Pore filling

[Jeremy D]

Quick question for you guys,

I am preparing my first guitar for finish. It is EIR and I picked up some ebony Timbermate from the masters store down the road. I don't have any shellac (I do have some on order by it is a while away). If I was to do this, what is the best way to keep it off the maple bindings and away from the engleman top? Should I just wait and seal it with shellac?

Thanks a lot.

[kiwigeo]

Quick question for you guys,

I am preparing my first guitar for finish. It is EIR and I picked up some ebony Timbermate from the masters store down the road. I don't have any shellac (I do have some on order by it is a while away). If I was to do this, what is the best way to keep it off the maple bindings and away from the engleman top? Should I just wait and seal it with shellac?

Thanks a lot.

Some sanding sealer wiped onto the lighter coloured bindings and the outer perimeter of the top should protect them from the Timbermate. Ive used Rustons brand sealer...its basically shellac.

[Jeremy D]

Thanks Martin,

Just checked out their site but doesn't seem to be a retailer close to the gold coast. I have some bullzeye shellac that I use for sealing jigs etc. I have read extensive discussions on this very forum about not using it under finish because it contains wax. Maybe I will just wait until my order from Lmii arrives

[kiwigeo]

Thanks Martin,

Just checked out their site but doesn't seem to be a retailer close to the gold coast. I have some bullzeye shellac that I use for sealing jigs etc. I have read extensive discussions on this very forum about not using it under finish because it contains wax. Maybe I will just wait until my order from Lmii arrives

What is the finish going to be?

[Jeremy D]

Mirotone high gloss.

EDIT: Mirotone MIROCAT 3220 to be exact

[56nortondomy]

Bunnings sell sanding sealers, the one i got was Wattle brand. They also sell Feast and Watson shellac flakes which are quite good.
Wayne

[nnickusa]

The Feast and Watson at Bunnings is orange only up here. I've been to every one from Brissie to Ballina...same.

Jeremy, if you find yourself down here, I'll give you a couple ounces of blonde.

[Jeremy D]

The Feast and Watson at Bunnings is orange only up here. I've been to every one from Brissie to Ballina...same.

Jeremy, if you find yourself down here, I'll give you a couple ounces of blonde.

Cheers Nick, I might just take you up on that if my order takes to long. How long generally does an Lmii order take to arrive? It's the first time I have ordered from them. I haven't even had a shipping confirmation from them yet.

Anybody used these shellac flakes from carbatec?

http://www.carbatec.com.au/liberon-blon ... kes_c21747

[kiwigeo]

Anybody used these shellac flakes from carbatec?

http://www.carbatec.com.au/liberon-blon ... kes_c21747

Yes theyre ok but I prefer to stick with the LMI flakes.

[Kim]

If your going to finish with lacquer then you should be able to seal with lacquer no probs. Just mix a bit with some thinners in a jar and brush it on where required and sand off later as you would shellac.

If filling with water based filler such as timbermate, I would not be in a hurry to sand it off this time of year if worried about sink back. Timbermate is pretty good stuff but 'regardless' of what it says on the label, it can and does shrink back if you don't allow it to dry right out. In summer that's a quick and easy thing for a hot aussie arvo to achieve, but this time of year, I would leave it a day or two under RH control before sanding back and then get a seal on it immediately after sanding and dust off just to be sure.

Cheers

Kim

[nnickusa]

My LMI order took around 3-4 weeks to arrive....And, I gave them an email prompt to get it to leave the US...

I will admit, I was a bit disappointed to have to prompt them to send an order, which included around $50 postage, but it got here in the end...

[Trevor Gore]

I don't really want to hijack this thread but...I will anyway...

I was gluing up some non-guitar related stuff with PU glue and was cleaning up the fizz whilst it was still wet. I spread it around a bit with a paper towel dampened with acetone. When I came back, I had a nice pore fill and no fizz. Anybody tried this as a serious pore fill?

[charangohabsburg]

Anybody tried this as a serious pore fill?

No, but I am tempted. Is this stuff transparent or can one mix it with some kind of stain or wood dust? Are the fumes less nasty than the ones of epoxy? I have no idea and prefer to ask before buying PU glue only to porefill (thinking of padouk).

[charangohabsburg]

My LMI order took around 3-4 weeks to arrive....And, I gave them an email prompt to get it to leave the US...

Strange, this never happened to me with LMI. They normally are very quick.

