I’ve seen that’s it’s best to seal the wood first before pouring the colored epoxy in order to stop the bleeding of the color. It appears lots of folks will apply a thin coat of clear epoxy, let it dry until it tacky, then do the colored epoxy pour. I’m going to make a jewelry box that will have some fine details and won’t have very deep cuts (probably 0.09 inches) . I’m not sure if doing the two layers will work out. My question is would using a layer of shellac work? Not sure how epoxy would adhere to the shellac. Another option I guess would be to shellac the piece before cutting, then apply the epoxy to the uncoated cuts. Or do I just need a deeper cut to allow the clear coat and colored coat?
I have done quite a few Epoxy pours where I used shellac to seal the grain and have never had an issue. Most of my pours are at least .250" though, but I don’t think you will have any problems. Another way would be to use a thinner penetrating epoxy (MAS Penetrating Epoxy). I’ve used that in the past also and it works great.
Scott
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Shellac has worked great for me.
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Yep
Using shellac as well before epoxy. One to two coats
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Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses.
Sealing with shellac before the cut will probably not help. Once the cut is made the walls of the cut, no matter how deep, become end grain and end grain soaks up everything! I have done shellac, a brush coat of clear epoxy, and filled the entire design area with clear epoxy and then re cut the areas for colors. I think it really depends on the wood. On pine the shellac really didn’t help with the bleeding of black epoxy. The brush coat of clear works but you can kind of see the clear in the fine details as it fills and doesn’t allow the colored epoxy to get in the details. The best but most expensive and time consuming is to cut the outside of the design and fill with clear the re cut. I usually will offset the clear pour a few thousandths inside so when you go back re cut any colored parts it will cover the clear. Enough soaks in the end grain to stop the bleeding in my experience. Hope this helps.
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Depends on the wood maybe. I have used shellac with walnut and had success with fairly shallow fills.
Thanks for the reply @Dhuston99. I’ll go with the shellac after the cut. That definitely seems like the best option.
I use acid brushes in the shop to spread glue. I use those same brushes to get down into the carving. The shellac will help with air coming out of the wood but not stop it. Plus just mixing epoxy causes air bubbles.
Keep hitting your pour with a torch or heat gun until the epoxy starts to set up. I use MAS table top epoxy and every 5 min for the first half hour then 10 min intervals for next 30 minutes. If you are getting a lot of bubbles decrease interval.
When mixing the epoxy I point my heat gun down into mixing cup to clear some bubbles before pouring.
I have a Benzomatic propane torch but have trouble keeping it lit when pointing the nozzle down at project. I bought a DeWalt 20v battery heat gun. It is not DeWalt brand but uses their batteries which I have a lot of.
There is nothing worse than leaving a project overnight and come out in the morning and seeing a volcano like structure right in the middle of the epoxy. So stay diligent and when you think you are done go back a few more times.
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Thanks Guy, I’ve only done a couple of epoxy inlays and use a heat gun to get the bubbles out. Haven’t had a problem with that yet (knock on wood).
I like your suggestion of using the acid brushes. I saw your post in another thread about using those and plan on that method.
Shellac will work but even some simple water based poly like Varathane in the cavities and around them an inch or so will work. Then you can outline the area with hot glue to make sure you can overfill slightly for curing shrinkage. My $.02. YMMV
I tend to leave the piece in place overnight or as long as it takes to cure then remove slight passes till it’s flat. Then start with the Festool and Granat/Polishing pads/Compounds depending on clarity.
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I thought about polyurethane as well. But I’ve had really good success with shellac I hate to go away with it.
Ask far as a hot glue, the cuts are going to be very fine and most won’t have enough space to get the glue between them. So pouring and sanding afterwards is about my only option.
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I bought a fairly inexpensive kitchen torch to use for the bubbles instead of a heat gun. Works good as long as you don’t set it on fire 
I did a 3 color pour some time back and used black as my base and then cut pockets in that for the other 2 colors. In the end I had a very thin black outline with a couple of black details inside. It was really a waste of the black to fill the whole cavity. Trying to decide if there is a better approach now.
I am also cutting a test now to see if I can get away with black CA to add names for customization later. That way Incan cut and pour the epoxy on a bunch of coasters and add the names later without another pour /wait cycle. I fo not have a laser.
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