I am planning to make some small plaques for Christmas. One example below. Considering adding color to the vcarv. Will probably use cherry wood. Colored epoxy being one option. Ideas welcomed.
If you do choose epoxy, I would use color powders rather than liquid pigments. The epoxy will soak in along the grain, and you’ll have better luck not bringing the color along using powders.
To add to @mhotchin said about epoxy is to seal the wood with Zinnser Universal Sanding Sealer (dewaxed shellac). The dewaxed shellac is compatible with water or oil based top coats. It helps seal up the grain so colorants do not get as easily adsorbed into the end grain. In the grooves around the snowman the grain is exposed and it tends to soak up colorants more than the flat grain. Polycrylic water based sealer also works but tends to raise the grain but must be used under water based polycrylic.
If you pour epoxy overfill. The epoxy will settle but you want a slight overfill. You would also need to use a heat gun or torch to get the air bubbles in the epoxy to come to the top. If you have a pressure pot that also forces the air bubbles to the surface as well as vacuum chambers. A torch and/or heat gun works well and you would likely already have one or can buy one of those a lot cheaper than vacuum/pressure pots. The simple act of mixing your epoxy introduces air bubbles that must be removed. Plus some air will come up out of the wood itself once the epoxy is poured. I use MAS table top epoxy because it dries overnight. There are other brands of table top but make sure you read the directions because table top epoxy has a maximum depth for it to cure properly. The slow to cure epoxy can be poured deeper but takes up to a week to cure.
I have a Jet drum sander I remove epoxy overfill with but a random orbit sander can do the job. You start with 60 and leave a little before moving up to 80/120. You can remove way too much with 60 so be careful and stop before you completely remove the over fill and let the higher grits remove the rest.
Another alternative is to seal the project and then paint. You overfill with paint, let it dry and then sand off the excess.
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I have had excellent success planing epoxy. Is there a reason you wouldn’t do that?
I have a DeWalt 735 planner. Several times I have had the planner pull out epoxy. Thats why I use my drum sander. The planner is quite violent compared to the drum sander. Not everyone has a drum sander. Since I do I prefer it over planners which has wrecked a couple of projects.
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yes, I plan to use the drum sander. I have used epoxy before with good success…definitely use a good sanding sealer before applying the epoxy. Just checking on any other alternatives. Go with what you know!!
Great information about epoxy. Interesting too. On the few projects I’ve done, which were usually larger areas not fine like lettering, I haven’t had that experience.