Pore Filling (Overview)

There are numerous opaque pore fillers, and a handful of clear ones as well, but none work quite so fast as GluBoost Fill ‘n Finish.

With opaque pore fillers you must choose either one that matches the color of the wood being filled, for a more monochromatic finish, or one that contrasts the wood, making the pores either lighter or darker in order to stand out and add character.

However, many folks prefer clear pore filler to let the natural look of the wood shine through. While you can fill pores with finish, it is time consuming and many finishes shrink over time, causing the pores to show up again as dimples in the finish. An inert clear pore filler, like Fill ‘n Finish, will showcase the wood without shrinking in the future. It’s an excellent choice.

One of the obvious times you’d want a clear pore filler is when you have two or more open pore woods inlaid into one another, or when you have light and dark woods together and don’t want an opaque filler muddying either. In this video we’ll fill the pores of two open pore woods in a piece of marquetry, a pattern using various colored woods inlaid into other woods. This one uses light and dark woods, both with large pores.

The process is fast and simple; once the wood is sanded smooth, put a bead of thick (blue label) Fill ‘n Finish across the grain near the top of the piece. Using an old credit card, playing card, or squeegee, drag the bead of Fill ‘n Finish down the length of the wood, adding more as needed, until you have a smooth surface with Fill ‘n Finish squeegeed into all the pores.

Spray the surface with GluDry to rapidly cure it. If the surface is smooth, simply proceed to your next coat of finish. If not, sand lightly to remove any unevenness before moving on to your first coat of finish. If there are any holes, voids, or “holidays” where the surface is not completely filled, you can French polish or pad on some thin (orange label) Fill ‘n Finish to fill any tiny voids that were missed the first time around. Then, spray it with GluDry to cure it, and move on to your finish.

Once cured, GluBoost Fill ‘n Finish is compatible under any standard finish, from shellac, lacquer, and oil varnish, to polyurethane, conversion varnish, and polyester.