grain filling walnut

[dankomal]

hi,
whats the best way to fill walnut grain prior to finishing??
I don't want to use a filler that in any way changes the appearance of the body.
also what would be the best product to use, i'm in the UK,
cheers,
mal.

[Chris Leger]

In the gun trade, they use black filler. Works great with the black spalting seen in stock blanks.

You can use anything you want. The only thing I'd avoid would be red. If you have a piece without a lot of figure and want to keep it looking plain, there's brown, but if it has some figure, I'd be looking for an excuse to use black.

You might be tempted to try clear, but it can look cloudy over darker woods, and lighten things up a bit too much.

[dankomal]

cheers chris,
so you'd go darker rather than lighter to fully bring out the grain?

[Chris Leger]

Well, like I say, that's how it's generally done with gun stocks.

But then, in the higher grades of American walnut, black spalting is prized.

For example:



If your walnut doesn't have a lot of figure to begin with, you might opt for regular brown filler. But when I read your post in which you wrote "walnut," the above is what I pictured, and black filler is what's used there.

[dankomal]

yep, thats the idea, the figuring looks stunning,

[Chris Leger]

Then you want black filler.