Pore filling timber with Z Poxy

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morpheous

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Building my first timber bodied uke (Resonator Tenor) and am starting to think about the finishing process.
Done some research and pore filling with Z Poxy looks like the go. Any body had any experience with it and as I want to stain the mahogany back and sides a dark tobacco brown color was wondering do I stain before I fill or fill then stain.

Tim W
 

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I read something here by Chuck Moore that he used epoxy for grain filling so I gave it a try. Z Poxy was what I had and I gotta say that this is the way I will do finishes from now on. The epoxy gave a depth to the finish that I had never gotten before. I've been using a Bondo type squeegee and it works good for me. I'd think you'd have to stain before putting on the epox.
 
resoman said:
I read something here by Chuck Moore that he used epoxy for grain filling so I gave it a try. Z Poxy was what I had and I gotta say that this is the way I will do finishes from now on. The epoxy gave a depth to the finish that I had never gotten before. I've been using a Bondo type squeegee and it works good for me. I'd think you'd have to stain before putting on the epox.
Click to expand...

I've been using medium ca lately. A little harder to apply but it's a lot quicker.
 
I would stain first, and touch up stain before the last zpoxy coat if necessary.
I use zpoxy and like it fairly well although if not sanded all the way down so only the pores are full it does add a very slight amber cast. I usually don't mind that. I have tried different squeegees but like old credit cards best. I do two coats, and very rarely three. After sanding the last coat smooth I mix a batch of zpoxy with about 30% zpoxy to 70% denatured alcohol (the stuff you buy in cans). I apply this very thin wash coat with a clean cotton makeup remover pad I steal from my daughter. Before lacquering I sand very lightly with white-non-woven-KNP-4085.jpg one of these pads. You don't want to sand back thru the zpoxy coat.
 
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Watch out for "amine blush" when using epoxies as sealers or pore fillers.

I'm now using Smith's CEPS first, then System 3 coating epoxy. Both are no or very low amine blush epoxies made to go under subsequent finishes. The Smiths penetrates a bit more; the System 3 fills pores better. I figure a coat of each is great.
 
Allen.

That parlor that you built on these vids is what gave me the idea of the very dark back. I think with the tiger myrtle binding on the body, fretboard and peghead it will look great. aslo going to use a purfling product from Petros guitars that looks pretty cool. Expensive but why not.

http://www.purflex.net/Purflex/Purflex_family/Pages/Purflex_purfling.html

Thanks guys for all your help for a new builder. I can see this getting addictive.

Tim.



Allen said:
I did a series of videos to demo pore filling. This is the first. I use WEST Systems as it's what I'm familiar with, and I can get locally.
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I'm thinking rosettes rather than purflin on my cherry/spruce combos. Living in Wales the celtic connection/style is simpatico.
 
The only issue is that same thing I saw with those pre-cut inlays from Germany in the late 1960s and early '70s...a kind of generic look of "over the top and yet so very available".

In a funny way, it's very traditional, though. A lot of that Northern European stuff was "inlaid" into shellac stick in it's day. Or should I say, flooded with the stuff after the pieces of MOP were lightly glued in place. This is a technique from the early 19th Century brought up to date with the use of CNC, lasers, and catalyzed fillers.

Will Healdsburg, 2013 be full of this stuff? Hope not.
 
I saw those purflings at the Woodstock Luthiers Showcase a couple of weeks ago. They are made using a laser. The wood part is primarily maple veneer 0.040" thick. Takes four strips to do a guitar top or back. The same vendor had some really pretty tuner knobs made of various woods with fine patterns etched by laser, but they were too expensive for me.
 
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Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:
I've been using medium ca lately. A little harder to apply but it's a lot quicker.
Click to expand...

I've tried CA and whilst I like the speed, I find the dried CA is quite rough and needs quite a bit of sanding, which for me just resulted in sand throughs. If there was some way to wash coat at the end, like you can with epoxy, I'd give it another go.
 
Received my Purflex yesterday and looks pretty cool and shouldnt be to hard to install. Will post some pics when installed in the next week or so. Biggest surprise was the 7 carved fretboard markers they sent also at no charge. Good to see that there is still great customer service out there in some places.

Tim W
 
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