Step 3 - Grain Raised, Filling is Next

Well, the body took three trips to the sink before the wild wood fibers were all gone. Swamp ash is an open grained wood, so that's to be expected. I noticed that the part of the grain where the fibers were thickest had what looked like fine, parallel scratches. I suspect this is the normal part of the grain that the filler will take care of.

The neck was basically done after the first grain raising, since it's maple. I decided I would go ahead and stain the headstock so I could get a jump on the staining and tung oiling, at least on the neck.

The bad news is the stain looked like crap. I think the problem was due to using a water based stain on the maple, it just didn't penetrate the wood. The good news is it wiped right off with denatured alcohol, even after it was dry. I decided to switch to a white lacquer, since the headstock grain isn't very apparent. I put three light coats on and got a nice smooth coverage. I'll tung oil it to match the body. Once I put the custom decal on I'm going to shoot a few thin coats of clear lacquer to protect it.

As for the body, I got the first coat of grain filler on last night. I'm using an oil-based filler I got from www.reranch.com. When I opened the can, I expected a paste-like wood filler, since that was the consistency of every wood filler I'd ever used and that was what the label said it was. What I got was, well, goop. I'm glad I was wearing rubber gloves to handle this stuff.

This filler goes on kind of like honey. You smear it on, rubbing it into the grain, let it set a few minutes, then scrape off the excess across the grain using a plastic scraper of some sort. I got a pack of three different sized plastic putty knives from Walmart, but you can use one of those fake credit cards you get in the mail. I let it set a little longer after scraping and rubbed it with a paper towel since I'm fresh out of the burlap called for in the directions. Try not to use too much, a little goes a long way. I stuck my finger in the goop and smeared it on until it was evenly spread out, putting a final wipe across the grain.


Once it's dry (overnight) you end up with a hard, chalky substance that's filled in all the little "scratches" I'd noticed earlier. Unfortunately, there's a bit of excess that must be sanded back smooth.


After sanding off the excess I'm back to bare wood, except for the filled spots. Sanding was a real pain in the arm & neck. You've got to remove that gray stuff and get back to bare wood, leaving only the filler in the deeper grain pits. Make sure you've got plenty of sandpaper on hand, I've gone through four sheets of 320 at this point. I used denatured alcohol to remove the dust as I went along, as I didn't want to wait for water to dry or face the possibility of the wood swelling up. It also helps to see where you haven't quite sanded enough.

I don't know if you can see it, but the grain between the growth line and the open field here on the lower horn still needs to be filled. I guess I didn't get it all filled last night after all. One more fill/sand cycle, and it should be time to start staining.