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I was introduced to a new product the other day, CrystaLac wood grain filler. It is water based, fast drying, low VOC and dries absolutely clear. I was warned that when sanding it to make sure I use a plenty of protection as this product contains silica. My question is this, Has anyone used this product in the past? Pro's -Con's?
I am testing it out on some scrap peruvian walnut and so far I like it, takes a few coats, I have not put any lacquer over it yet. I was assured that nitro lac would be okay over it. Any thoughts will be appreciated!

Jeff

J-I use this for many fill jobs in the shop.
I like it .
Just do NOT apply it to wood with NO sealer coat.
It will raise grain & swell the woods.
I use a shellac sealer-it makes the grain look great & seals it from the
water in the filler.

Mike

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Mike Collins

I used it on a set of IRW. I sanded through it after a couple coats of laquer. I got dark spots where the sealer cane off. It lightened the wood up some too. I would recommend a good sealer and be careful not to sand to hard. I ended up sanding down the whole guitar and starting over.

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

Tried it once, threw it onto the crap pile after two minutes. Some people can get good results with it, but not me...

I use it. It works great for me. I suspect most of the problems people have had were due to bridging the pores instead on getting it down into the pores. I don't seal the wood before using. It does raise the grain, but it's easy enough to sand it back. Maybe some species are different though. I posted this picture a while back when someone was talking about needing to use some special filler to "pop" the grain. Does this grain look "popped" enough?


You can see more about my use of CrystaLac here. http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=33117

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Looks nice, Woody! Is that a SW varnish finish?

Thanks Woody B for the link to that vid~ and to all who responded as well. I tested it on Peruvian Walnut cut offs and had no sealer on it, it took 3 apps to 100% fill, but looks absolutely smooth after sanding. I am glad to hear that most are having good results with it, it is easy to work with.
btw woody..that grain is popped! Very nice~

Jeff

I too use it with great results. Although I did find it better when applying shellac prior to each Crystalac application, specially if you are not going to use it everywhere (like just on the rosette but not the top -- It showed in my case).

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Where do you Canadian boys get it? Mohawk?

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

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I ordered it from Woodcraft. Didn't find any supplier here in Canada.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I used it once. I thought it was ok (but not really any better than other methods I've used). My only real complaint with it was that the instrument I used it on had wenge in the purfling and rosette. In some of the REALLY big pores it didn't look as clear and had a slight blue cast. But, again, that was only in a few spots that had giant pores. I also found that it did shrink a little more than I expected after reading a lot of the posts about it but not more than I, otherwise, would have expected a water-based filler to shrink.

Rod....

Got a barely touched bucket you can have if you want it....

Now that sounds like an endorsement!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Sounds good MF. I'll let you know I I'm coming out to Vancouver guitar show and maybe I can get it from you then.

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My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

That's Axon Polyester. I just buffed one that's SW Oil Varnish. I'll take a picture of it tomorrow when I'm in my shop. It's Wenge, so it's got HUGE pores filled with CrystaLac. (Wenge took 4 coats of CrystaLac)

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

As promised here's a shot of a Wenge OM filled with CrystaLac finished with Sherwin Williams Fast Dry oil Varnish. I need to get a better camera, and learn how to use it. There's a spec on the lens, and something is going on with the colors. The binding is Ivoroid. There isn't a green tint to anything.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Looks really nice, Woody...despite the spec on the lens. Thanks for posting the photo.