Thread: Red Gum Bar.

G'day Jamie, I have recently done a similar project with a good outcome, a few things I did were filling all the cracks prior to sanding with fiberglass resin, I added black ocre to the resin to give an ebony finish when sanded and it worked a treat, you may have to mask the edges of the cracks to stop the resin flowing out, over fill the cracks as shrinkage does occur, then belt sand and orbital up to 400# worked great for me, I have coated my bartop with Glasscoat and it looks the goods, use the polyurathane glasscoat sealer prior to the glasscoat as it will eliminate most airbubbles from the topcoat, a butane gas torch is required to get the last of the airbubbles from the glasscoat, I have included a pic of the end result

G'day dhubilant, thanks for your reply.
Your bar looks brilliant, I hope mine turns out something like that.
I Have a couple of questions for you mate.
Number 1, what exactly is black ocre? Is that a fiberglassing product or some kind of stain that you have mixed in? Number 2, what did you do with the sides of your bar, you will notice that in my picture some of the raw sides are still intact which means if I put resin etc in there I wont be able to sand it off. Maybe I should mask that too, but would that make it look silly with the black ocre coming out of the cracks on the main part of the bar and not the raw sides?
1 final question for you mate, did you glasscoat the under side of your bar?
Decisions decisions...

Looking forward to your reply.

Originally Posted by JME_D

G'day dhubilant, thanks for your reply.
Your bar looks brilliant, I hope mine turns out something like that.
I Have a couple of questions for you mate.
Number 1, what exactly is black ocre? Is that a fiberglassing product or some kind of stain that you have mixed in? Number 2, what did you do with the sides of your bar, you will notice that in my picture some of the raw sides are still intact which means if I put resin etc in there I wont be able to sand it off. Maybe I should mask that too, but would that make it look silly with the black ocre coming out of the cracks on the main part of the bar and not the raw sides?
1 final question for you mate, did you glasscoat the under side of your bar?
Decisions decisions...

Looking forward to your reply.

G;day Jamie, The Black ocre I refer to is a brand called Diggers oxide colouring (black) you can buy it from Bunnings or most hardwares, I used a fine mesh sieve to get the small lumpy bits from it prior to mixing it with the fibreglass resin, it is in powder form and you need to mix about 2 heaped tablespoons to a large plastic cup (500ml) of resin and stir in slowly while blending with a mixing stick (popsticks work well), you will have to mask every crack on the sides and from below, and where your cracks are seen from the top leave the masking tape sitting above the edge surface to stop the resin flooding over the side, I left the masking tape about 10mm higher than the top surface in these areas and 100mm each side to stop any resin flowing over the sides, you may have to fill the cracks more than once as the resin will find unseen areas to seep into and leave your cracks requiring a top up, you can do this the next day, (make sure your surface is as level as you can get it) fill only from the top.
I have given the sides of mine a light sand after the tape was removed without removing all of the natural colouring and features, and belt sand the top to 240# then orbital sanded to 400#, the masked areas on the side cracks look very natural once the tape is removed, just make sure you press the tape into the timber well on these areas.
I have sealed the whole of the bar (underside included) but only applied glasscoat to the top and sides, use the glasscoat polyurathane sealer, I applied the glasscoat to the sides with a brush then flooded the top and spread with a brush to cover every part, you will find the glasscoat will find its own level from here on and flow the excess over the sides, just have a brush ready to smooth out the drips on the underside (you can sand these smooth after it dries) you will have about 30min working time to clean up the drips and from then on just leave it and deal with the sanding later, while the glasscoat is finding its level you may have small bubbles appear in it, just have a butane torch at the ready to wave over these areas and the bubbles will disapear(pop) again you will have about 30min of working time to do this as well as addressing the drips on the under side, (the top is the most important so pay most attention here) I hope this all makes sense and helps your project
Cheers Glenn