My friend and I are working together on a shelf. He's cut some extra wood down to 18 x 24 inches, and I bought some brackets online. The plan was that he was going to sand and prime the shelf, I was to receive and paint a design on it, and then he would mount it on my wall.

Last night, he told me that his finishing job "might not be up to my standards." From the sound of things, he's right (thought I haven't seen the shelf in person yet). He ran out of spray primer and used a brush on the bottom side, and the edges of the shelf are nicked in a way that's very obvious.

I intend to refinish the board, but I'd rather not sand the whole thing down. I'll likely sand the brush strokes out wherever I see them and re-prime the shelf with spray-primer.

Is there a putty or some other filler that will work over the latex primer that's already in the nicks of the shelf and looks good under additional paint?

Thanks!