# wood grain filler



## tregg (Jul 2, 2010)

After stripping the oak door it showed that strips of different grain were used. Some of it was the typical dark open grain pattern. Other parts wre the denser not so open grained. That is you could feel the openness of the grain and other places the wood felt smooth. The project turned out okay but I wonder if I should have used grain filler to provide a more uniform stain. Any advice plz?


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## kerk (Oct 14, 2009)

tregg said:


> After stripping the oak door it showed that strips of different grain were used. Some of it was the typical dark open grain pattern. Other parts wre the denser not so open grained. That is you could feel the openness of the grain and other places the wood felt smooth. The project turned out okay but I wonder if I should have used grain filler to provide a more uniform stain. Any advice plz?


Confusing question.......I'm not aware of anything stained being 'uniform', unless you are talking solid color stain, and in that case it basically becomes a paint question.

Now if your talking transparent stain, you must be talking about making the 'texture' or 'feel' of the surface uniform. If that is the case you would be needing a clear filler of some sort of which would basically be a heavy resin, either a heavy acrylic or alkyd in multiple coats to give you build up. 

Just guessing at what you were looking to accomplish.


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

tregg said:


> After stripping the oak door it showed that strips of different grain were used. Some of it was the typical dark open grain pattern. Other parts wre the denser not so open grained. That is you could feel the openness of the grain and other places the wood felt smooth. The project turned out okay but I wonder if I should have used grain filler to provide a more uniform stain. Any advice plz?


You mean wood conditioner?


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## Rcon (Nov 19, 2009)

Grain filler should only be used on new wood surfaces, and then only when you need a filled look (i.e. deep pore wood and clients don't like that look, in which case they should have used a different species to begin with). 

You can fill pores with multiple coats of lacquer or polyurethane as well. 

Wood conditioner on a stripped door shouldn't be necessary unless you totally removed the stain under the finish (by sanding off at least 1/4 inch of wood). 

Consistency throughout however, can be accomplished by toning.


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## johnpaint (Sep 20, 2008)

Rcon said:


> Grain filler should only be used on new wood surfaces, and then only when you need a filled look (i.e. deep pore wood and clients don't like that look, in which case they should have used a different species to begin with).
> 
> You can fill pores with multiple coats of lacquer or polyurethane as well.
> 
> ...


Well he said he stripped it.


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## johnthepainter (Apr 1, 2008)

ive only used grain filler on new oak.
im not so sure it would work on this application.


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