Clear Epoxy recommendations -- what's your preference?

[Rob Miller]

Rob, I have done dozens of spalt with the epoxy thing. Poly. resin (think fiberglass) works just as well if you dodge the colored stuff. In the above I mentioned soaking the Roughed our piece by removing everything you can safely can first. I assumed you would dry it out before doing anything to it. Rotten wood seldom cracks. Where the wood is the punkiest is where it will soak in very deeply--very little on solid wood. This is for the really pretty soft pieces--on slightly punky wood a quick soak in thinned lacquer or shellac will often do the job as well. The epoxy for an average piece may run 3$ and only takes overnite. Buy the stuff by the gallon--it will last for years without hardening. This is the same stuff used for stabilizing wood only there they force thick resins in that fill the pores. The thinned stuff will only harden in the cell cell walls and leave the pores empty which is why it looks like virgin wood and not a block of plastic. Both have their places in this crazy hobby. To hold soft wood CA the blank to a glueblock and use the tail stock. This method also makes soft palmwood turnable realizing there are many species and varying hardness in palms.

Thanks for your comments, Robert. So, from what I'm getting from you, the following procedure should work well:

1. Rough turn the punky green blank.
2. Boil the rough turned object.
3. Wrap in paper and allow to dry.
4. Soak the turning in clear epoxy thinned with acetone and allow to harden.
5. Finish the turning.

How much epoxy would you mix up for an average sized object? Also, what brand of epoxy do you like and where's the best place to obtain it?

[robert baccus]

I would skip step 2. Boiling is a pain and warping/splitting are not a problem with most spalted woods. Dryish is fine here and epoxy or poly resins are in marine stores, Lowees and on google., This is neither complicated or expensive.

[robert baccus]

ob, I would skip the boiling thing--it's complicating a simple thing. Drying is not critical--below 30%. Resins can be found at boat places, lowees and on google. A 6" bowl would probably require a 1/2 pint of thinned resin. This is not a complicated or expensive thing or I would not do it. Really hard to screwup.

[william biba]

Smiths Cold CPES Epoxy. I have used this to stabilize rotted wood on restoration projects and it works very well.

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Does the same hold true with boiling? Would you rough turn before boiling or would you want to boil the blank before starting turning?

Rob - you rough out your blank, then boil then allow to dry before finish turning. I've never heard that it bursts the cells releasing the water, but that it helps relieve internal stresses in the wood reducing the tendencies of some woods like madrone to warp and crack while drying. I use it whenever I've got madrone or fruitwoods to turn and whenever the wood is known to move significantly when drying roughouts. Works great, I don't have any numbers to support, but many blanks that would windup firewood are saved...

[robert baccus]

All right--this was done after my first vicoden.

[David Gilbert]

There is a problem with thinning your epoxy with acetone. It does thin it but it also generates a stronger yellow color. On walnut this wouldn't be a problem but on maple it would probably be objectionable. Also thinned epoxy isn't as strong as unthinned but for our application this probably isn't very important.

A way to help the epoxy fill the wood is to heat the wood up a bit before you coat it with epoxy. Heating the epoxy first will only speed the curing of the epoxy. If you go to the West epoxy website there are a couple of articles that talk about using epoxy to fill rotten wood. Here is a link: http://www.westsystem.com/ss/thinnin...-system-epoxy/

And a quote from their article: "With wood, the best method of thinning epoxy with heat is to warm the wood and have the resin and hardener at room temperature. Mix the components and apply the mixture to the warm wood surface. Remove the heat source just before the epoxy is applied. When the epoxy mixture comes in contact with the warm wood, it gets warm and its viscosity becomes lower. As the temperature of the wood falls, the thin epoxy is drawn in deeply before it begins to gel. By heating the substrate instead of the components, you get the best of both worlds—low viscosity epoxy on the work surface and longer working time in the mixing pot."

Cheers,
David

[robert baccus]

All good info.. I forgot to mention temperature--all these 2 part resins speed up curing greatly generating much heat. You see the circle. Usually a problem when dealing with larger volumes on fiberglas work. I have several cans full of clear hard stuff holding a paint brush handle permanently in the air. It's naver been a problem with small amounts especially thinned. Thinning gives you several hours to soak in--hence the plastic bag which prevents the solvents from leaving. This method soaks up in the cell walls and not in the pores making it look the same as the good wood. Looks like hell when unbagged but cuts and looks like the same wood. Sold one like this(an urn for several K 2 days ago) Forgot to mention it sands and finishes like real wood for lacquer finishes. No sanding gummies or discoloration.

[Rob Miller]

All good info.. I forgot to mention temperature--all these 2 part resins speed up curing greatly generating much heat. You see the circle. Usually a problem when dealing with larger volumes on fiberglas work. I have several cans full of clear hard stuff holding a paint brush handle permanently in the air. It's naver been a problem with small amounts especially thinned. Thinning gives you several hours to soak in--hence the plastic bag which prevents the solvents from leaving. This method soaks up in the cell walls and not in the pores making it look the same as the good wood. Looks like hell when unbagged but cuts and looks like the same wood. Sold one like this(an urn for several K 2 days ago) Forgot to mention it sands and finishes like real wood for lacquer finishes. No sanding gummies or discoloration.

So, the bag doesn't stick to the resin?

[robert baccus]

Roger that--Vinyl bags only.