Woodworkers - Finishing Oak

Factual Questions
1

Anyone have some good suggestions for filling the open pores of oak so that I can get a nice, smooth finish?

I’ve seen about a jillion suggestions ranging from “do nothing” on up. I was thinking that grain filler followed by a sealing coat of dewaxed shellac would be good but a few details that I’m unclear on:

  1. Is grain filler the same as “wood filler”? Wood filler seems to be sold for filling up nail holes and big gouges, not filling in open grain. The local Home Despot doesn’t carry grain filler but they’ve got plenty of wood filler.

  2. How do you apply the stuff? Thin it and brush it on, or rub wood filler in and scrape the excess off?

My furniture-to-be thanks you!

2

Here’s a good article

I think there is a difference in the various wood and grain fillers although some are interchangeable. You probably want the products made with real wood dust and solvents. But a Google search on wood grain filler will turn up many products. Although you can always go with the sawdust and oil route mentioned in the article above where you douse the wood with oil and sand, letting the oil/dust mixture fill the pores.