Epoxy help

[Jeremy Nako]

I'm looking to dip my toe - figuratively speaking - in to decorative epoxy fills. Sort of an epoxy river, but on a small scale (cutting board).

I've watched plenty of Youtube videos, but most seem to be US based, and so are the epoxy brands and suppliers.

Can anyone suggest a brand / supplier and any good videos on the techniques ?

 

[powertools]

There is an English guy on youtube who has a youtube channel called manor wood and he does a lot of this type of work and explaines the process very well.

 

[Keith 66]

East coast fibreglass do epoxies, also Easy composites.

 

[Ollie78]

I would say " serving board" is a better description here. Epoxy is not ideal for actually cutting on.
There are many formulations of epoxy, you will want a thinner formulation and a slow curing type for what you are describing. This helps reduce overheating which can result in cracking and cloudiness and also allows bubbles to get to the surface before they become trapped.
The larger volume of resin the higher temperature is produced so be aware of this.
Epoxy is really expensive too.
Look into degassing the epoxy before pouring as well using a vacuum chamber.
Black forest wood co. On YouTube have lots of information about this. Also they have some crazy slabs.

Ollie

 

[julianf]

when you order, buy two types -

buy the slow setting one for the deeper work, remembering that it will creep through the smallest of gaps

...and then buy a quick setting one, that you wont be able to use for deep work, for shallow fill touch up work.

Maybe buy some of that cyanoacetate glue also, but ive never personally used that, so cant be sure if its any good - but plenty of youtubers seem to rate it. You can get it in dark also.

 

[foxbat]

From trying a few simple things in the summer the folks at - Easy Composites
were very helpful, videos on their site too (they have a specific learning page).
Manor wood is great with good principles, but these are big projects!

Main learning points for me was mixing ratios - weight was easier than volume
Taping the piece with the correct tape did make life easier, in terms of leaks and releasing after setting
Temperature in the room you are pooring even small quantities, if the tin says 60 degrees as a minimum (this includes the night time temps), then that's the minimum, it made the difference between a 3 weeks and 2 days to go off.
For just trying stuff I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of vacumn chambers, but a heat gun (I already had but is cheap to buy) helped hugely combined with tapping the work piece
Pouring is the first half, cutting back and polishing is definatly the other half
I wanted to fill a large knot (50mm depth and diameter) with brass powder epoxy mix, using powder and super glue to fill the little imperfections around the knot (shallow sections lifted out with sanding) then coming back fine sand paper.
Cheap polishing drill attachment provided a good final finish
Hope that helps

 

[julianf]

I must say i dont understand the obsession with bubble popping?

Most jobs are going through a thicknesser anyway, so what do some surface bubbles matter?

And a tip for resin -

Mix however long you think is required, and then mix the same amount of time again. And dont bodge the weights when measuring out.