wood filler

[JIMRPT@AOL.COM]

List, esp refinishers;
  Aprox. 6 mos ago I tried some water based wood filler and it worked very
well. As I read the filler ingredients I noticed that a very large percentage
of the filler was gypsum...the same stuff used in 'wallboard joint compound'.
I found that very interesting and thought provoking....I know weird :-)

  Anyway, I had an old bottom panel from an upright and thought I would
experiment. I stripped the panel and did all the needed repairs as if a normal
refinishing.  I then divided the panel in half with masking tape, half to be a
natural finish and half to be  ebony.   I stained some regular walljoint
compound to a matching color for the natural side and filed the grain.  On the
ebony side I just used the plain joint compound straight from the bucket.
  After waiting for the compound to dry I sanded both sides and finished as
normal.  The compound intially soaked up the sanding sealer faster than the
wood but on the second and third coats I could tell no difference. After
finishing all sanding and spray coats I put the piece aside and just took it
down this morning and rubbed the top coats...........the result is a very
smoooooth finsh with none of the "normal" slight grain indentations we
normally expect from laquer finishes.

   Any thoughts as to the efficacy of using wall joint compound in this
manner?
Positive and negative comments are welcome.
Jim Bryant (FL)