The Best Way to Fill Pores

GluBoost Fill n’ Finish is one of the very best ways to fill pores when finishing wood. It’s easy and effective.

Woodworkers love a smooth shiny finish. They look great and enhance the appearance of their work. The only problem is wood by its very nature is not super smooth. Wood is made up of fibers, think of wood as a bundle of straws tightly packed together. When we cut through wood, the “openings” of the straws are exposed. And even if you sand the wood very smooth those openings will remain.

Open grained wood like this Kentucky Yellowwood presents a real challenge when it comes to creating a smooth shiny finish.

I can hear you asking why that matters. It’s simple … when you apply a film finish like lacquer, shellac or even polyurethane it will sink into those tiny holes – we call them pores. Then when light shines across the surface of the finished wood, those depressions will be visible. Light will bounce off of the depressions differently than the solid area of the wood. Granted, the depressions are tiny, but they will reduce the sheen of finished wood significantly.

In order to get the light to bounce off the wooden surface evenly, thus creating a smooth shiny look, you need to fill those pores in a way where you can level the filling even to the solid area of the wood fiber surrounding them. And that is where GluBoost Fill N’ Finish comes in. Now, you might say “I’ll just apply a bunch of coats of lacquer until those pores are filled!” Which is logical in a way but ignores the chemistry of film finishes. Film finishes are made up of the solids which coat the wood when they are dried, and the volatiles in which those solids are suspended. As the finish cures, those volatiles will continue to “evaporate” over a substantial period of time. That means the even if you filled the pores with finish and they looked super smooth initially. As the volatiles off-gas, those dimples will reappear. Frustrating!

Looking at the surface of this stained white oak, you can see how the lacquer film coat did not fill the pores (grain) of the hardwood. These dimples are easily seen.

But if you use GluBoost Fill N’ Finish, to fill the pores and then spray the GluDry – the Fill n Finish will harden immediately. There will be no further shrinkage. When you sand the surface level and then apply a film finish on top of the Fill N’ Finish, you will have a super smooth surface that will reflect light evenly. There may be other ways to fill pores, but none a simple or as effective as using GluBoost Fill N’ Finish and GluDry. It is easy and effective.

–Rob Johnstone – Master Woodworker

Manufacturers Note

GluBoost Loves Wood!  GluBoost products are highly specialized cyanoacrylate adhesives, accelerators, tints and accessories and are particularly optimized for Lutherie, Woodturning and Woodworking.  While GluBoost products bear some resemblance to other products, GluBoost formulas elevate performance high above other CA products, common super glues, accelerators, and color tints for Lutherie, Woodturning and Woodworking.

We thank you for your many years of patronage and we look forward to bringing you many more years of innovative, game changing products.

– The GluBoost Team