Grain Filling Paduak Neck

[dawnofzion]

I am at a point where I'm ready to start finishing my current neck i'm working on. It is Padauk and maple. How should I grain fill the padauk? It has some rather wide open grain and I would like the neck to be smooth. Should I grain fill with CA? or something else?

[j. pierce]

I had fairly good luck filling it with epoxy (I used the system 3 stuff, but I'd suggest the Z-Poxy brand, as it's easier to work with and more forgiving on mix ratios) but it darkened the tone of the wood considerably. I don't know if all epoxies do that, or or just the one I used. (I have two different types of System 3 epoxies, one that darkens the wood more than the other) Test on scrap.

But that aside, I was able to get a perfectly smooth finish on both the neck and carved top of padauk on those builds.

Nice clean work there, by the way!

[dawnofzion]

i have also been advised to wipe the paduak down with acetone to get some of the oils out. Would this be a good idea? Would this mess up the maple stripe and fretboard?

[ihocky2]

What type of finish are you putting on? Certain finishes won't react well with different grain fill methods.

[erikbojerik]

DO NOT wipe with acetone - you will end up with pink maple (I'm surprised its not already pink from sanding). Acetone will not prevent the padauk from becoming darker with the epoxy - it will only spread the oils onto the maple.

The darkening will happen with any epoxy, in fact it would happen even if you applied clear coat with no epoxy filler. That's just the color of finished padauk - more toward burgundy than the orange of the freshly sanded wood. And it will continue to darken slowly over time (less quickly if you keep it out of the sun).

Zpoxy will work with any clear coat.

[DGW]

WoW ... That's a beautiful piece of paduak!

I finished this padauk body with Tru Oil ... NO filler.

I just applied several light coats and used 0000 super fine steel wool before applying each coat.

After several coats, the Tru Oil will begin to fill the grain.

When I achieved the results I wanted, I just wiped it down with bees wax.

Worked out real nice for me.

Edited April 30, 2009 by DGW

[dawnofzion]

I was considering using a spar urethane for the finish on the neck. I was thinking this might help with UV protection. Can someone post a link to the proper epoxy I should use? Thanks.

[erikbojerik]

I was considering using a spar urethane for the finish on the neck. I was thinking this might help with UV protection. Can someone post a link to the proper epoxy I should use? Thanks.

Zpoxy finishing resin.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/paa/paapt40.htm

That's a good price too, about the cheapest I've seen it.

[dawnofzion]

Is that epoxy hard to sand?

[erikbojerik]

No.

[CainMD]

not digging the strap hook, the wood looks dank