For the light woods, including ash, chestnut, and oak, the filling is similar to that used in walnut, except the colouring material, which, of course, must be slight, or just enough to prevent the whiting and plaster from showing white in the pores.  This colouring may consist of raw sienna, burnt sienna, or a trifle raw, or umber; one of these ingredients separate, or all three combined, mixed so as to please the fancy and suit the prevailing style.  The colouring may be used with a dry filling, although a wet filling is more likely to give a smooth finish and greater satisfaction, and the colour of the filler can be seen better in the putty than in the dry powder.

Upon cheap work a filler should be used that requires the least amount of labour in its application.  For this purpose liquid fillers, like japan, are suitable.  If, however, a fine finish on fine goods is required, the putty compositions of various mixtures are the more appropriate.  The secret of the process of filling consists in the mixing of the compounds and the method of using them.  A liquid filler or a japan simply spread over the work in one or two coats can hardly be called filling, yet this will serve the purpose very well for cheap furniture.

Thick compositions or putty fillers are composed of whiting and plaster, or similar powders having little or no colour.  This material is mixed with oil, japan, and benzine, with a sufficient quantity of colouring matter to please the fancy.  The value of these fillers is in proportion to their brittleness or “shortness,” as it is termed, and, to give them this quality, plaster is used and as much benzine or turpentine as the mixture will bear without being too stiff or too hard to clean off.  Sometimes a little dissolved shellac is used to produce “shortness.”  This desirable feature of a filler is best effected by mixing a small quantity of the material at a time.  Many workmen mistakenly mix large batches at a time with a view of securing uniformity of colour, and this is one cause why such fillers work tough and produce a poor surface.  An oil mixture soon becomes fatty and tough, and must be reduced in consistency when used, as it is apt when old to “drag” and leave the pores only partly filled.  These fillers should be mixed fresh every day, and allowed to stiffen and solidify in the wood rather than out of it.

The surface of a pore is the largest part of it, and it is desirable to fill it to a level as nearly as possible.  This is done by using the filler thick or stiff.

=Making Fillers.=—­In making “fillers,” a quantity of the japan which is used in the ingredients can be made at one time, and used from as occasion may require.  It is made in the following manner: 

Japan of the Best Quality.—­Put 3/4 lb. gum shellac into 1 gall. linseed-oil; take 1/2 lb. each of litharge, burnt umber, and red-lead, also 6 oz. sugar of lead.  Boil in the mixture of shellac and oil until all are dissolved; this will require about four hours.  Remove from the fire, and stir in 1 gall. of spirits of turpentine, and the work is finished.