Thread: Epoxy resin tables

Could the solution be more about controlling temperature.
I used to have problems spraying lacquer if the temperature of the wood and the mix were dissimilar, especially if you moved something from a cool place to a hot place to spray it - I would get bubbles as the warm wood outgassed. Unfortunately I don’t quite remember how it worked.

Hi Steve

You can buy epoxy timber sealer which has the viscosity of water but it’s pretty expensive. Most are for marine application to seal timber from water ingress. I have used it to seal fishing lures and works very well. Unfortunately no experience with epoxy tables.

Norseal Epoxy Wood Treatment

Good luck.

I can't stop bubbles rising out of the wood. Red gum is a horror show!. I have tried a 50/50 estapol/turps mix. Maybe an epoxy/acetone mix?

Why not just begin with a thin coating of epoxy, and let it cure 90% before adding the bulk of the epoxy filler? This will seal the wood and prevent off-gassing. The “new” epoxy should bind with the “old”.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Arron is on the right track. The technique is to have the temperature falling as the epoxy cures. This means that in summer it's best to wait until late afternoon to apply the coating. In winter you need to heat up the work shop and the work piece and then turn the heat off when about to apply the epoxy. It's a reasonably well known process in wooden boat building. I have built 3 fully glassed wooden kayaks with epoxy and only experienced the outgassing on the one occasion when I glassed in the morning while the day was warming up.

Have a look at this page for some more discussion on the topic:
Epoxy, Fiberglass Cloth and Transparent Lay-ups on Strippers

Look about 2/3 of the way down where it says "Room temperature is a very important consideration during the coating of bare wood."

Short answer is the timber isn't sealed on the grain and therefore the pores of the timber is allowing air to be released in the flood coating of resin.

Long answer is yes ambient temperature can play a huge factor in whether this happens badly or not so badly.

At the end of the day if the timber is sealed prior to the flood coat you minimise the potential of the air leeching out of the timber, to the point where if done well enough you will get no bubbles at all.

I have long wanted to do epoxy coating on a table but have been too shy because of the bubble thing. I did a coffee table once with 2 pak floor sealer epoxy but not real nice. Probably bad technique. I have a box of two part pour on gathering dust in the shed for years, not game to waste it.

I looked at the issue of bubbles and found a lot of data on it. There seems to be a lot of consensus on "flame brushing" the curing resin with good effect. Looking at videos I seems to work well but the is some disagreement on just why this works, Co2 - heat?

Have a look at this >

Bubble-Free Coating - Epoxyworks

Might help, be interested in anyone who has tried this method.

Originally Posted by duke12

I have long wanted to do epoxy coating on a table but have been too shy because of the bubble thing. I did a coffee table once with 2 pak floor sealer epoxy but not real nice. Probably bad technique. I have a box of two part pour on gathering dust in the shed for years, not game to waste it.

Don’t most epoxies have a fairly short shelf life?

Yes I thought that was the case too. I have had the box with two 500ml bottles for over 10 years, I thought it was gone.

But a few months ago I took a few mil of the stuff and done a test on a small bit of wood, it took a while to go off but the next day it was hard as a rock and very glossy.

Didn't get any bubbles to test the flame thing - too small a sample maybe?