Filling a V-carved design?

[srwtlc]

I have a design that I would like to v-carve into a tabletop and fill in with a colored filler. Has anyone done this? Is there a colored epoxy that would work for this that could be sanded flush and then sprayed over with conversion varnish? What about color bleed into wood grain? If sealed first with conversion varnish, will the epoxy adhere well?

Thanks
Scott

[rgbrown@itexas.net]

Scott,

I would proceed this way:

I would cut the design into the top ~0.10 to 0.20 deeper than I wanted as a final.

I would brush a coat of "clear" epoxy into the letters, let cure or partially cure, fill the letters with the colored epoxy and then surface, sand and finish.

If one picked the right epoxy, colored filler and top-coat it would be fairly straight forward. But, there can be problems with epoxy and certain finishes. And there can be problems with epoxy bonding to certain rare woods and even problems with epoxy bonding to itself. No one can do your homework on that part without all the information and even then, they can't make sure you measured all the components right and followed all the procedures.

Good luck,
Ron

[rookie432]

RON & SCOTT,

Check with your local corean or solid surface distributor. They supply liquid epoxies that match all the colors of their solid surface materials. These are acrylic based so sanding and polishing would be no problem and you can get some really neat stone like finishes. As for holding into the wood , cut your vee pattern then take a small drill bit and drill random holes into the vee cut. When you pour your liquid epoxy these holes will fill creating hold pins.

Bill

[waynelocke]

I think that Fine Woodworking magazine had an article about just this process some time in the last 15 years or so. You might check their index on their website. I think that one of the problems the article mentioned was air bubbles coming to the surface while curing. I don't remember the solution but there was one.
Wayne Locke

[kerrazy]

I know the air bubble problem only to well.....
You can remove them with a quick light pass with a propane torch.
The reason they occur is the epoxy when mixed causes a catalyst creating enough heat to cause a fire if mixed in large enough quantities. as it cures this heat cause would to expand allowing air to escape from the wood surface and getting trapped in the epoxy. by heating the sursace of the epoxy you reduce the surface tension and the air escapes.

use gentle sweeping strokes not holding the torch in one place to long as it ponly takes a bit of heat for this process to work.

Another method I have heard of is spraying a light mist of denatured alchahol on to the surface and this is suppose to perform the same trick.

If you seal the surface first with a laquer sealer than this can all be avoided.
Dale

[artisan]

You can also seal the surface with Minwax Polycrylic before you pour your epoxy and be aware that it's actually the carbon dioxide in the flame....Not the heat from the torch that causes the bubbles to break. Touching the surface with the flame can discolor your work, so move it quicly as Dale suggested. Breathing or blowing on the epoxy works just as well for small areas....D

[bjwat@comcast.net]

You can also spray silicone on your uncured resin to release the suface tension and watch the bubbles rise and crash to the top...I do this all the time with liquid plastics.

Something like 2300 spray from PolyTek works well.

-Brady

[artisan]

Brady, I don't know if you've ever tried silicone with epoxy before....but they are arch enemies in my experience. I've poured many a bartop that a client had sealed with silicone and had to either remove or coat the silicone with something else first. They react like oil and water and the epoxy will "run away" from the silicone. I'm not sure about the spray....I've never tried it, but a test would be in order I think....D

[jkforney]

Scott
Another way is the one we have used in my shop for the last 30 years. I use it mostly on shallow inlays upto 3/16 deep. I just use Famowood putty in a color that is one I want. You can also use stain or universal tinting colors to change the color to the one you want. We only use the putty when we are not staining since the putty will take the stain, though if it is enough of a different color it would add some contrast. If the v is very wide and shallow try taking a small drill bit and drilling into the v at an angle less that 90 degrees. This will give you some small mortises in which the putty can gain some purchase.

A color combo we often use is cherry wood with the natural famowood. We find that we usually put one heavy coat, then a lighter coat and then sand and put one finish coat. We also subject it to compressed air to knock any loose parts out on the second coat. The famowood we use is the solvent based and it works fine for us.

Brady
You use silicone around wood finishing? Don't you run the risk of contamination and fisheyes in you finishes?

John Forney

[bill.young]

Try pouring the epoxy later in the day when the temperature is falling and the wood is cooling... the epoxy will be drawn into the wood instead of bubbles being exhaled from the wood. It's an old varnishers trick that works well with epoxy coating too, especially with porous wood like mahogany.