Padouk grainfiller color

[Herman]

It is for the first time I use Padouk. What color grainfiller do you advise?

Herman

BTW: Anyone here with expirience with Rustin's grainfiller?

[ken cierp]

I go with the clear fillers these days Zpoxy gets nice results. It would seem that Behlens Walnut oil base Pore O' Pac would be true to the natural dark pores. I think a few guys here have used Timbermate which is a water base product in several colors plus a neutral that can be tinted to suit, might consider that?

[Ken Hundley]

I too have used clear filler, epoxy mixed with silica. If you were to use any tinted, I would think a color similar to minwax Red Mahogany would look good, though you may have to try to match it to that color. The danger is that padauk will fade to a rich coffee brown over the years, and the pore tint needs to accommodate that. That's why I go with clear. I think it is fine if it is a brown wood that just gets darker, but something that goes from red to brown or purple to brown is difficult to color match pore fillers too.

[Herman]

Today the postman brought me a set of Z-poxy. That is what I'm about to use on the Padouk.
What's the best way to good results?
-Sand the filler down to the wood surface or
-Leave a thin layer of epoxy on the total surface?

[John Parchem]

I use multiple coats 2-3. I never try to sand down to wood as once you hit wood you will uncover more pores, but while sanding the first or even the second coat I do hit wood in areas because I find I am still doing a bit of leveling. The important thing is to level sand until there are no shinny spots. I finish up with a wiped on diluted (10% dilution with alcohol) coat to even (cover some of the sand troughs) things out.

When I am applying I try very hard to wipe off all of the epoxy with a scraper or squeegee. On the last instrument I ground down a thick (hardware store) straight edge razor blade and used it both to push the zpoxy into the pores and remove excess at the end. Not I ground off the entire edge so I really ended up with a scraper. I all rounded the corners.