[Bob Andersen]

Hi Ron. My cans of Constantines are a couple years old now but still work fine. I think it was lumpy when I first opened them and still is. I scoop out some of the lumps into a small plastic cup and mix with mineral spirits until it's the consistency of heavy cream.

I then apply it to the wood with a chip brush make sure to work it into the grain and leave plenty of excess. Once it dries to a greyish color but before it's hard, I start scraping the excess at a 45 degree angle with a credit card. If I spot any voids, I work some of the now putty like filler into them. Before the filler completely hardens, I do some scraping with the grain to eliminate are 45 degree angle marks left from the initial scraping.

Sometimes I'll do a second pass if the grain was especially open and difficult to fill. I then let it cure for a few days. Then, I spray on a couple coats of lacquer sanding sealer, let it dry and sand with 320 going with the grain. I fill in any remain imperfections with sanding sealer rather than trying more filler.

Good luck!