[kiwigeo]

My LMI order took around 3-4 weeks to arrive....And, I gave them an email prompt to get it to leave the US...

Strange, this never happened to me with LMI. They normally are very quick.

+1

On the odd occasion that things do go awry Chris and co usually get things fixed promptly. I ordered some dishes which turned out to be the wrong size. Chris told me to keep the dishes and he would ship me the correct ones at no cost.

[Jeremy D]

Geez I hope it isn't 4 week. That's why I love stewmac, order on Monday and its here by Friday.

I might give Kim's suggestion a try and just use the lacquer as a sealer, I have enough of the stuff .

[Nick]

I might give Kim's suggestion a try and just use the lacquer as a sealer, I have enough of the stuff .

That's what I always used to use, takes a bit longer simply because it hasn't got the fillers that a sanding sealer has so building up enough to fill the little pores takes longer but EIR isn't too bad for pores compared to say Wenge! But it does do a nice job, just have to allow for adequate drying time between coats otherwise the top coats will still shrink into the pores as the stuff in the pores shrinks also.

I don't really want to hijack this thread but...I will anyway...

I was gluing up some non-guitar related stuff with PU glue and was cleaning up the fizz whilst it was still wet. I spread it around a bit with a paper towel dampened with acetone. When I came back, I had a nice pore fill and no fizz. Anybody tried this as a serious pore fill?

Might be worth looking further into that one Trevor, certainly be less 'harmful' than epoxy fumes.

[Jeremy D]

OK I think I am now going to go a different way. A hobby store down the road stocks z-poxy finishing resin. Seems like it would be a lot easier to use this as it is clear and I can fill the bindings, neck etc without having to worry as much about staining the lighter coloured wood. This should be OK to use under Mirotone lacquer? I think I read that someone was using west systems epoxy as a filler under this finish.

[rocket]

Z-poxy is probably fine as a grain filler, it says it's clear but in my past experience with it is it can stain light colours with a yellow tinge, i think Wests is a better option, but you have to be spot on with the mixing ratios. I prefer to use timber mate as a grain filler where i can, but i use a blonde dewaxed shellac on bindings and purfling first, if i need to mix colours into the timber mate to match the timber i am filling i only use other timber mate incase of un necessary staining of the work, it's also a good idea to seal the area with dewed shellac as well.
Cheers,,

Rod.

[J.F. Custom]

I don't really want to hijack this thread but...I will anyway...

I was gluing up some non-guitar related stuff with PU glue and was cleaning up the fizz whilst it was still wet. I spread it around a bit with a paper towel dampened with acetone. When I came back, I had a nice pore fill and no fizz. Anybody tried this as a serious pore fill?

So I don't have a lot of experience with PU glue. I tried it years ago on a few jobs, but never liked the way it foamed and the resulting clean up required. I did not really have a need for it then either - it was just to test it out. But on the thought of grain filling with it, a couple of questions spring to mind -

From memory, the colour of the 'foam' (glue) was pale yellow? Perhaps somewhat like Titebond or similar? I think it even darkened with exposure? This was many, many years ago so I can't recall 100%. If so, I can't imagine it working well on darker timbers unless you tint it somehow. Then if you were to trouble yourself with tinting or mixing with saw dust etc, what would be the major benefit as opposed to say an even less toxic pre-tinted water based grain filler?

Also, as PU glue relies on moisture (atmospheric) to 'react', foam and cure, is there a potential that the resulting 'filled' pores have micro 'bubbles' of air that may be revealed through finish sanding and show under a gloss finish? Or does it collapse down into a solid mass?

Again, this is purely speculative. I have not considered the prospect until now, let alone tested it. Just my initial thoughts.

Jeremy.

[Kim]

I don't really want to hijack this thread but...I will anyway...

I was gluing up some non-guitar related stuff with PU glue and was cleaning up the fizz whilst it was still wet. I spread it around a bit with a paper towel dampened with acetone. When I came back, I had a nice pore fill and no fizz.

I've not heard of anyone using PU to fill pores but if the acetone you used in clean up somehow retarded the fizzing then I can't see why it would not work. I can't imagine it would sand too well though and I'm not sure about long term adhesion prospects for any finish either. I would test on scrap and leave it a few years before applying to an instrument. It does seem that quit a few people are having good success grain filling with CA though so that is another avenue.

Cheers

Kim