When I built my concrete back bar in my basement a few years ago I bought some resin by SystemThree that was sold at the local Woodcraft to pour over the top. I feel like i paid waaayy to much for it at over $100 for the kit.
Now that I have the CNC to do signs and other wood projects, looking to play around with this some more. Does anyone have suggestions on a good all purpose epoxy resin that won’t break the bank? If Amazon sells it, that would be even easier!!
I’ve used total boat with pretty good results in the past. I usually order from them direct, but they do have a presence on amazon.
System3 is a popular system, and depending on the quantity you purchased, $100 is not particularly expensive. I believe the retail on a West System 1 gal kit, using #207 clear would be something like $200.
TotalBoat seems popular, but I haven’t encountered any other local professionals using it. Like most Epoxy’s, its made by one of a few manufactures and blended to spec. So its probably just as good as anything else.
I use West System, but my cost is substantially different than a retail customer. I wouldn’t hesitate to shop other products if such wasn’t the case. They do make a fine product and the company provides lots of interesting information, data and support, which I appreciate.
few basic considerations
on 3), bigger bottles give you cheaper per gallon costs, but they’re harder to handle and if you do small projects, you end up wasting more than if you were using small bottles…
I use MAS non-blushing epoxy because I have bottles of it leftover from making kayaks. Chesapeake Light Craft uses MAS epoxy for their kayak kits. This epoxy is formulated to make fiberglass work easier and doesn’t have amine blush so you don’t need to wash it between coats. There are three different hardeners depending on how much working time you need or what temperature your shop is. It works well for general epoxy work and I have used it for epoxy inlays with decent results. It is a penetrating epoxy that soaks into the wood easily so sealing the wood first when coloring is very important.
It’s not cheap in small quantities ($64 for a quart of resin and a pint of hardener from CLC). You can get calibrated hand pumps for the bottles that make measuring easy. One or two pumps is generally all you need for a small inlay, really cuts down on waste.
MAS epoxy is not food safe, probably none of the marine epoxies are. If you need food safe epoxy the two most popular are Art Resin and Max CLR.
MAS epoxy needs to be protected from UV with either paint or varnish (most epoxies have this requirement). I use interlux Schooner marine varnish, which I definitely wouldn’t want near food. That varnish out gasses for a long time and smells awful, but after 5 coats it looks nice and holds up well outside:
So im a bit desperate to finish a sign i’m working on (full story here)
My intent was to do a shallow flood of resin around the name section, primarily driven by the fact something got messed up and the bit ran deep just below the W and around part of the first Y next to that W. Since i’m not confident about using the resin for the first time on a sign that’s almost done and needs to ship by Monday, i’m thinking i just use the resin to fill the deep cut from the bit. Thinking this might be easier to fill and get level vs trying to fill it with filler/bondo and then sanding and such.
So what resin can i find at Home Depot or Hobby Lobby that would work well? I’ll also need some tints that will work as i need to make a teal color.
No idea what they sell at Home Depot, or hobby lobby. Any typical marine supply store, like west marine will sell a epoxy system, with a clear hardener option. As far as tints, you can use pretty much anything. Laundry dyes, powders, specific tints(you can buy these at marine store too), Permanent marker ect ect.
Is clear coating or sealing the wood before using epoxy just to keep it from soaking/wicking places you don’t want it?
It can be for a variety of reasons. When working with wood, and no composite, the primary reason is to seal the surface of the wood to prevent as much off gassing from the wood as possible. As the chemical reaction takes place, heat is exchanged, and gasses escape the wood introducing bubbles into your finish.
If you’re creating a composite layup, you’d prime the surface with resin. Help prevent the surface from withdrawing resin from your layup.
I’ve heard real good things about the stuff this guy sells. He makes a lot of cypress clocks and table tops and the like, and the finished projects look good. Price is a lot more reasonable than System 3. I’ve not used it myself, but he is local to my area and lots of people say many good things.
You can avoid the bubbles from outgassing by applying the epoxy when the wood/shop is warm, and have it dropping in temperature as the epoxy cures. Instead of out gassing it the the wood sucks in the epoxy and gives you a better seal. But when working with colored epoxy you don’t want it to be sucked in because it will make the the color bleed even worse then normal. Seal first with clear epoxy or some other sealer if working with tinted epoxy. The epoxy will also make some stains bleed even if they have dried (at least with the Behlen Solar-Lux alcohol based stains I typically use).
Depending on the geometry of the hole and the consistency of the epoxy, you might lose so much to seepage into the wood that what was a level pur ends up being a crater.
If you are trying to fill a hole you can mix the epoxy with sanding dust (aka wood flour) and get a thicker consistency (“dookie schmutz” is what master boatbuilder Nick Schade calls it). It will mostly match the wood color if you use sanding dust from your piece of wood. It will be darker because of the epoxy, but if you are epoxy sealer the rest of the piece it would match reasonably well. It also holds dye nicely without the transparent look of straight epoxy. The drawback is the finish is rough and needs to be sanded. That can be avoided if you lightly brush on clear epoxy to the surface before it cures. The clear epoxy smooths it out and makes any needed sanding much easier.
For smaller projects I actually enjoy Famowood Glaze Coat.
It works well with colorings for fills, as well as a finish coat.
Pretty inexpensive at the lowes store, but not super great if left outside (UV breakdown)
The stuff Hobby Lobby sells is made by Alumilite…note the cheapest stuff around but it’s an option locally if you have a Hobby Lobby.
If you live in CA, OR or WA, you can check out Tap Plastics. They have a LOT of epoxies, polyurethanes and other resins available. They are expensive, but I have not seen any of the two part resins that are not what I would consider expensive, unfortunately.
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