motion. Waited a couple of minutes, and wiped it off with a burlap rag. Now, to me, the burlap seemed kind of aggressive, and a cotton rag (old t-shirt) seemed to work better.

It will need another go around with the filler. When you guys have to grain fill more than once, do you put down a sealer coat on top of each new filler coat?

If you don't seal between fills, is there normally no problem with the "old filler" getting wet and being "pulled out" by the new layer of filler?

Added in "EDIT":
Do most of y'all let the filler dry, then sand it off, rather than wipe it off? My efforts at doing that were less than stellar on my walnut (closest I could come to RSA in texture and color.....) test pieces. I kept sanding through the 2 sealer coats......

FWIW, here's what it's looking like now:

 

[stratamania]

That is looking quite good now.

Anyway, I would not bother with sealer between filler coats. The first coat obviously needs to be dry.

You might need some filler with a slightly thicker consistency if it wipes off too easily.

If you don't wipe it off it can be an absolute pain to sand it back depending on the type of filler.

 

[timezon3]

I don't have anything helpful to add regarding the filler / sealer stuff (I've only ever finished alder, which doesn't require grain filler), but I'd like to say I like the look you've got now, even if it's not what you were aiming at.  It looks almost like marbelized wood!  :icon_thumright:

TZ

 

[Mr. Neutron]

Thanks, Y'all!!!

Stratamania said:

If you don't wipe it off it can be an absolute pain to sand it back depending on the type of filler.

Truer words were never spoken, Mah Man! I found this to be very true on my test pieces. I would typically sand through my two coats of shellac at some point on the wood, if I let the putty dry. So on my first fill on the guitar I mixed my filler pretty runny, spread it mostly with a bondo scraper, let it sit for a moment or three, and then wiped it off with a rag.

After practicing some more, I got "brave", and brushed a light helping of some more runny filler, and let it dry completely. I then sanded that off, and it (the grain fill) looks better, EXCEPT on the 3 little places I sanded through my shellac and color. At that point, I figured screw it. I'll try not to look at it.......  :laughing7: I probably could've fussed with it forever, and not made it any better. So it got a coat of rattle can Minwax fast drying gloss poly, just to keep the filler in place.

TZ, Thank You for the compliment. It helps more than you think. As a VERY RANK Amateur at wood finishing, and even worse with guitars, its kinda nice to hear something like you and Stratmania have said. I think I envy you guys that finish alder, and envy more the folks smart enough to pay
Warmoth to finish their guitars, hee hee.......

Again, Thanks Folks. Will try to edit this post with a photo later.

Added in EDIT:
A kinda weird thing shows in these newest photos. After I dyed the body black, then stained with Ebony stain, I brushed on 2 coats of clear Zissner's Bulles Eye Shellac. This shellac was tinted with blue Transtint dye. Now, I could not see the blue tint when the shellac was "glossy". It seemed like it may have made my black a tiny boit darker,  maybe.....

But when I was sanding the grain filler with my last grain fill attempt, the blue in the dye became visible in places, some more than others. You can see some of that in these photos with the coat of clear gloss poly over it.......

 

[Cagey]

Looks good! I like that effect.

Ash, Korina and Mahogany can all be a real pain in the shorts to grain fill. Sometimes, a different grain filler makes it easier. The Timbermate stuff is good, but it's got more solids than some others do so it doesn't do the fine grain as well, and when it dries it's like Bondo - rock hard. Some others, like the Crystalac, are more the consistency of a syrup. Applied with a squeegee, they fill well but a little slower, although they require less attention after the fact. Might take 2 or 3 rounds to get nice and level, and even then you might want a couple/few coats of sanding/sealer to finalize before you start with color coats.

 

[stratamania]

Now that doesn't look too shabby. Well done.

 

[rgand]

It has a nice cascading effect to it. Looks good.

 

[fdesalvo]

I like!

 

[Mr. Neutron]

Thanks for help here Folks! Y'All Rock!!!  arty07:

Cagey, can the Crystalac be color tinted?

 

[Cagey]

Yes.