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I just ordered some liquid pore filler from International Violin because I just wanted to experiment with other pore fillers. It came in a 2oz bottle in liquid form. It looks like watered down milk, almost like white looking water. Has anyone ever used this stuff and if so, do you know how to apply it? There were no instructions that came with it. Do I brush it on? TIA for your help!
Tracy

Hi Tracy,

Just email Ken Wise at International Violins & I'm sure he'll get back to you with some directions rather quickly. The address is Kwise@internationalviolin.com. I ordered some materials from them recently & there was an item missing from the order. After I emailed them about it, Ken emailed me back within a few hours promising to make it right. Two days later the missing item arrived. Good service, good people.

Let us know how you like this "watery milk" compared with the other fillers you've tried. For me, Z-poxy is definately the best filler so far.

Skip

Sorry Tracy, you'll have to ask a violin maker.

Hey, I like dealing with International out of Baltimore. Good deals on nuts, saddles, capos, and ebony bridge pins, and Martin ebony bridges, mandolin bridges, I've even bought lots of purflings and marquetry from them. Good folks. Let us know how the milk pore filler works.... That's what all the scrap under your workbench is for.....

Skip,
Thanks for the info. I have ONLY used Z-poxy PT-40, and the last guitar, I'm noticing some pores on the sides, so I'm wondering if I didn't do enough coats. It may have shrunk, or it could just be that I'm using shellac instead of nitro. The nitro on my first covered any pores that were left. But shellac is so thin, it didn't do a good job of filling. So I thought I would try something else for fun. I could just use shellac and wood dust, but I'm afraid of too much shrink back. I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again!
Tracytl50736238384.9030324074

Hello,

I've also been quite happy with the service from International Violin. I buy sandarac from them to dissolve with shellac.

Regards,
Joshua French

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Joshua,
That is exactly what I bought from them. I added 1 part sandarac to 10 parts shellac. Hopefully this will help to harden my final finish.
Tracy

Hi guys,

Not trying to be a copycat, but I also recently bought sandarac from them - in fact two 100 gram bags. It was the second bag that was missing from the original order as mentioned in my 1st post. And yes, I also intend to use it to enhance shellac hardness. Haven't tried it yet.

Joshua, do you or have you also tried adding other resins to effect the shellac's flexibility or for reducing brittleness & chipping? Have you found chipping to be a problem after adding sandarac?

As must seem obvious, I'm trying to find the "magic" shellac guitar finish receipe if it's out there.

Skip

Skip,

The sandarac was a suggestion of Geza Burghardt... his french polish is about the most beautiful I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk with him at length about it because there was so much going on at the time, but if anyone has the magic recipe its definitely him.

I've used walnut oil before I started adding sandarac, and will try mastic at some point - 5% with 5% sandarac.

I've never had any problem with brittleness or chipping with shellac, even with sandarac added. The adhesion is really very good. One thing I've been told and have found myself is that if you are adding too much shellac too quickly the finish will be soft.

Sandarac in the mix also seems to promote a gloss sooner.. it helps the hardness some, as does good technique.

Still, I expect some amount of care on the customers end, and nowadays with classical guitars the customers are comfortable with that (since everybody wants a fully french polished instrument).

_________________
Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

Just as a side not on grain fillers, I seem to be having good success with HSF100 HIgh solids grain filler (5132) from Target coatings. It's a water born polyestor and acrylic based filler. The distributer sent me a quart and after a lot of experimentation I found the best way to apply it was similiar to French polish. I rub in about 5 coats, (it dry's real fast).

I was able to take a look at one of the guitars I built about 10 months ago and there was very little shrinkage with the French polish holding up well under professional use.