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Did some tests in a search for a clear resin for pore filling and thought someone else may be interested in the results.
Z-poxy's fine, but sometimes I don't want more amber color.
Enduro-Var is my finish of choice at the moment. It's amber enough and I have a rosette coming up which is plum with delicate lavender/purple tones.
West resins are available here, but not clear - the clear stuff is banned in UK for some reason.
ArtResin epoxy (made in US, available in small kits in UK) looked promising, so I tried it under EV on some test panels to test for adhesion. It goes on well, 1:1 mix (doesn't seem too critical), I waited 24hrs to harden, and sands quite easily - P240 was used to level the epoxy.
Here I have 4 panels - thin coat, thicker coat, a sanded though in places coat, and an no epoxy panel. Top 2 and middle right have epoxy, middle left just EV on bare wood. All 4 of these panels have 3 coats clear gloss levelled off and 3 coats matt EV straight off the gun, schedule pretty much as as per Jeff Jowett's recommendations except the final buffing of course (no point on a matt layer).
Plus a larger panel with only one light coat of Enduro Var satin.

Can't tell much from that picture, not much difference if any in the appearance of the of the panels, but after leaving for 7 days, I rollered on fresh duct tape to 2 panels, one heavily scored with a craft knife and sanded at the edge and tried my best to rip off some finish several times, just it's stuck like the proverbial..
So seems quite promising, I'll post the other pics when this darn computer lets me.....
At last-

Interesting also is the larger panel, with just one coat of satin, showing the way EV has brought out the chatoyance of the wood grain, unusual for a water based finish. Rather than lying on top of the wood like an Acrylic, maybe the Urethane has some penetration of the wood??
I would be quite happy putting out a guitar with straight EV as a finish if the wood didn't need a pore fill.
Or maybe even if it did, with a matt finish (as long as the pores as not so big as to lose a hand plane in)

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Good information , Colin.

I've been thinking of doing an EV only instrument given the GF documentation on what they recommend be under the finish. If you go about doing that I would love to hear your feedback. I'm just getting started on a Bocote parlor. Maybe I'll try EV only on that one.

If you were to go EV only, would you still sand up to 220 or 320 or go higher / lower?

Brad


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220 or P240 for wood prep, 320 or P360 for levelling the heavy coats.
Just as per Jeff Jewitt's suggested schedule, at the moment anyway.
I think he knows a bit more about finishing than I do....

Although I do like these Fuji guns.
Here's an attempt at a close-up of one of the panels, top 3 coats are straight off the gun.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I agree that with darker woods, Z-Poxy with EV is too much. I have 7 underway. Thinking hard about using West System clear this time. Though, I do love Z-Poxy ease of mix. Very forgiving. Thanks for posting this Collin.