so, I have put cellulose primer on and then some more and the open grained nature of pawlonia is still showing through, I know that this means I didnt grain fill it enough.
I'm going to let it dry thoroughly and then use the remainder of the grain filler in a thick mix to fill in the worst bits (it'll show up better on white primer than on wood) and fill in a few dings I didnt notice before. Then if I flat down the primer plus grain fills, it should be at least a bit flatter.
I'm thoroughly ticked off with pawlownia.