Grain filling

[Arron]

Thanks Aaron.

The Wattyl stuff sounds like the go, it's a shame though because I don"t have spray equipment and 20 litres for the smallest package is a bit too much to buy in one go.

Never tried Proofseal though, wonder how that would go.

Steven.

Just looked at the Proofseal documentation. There is nothing about it that indicates it should be a capable sanding sealer. In fact, it recommends to do all sanding and remove all sanding dust prior to application of Proofseal.

For a sanding sealer you want it to have low resistance to abrasion and low adhesion. In other words it should feel kind of chalky. A product cant have good resistance to abrasion and be easy sanding because obviously sanding is a kind of abrasion - so it must be one or the other. Likewise, if it has good adhesive properties it will make a mess of your sandpaper.

It may well be that there are no good DIY level sanding sealers on the market. DIY level stuff (ie what you might buy in a hardware store) is oriented towards quick simple products which give acceptable results in the hands of novices with no great desire to learn finishing techniques. So its sloshing on two coats of polyurethane. The DIY market has, in the time I've watched, shed almost all of the specialised preparation and pre-undercoating products - I expect because not enough people buy them.

Note that the Wattyl Rediseal comes from Wattyl Industrial - which is presumably the same company as the one that produces the DIY Wattyl products - though they know so little about each other's products it does make me wonder. But being an 'industrial' product it works well but is not oriented to the DIY market - it presumes knowledge on the part of the user.

Of course you can always use diluted shellac as a sanding sealer. Not my first choice but I do use it when I need to impart a warm glow.

cheers
Arron