BEHLEN Pore-O-Pac Wood Grain Filler

Scott Turner

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I used the BEHLEN Pore-O-Pac Paste Wood Grain Filler on white oak stairs. It's been 5 days since I applied it. It still feels oil. Last night I positioned a fan and heater so they blow up the stairs. I hope when I get home tonight I can sand and apply the stain. Anyone else had to wait so long for this stuff to dry?

I applied it like the can says. Spread it on with a rubber spreader, removed any exess with a dry clean cloth.
 
Well this isn't good. I sanded the stairs last night and then did a sample area with an oil-based stain. I had done some test pieces ( no grain filler, big mistake ) to make sure the stain would match the existing floor. It WAS pretty close. After staining a small section of one of the stairs and a piece of molding the stain doesn't match now. I let it sit on for about 10 mins and then whiped it off. It's much lighter. The stain is blochy. It appears I put the grain filler on uneven or I sanded more off in some place than others. :mad:The sanding I did was very lite with 220 grit.

The molding is so bad I will have to take it off and make a new one. It's a very small piece so no big deal. My plan for the stairs and side board are too put another coat of stain on tonight and see what it looks like.

I should have guessed this but the grain filler actually changed the way the wood looks. You know how when you stain bare oak the grain pattern darkens, with the grain filler it doesn't do that. It's hard for me to explain but this is a lto different than I am normally use to with oak.

I don't think the extra coat of stain is going to even out the color or make it darker. I will try and see. I beleive I will be doing some heavy sanding to get the grain filler off the wood, so I can start over.
 
I had someone recommend using burlap to with the filler off. It worked well for me and the filler dried very quickly. You may want to take a card scraper and scrape the surface clean. It will be quicker than sanding!
 
Scott, it sounds like you are leaving at least a thin coat of grain filler on the surface. I did that once... never again. Rub off anything that isn't in the grain (before it dries), then after it dries, sand the surface until it is pure wood, no filler, on the surface.... the filler should only be in the pores.

If you used a rag, but still left a coat on the surface of the wood, the solution I found (years ago) was a LOT of sanding. Swore off grain filler for years, but realized that the result was worth it when I finally did it right.
 
Scott, it sounds like you are leaving at least a thin coat of grain filler on the surface. I did that once... never again. Rub off anything that isn't in the grain (before it dries), then after it dries, sand the surface until it is pure wood, no filler, on the surface.... the filler should only be in the pores.

If you used a rag, but still left a coat on the surface of the wood, the solution I found (years ago) was a LOT of sanding. Swore off grain filler for years, but realized that the result was worth it when I finally did it right.

Thanks Charlie. I just discovered this last night. I did lots of sanding last night and hope to be able to stain again tonight. I had to make new molding.... too much work to try and sand them down that much.

I am not sure I will ever use this stuff again. I may do a couple of experiments on some scrap wood to see if I can get this grain filler down right. I hear it is a good option when trying to get a piano finish.
 
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