If you have ever tried to finish African mahogany or even the genuine stuff, or an oak, or any open pore wood you know the value of a grain filler, but typically they impart a color , or are slow to dry and just often times a general mess, especially if you want to go natural, but yet get a glass smooth finish, it has been quite difficult.

On open pore woods, it has been the practice of most, myself included, to utilize excessive coats of finish , and sand them back to fill grain, which is expensive and labor intense, as well , we are pushing the boundaries of  acceptable film thickness.

Oak is too open pore for even the heavy finish thing, so it was typical to use a wood filler  to fill the grain and while products like Timbermate filler, thinned down to make a grain filler, worked very well, we still had the issue of adding color to the wood, while this often was a desirable thing, if you wanted to go natural, you could use a filler as close to the color of the wood as possible and “deal with it”,  I have tried the oil based products and found dry times, excessive, as well as they tended to seal the wood so stains and so forth could become issues , but yesterday  I gave the water base  Aqua Coat a try, and to say I was impressed is an understatement,  so thought I would tell you about it.

I got a piece of red oak, and some African Mahogany,  I applied one coat, it had a slight cream color to it, but dried in about 45 min to an hour, to totally clear,  I then sanded it with some 180,  on the oak I wiped some water base stain, and the color between the filled and unfilled sections was identical,   on the mahogany, I sanded it, and sprayed a coat of  water-bourne finish in it,, it was smooth as silk,  I actually did this, while I was filming this weeks show, so you will see the results tonight, but it worked extremely well, it sure cures alot of ill’s,  now for those who like to use colored fillers to accent grain, no issue, I can tint it, or color as I wish using a number of medium’s which I will get into later, but all I can say is for me it sure is a welcome product.