After the comment about trying to fill the voids in the plywood end grain, I thought I would try a second stool with a different finishing technique. I also reworked the top on the first stool with yet another technique to see what happened.
Both stools had visible voids of various sizes in the plys. For stool two, I used Crystal lac grain filler and re-sanded before finishing. The top was very much smoother, but the larger voids were still visible. Some of the smaller voids were adequately filled. Sanding after the Crystal lac was a real pain however as it clogged sandpaper rapidly and was quite tough to get through. The sanding difficulties led to differential finish penetration as well. So I re-sanded after the oil had dried to correct that issue.
Stool one I then used miniwax wood putty the color of the finished plywood to fill the voids, I left it overnight and then of course sanded the entire top. This time the top was much more smooth (slick in fact), but I believe that is due to the finish and not the putty. All of the putty came out in the sanding process, so for this effort that is not an option to pursue.
Other than epoxy, which certainly would work but would completely impede oil penetration into the wood fibers, I'm not sure what to try. Maybe hot hide glue with sawdust? I'm open to ideas. Thanks!
In order: Stool 1, Stool 2 , Stool 2 has cherry legs
Both stools had visible voids of various sizes in the plys. For stool two, I used Crystal lac grain filler and re-sanded before finishing. The top was very much smoother, but the larger voids were still visible. Some of the smaller voids were adequately filled. Sanding after the Crystal lac was a real pain however as it clogged sandpaper rapidly and was quite tough to get through. The sanding difficulties led to differential finish penetration as well. So I re-sanded after the oil had dried to correct that issue.
Stool one I then used miniwax wood putty the color of the finished plywood to fill the voids, I left it overnight and then of course sanded the entire top. This time the top was much more smooth (slick in fact), but I believe that is due to the finish and not the putty. All of the putty came out in the sanding process, so for this effort that is not an option to pursue.
Other than epoxy, which certainly would work but would completely impede oil penetration into the wood fibers, I'm not sure what to try. Maybe hot hide glue with sawdust? I'm open to ideas. Thanks!
In order: Stool 1, Stool 2 , Stool 2 has cherry legs