Despite significant effort filling the pores, it's obvious that the pores were only partially filled on the veneered top.
Here's been my process so far:
After sanding to 320 and dyeing with Transtint, two wiped on coats of dewaxed amber shellac. I squeegied on Pore-O-Pac, squeegied off excess, wiped with burlap, followed by 24hrs of drying. Then a light wet sanding with 320 grit sandpaper.
Then I brushed on one coat of Waterlox Sealer/Finish, wiped on one coat of S/F then wet sanded with 320 grit. Always waiting at least 24 hours between coats (yes, I've learned...)
I followed this stage with two more coats of S/F followed by a coat of Waterlox High Gloss Finish all wiped on. I was planning on waiting 24 hours, then wet sanding with 400 grit, then a few more coats, sanding with 600 grit, a final coat and waiting for it to cure before rubbing it out.
Unfortunately, the pores still aren't totally filled, plus the Waterlox High Gloss caused some orange peel (I think). Could it be that the Waterlox High Gloss finish was starting to go bad? It was a little thicker consistency than I'm used to with the S/F, so I thinned it about 10% with M/S. Is that how it normally is, or is this where the orange peel is coming from?
What's my best approach from here? I was thinking of wet sanding with 400 grit, applying another coat of Waterlox Gloss and seeing how it looked. But how many coats will it take to fill the partially filled pores? And will the orange peel just sand out?
Here's what it looks like now:
Orange-Peel-and-Pores-on-top.jpg