IMG_1.jpgIMG_7.jpgIMG_5.jpgIMG_3.jpgIMG_2.jpgGrain filling Red Oak plywood - My first post - nice site!I bought a sheet of B-2 Red Oak plywood from a cabinet shop, not the Homedepot junk, to modify an entertainment center with. I am cutting the unit dwn from68” high to 30” high x 68” long, and building a new top with some trim aroundit. The sheet of Red Oak plywood is just down right terrible with what I call tearout of the pores in the cathedral grain areas of the surface. Some of the poredepth damage is as deep as .022 or about 20 mils deep. I guess I will have touse a grain filler to smooth out the surface. I stained a small piece of scrap RedOak with a mix of 2 shades of MiniWax oil base stain, a quart of Early Americanw/ 3 tablespoons of Gunstock and got a perfect match of color. It took 3 coatsof stain with 15 minutes of penetration time each, and wiping down between eachcoat to get the color right. That just seems like a lot of time and stain whichin the end feels waxy too the touch. There just seems to be very little pigmentand mostly mineral spirits to this MiniWax stain. I’m nervous about it giving me problems later, so I’m looking for abetter quality stain. I read somewhere here on the forum about Sherwin WilliamsAlkyd stain having more pigment and viscosity. For a grain filler I searched andfound a product called Crystalac that sounds like what I need to fill thepores. All of my work will have to be done by hand as I have no sprayequipment. I still don’t understand how I’m going to wipe on a stain, then workin grain filler and sand it back without getting back into the stain. Very carefullyI guess.I haveresearched the internet and my thoughts for a repair or finishing schedule asyou call it would be:1. Sand with 150g lightly2. Brush and vacuum clean3. Stain oil base (brand/type?) stain,wipe down and allow each coat to dry4. Apply 2 coats of Zinsser de-waxedSealCoat, as a sealer/barrier and carefully sanding back each coat, hoping theSealCoat will give me some clearance and protection above the wipe-on stain.5. Apply 2 or more coats of a grainfiller (hoping to fill the tear outs) with Crystalac Wood Grain Filler, ( it’swater base) sanding back each coat after 24 hours dry time6. Apply 2 more coats of ZinsserSealCoat over the Crystalac as a sealer7. Ready for top coat of either Shellacor Varnish, wipe on oil base or water base Poly.8. Note: not sure of the best top coator the build layers. The oil base stain and water based Crystalac are thereason for the application of the Zinsser SealCoat below and above the grainfiller and provides some protection against sanding thru into the stain. I havenever done any grain filling either. Myresearch says it will work, but the pro’s here may know a better approach. Idon’t have any of the new spray guns only an old DeVilbiss and Binks cup gunand really no place to use it.9. I attached some photos of the plywoodso you could see the grain tears at the pores.10. Image 1 and 2 will show you a viewfrom distance.11. Image 3, 4, & 5 shows the linewhere it starts.12. Image 6, & 7 are closer up.Thanks for any help anyone can offer.