Paste wood filling consists of rubbing a special sawdust mixture of a light or dark wood with an adhesive agent into the textured open grain of the wood, letting it dry, and then sanding it away to obtain a smoother surface. It is time consuming handwork.
The procedure is an OPTION, and NOT considered standard.
- In the older days, furniture tops and sometimes the fronts of exotic case goods were paste wood filled to smooth the grain texture and give a deeper appearance to the grain. This was true in the 1940s and 1950s for mahogany dining room tables, for instance. It is also seen on older cherry, walnut, white oak, rosewood, and ebony items.
- We normally apply paste wood filling only once and only to the tops of items. If the wood was especially coarse grain to start with, it will result in a smoother surface but not necessarily be "glass smooth" unless a second application is performed.
In more recent years we are again seeing paste wood filling of the grain in order to allow the higher gloss sheen to be applied, for example on cherry dining room tables. In eventual refinishing this presents real problems.
THE BLEMISH REMOVAL ASPECT:
After the finish removal process of stripping the furniture the grain will have more texture and not be as smooth as before. This is true whether the wood is lumber or veneer and, and was paste filled or not.
- For refinishing work we recommend a lower sheen level of satin presumably with the awareness that the grain texture will show.
- We generally do NOT recommend paste wood filling.
- If the top is to be paste wood filled, blemishes must be removed with steam injection to the degree possible. There are limits to what that process can remove.
- If the wood surface has dents, dings, and gouges that can not be removed by steam injection, we do not recommend paste wood filling because any putty used to fill the prior damages will not look good with paste wood filler.
THE GRAIN TEXTURE ASPECT:
- The grain texture of the wood can be very smooth or highly textured, but by itself has nothing to do with the finish sheen level.
- Thin veneer usually has less grain texture than the same wood in lumber form.
- The grain texture of the wood sets below the sheen level chosen for the finish.
- The more texture the wood grain has, the lower the finish sheen level should be. A high gloss finish is usually used only on a very smooth wood surface.
- Paste wood filling is performed to make the wood grain texture as smooth as practical.
THE FINISH SHEEN ASPECT:
The sheen level of the top coat of finish, usually lacquer, can vary from high gloss, to semi-gloss, to satin, to flat, and to dead-flat. These sheen levels have nothing to do with the smoothness of the wood itself but only with the sheen level of the final finish.
- To the degree that the wood surface has imperfections or character marks it is best to use a lower sheen such as satin. A high gloss finish magnifies the texture, slightest imperfections, blemishes or wear and tear.
- To the degree that the goal is a glass smooth surface then paste wood filling is required.
- A glass smooth finish can look good with a finish that has a high gloss sheen or any lesser sheen.
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