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After reading around and watching several videos I can’t find a consensus. Do most folks sand back down to wood after zpoxy filler, leaving pores (hopefully) filled, or just scuff sand and then move on to shellac coat and/or finishing?

Thanks

Jon

I learned the epoxy fill method when learning about French Polish from Milburns somewhat famous tutorial. He filled the traditional way with pumice till he discovered how good 5 minute epoxy works. Anyway he sands or scrapes back to wood. I only ever have done it once on a Uke but I sanded back to wood. It seems to make sense to me. It's pretty much the way a traditional oil based filler would work. You fill and try and scrape as much off as you can then sand away back to wood leaving the pores filled.

I think there are two ways to skin this cat though. Because a lot of folks strive to keep a thin epoxy layer on so that the epoxy is basically a base coat.

If you sand back to wood you lose the grain pop that something like Zpoxy provides. So if you want that grain popping warm amber under your finish then leave a thin coat on. Otherwise take it back to wood. Just make sure you do one or the other. If you accidentally sand through on a small spot it will stick out like a sore thumb. Ask me how I know.

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I use Zpoxy whenever I want to really pop the grain. I usually put one or two coats on and sand back to the wood, then another coat that was thinned with denatured alcohol. I try to leave this as the first finish coat. This guitar has Zpoxy fill and waterborn finish (KTM-9)

I do basically the same as Freeman. Two to three coats (depending on the pores) squeegeed on and sanded back to wood after each coat. Then a final wiped-on coat of z-poxy diluted 1:1 with alcohol to highlight the grain.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I was going to share the same thing. One of the things I love about Z-poxy in particular is the color pop I get from it. Due to that effect, I don't sand back to bare wood. I level it with 400 grit or something finer. If I sand through I do the thin wash coat of a 50/50 mix of epoxy to alcohol.

I put on 2 coats for small pore wood and 3 for bigger pores, over bare wood. I space the coats as close together as possible, meaning I put another coat on as soon as the previous is hard enough to handle (better bonding between coats). Level sand once fully cured , maybe three or more days, then if the finish is nitro I start with vinyl sealer followed closely (an hour or so) with nitro. If the finish is going to be waterborn I just follow the cured epoxy with finish, no shellac.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust