Resin in-fill on wood - using grain-fillers

[Wal]

Hi all.

I recently got given a load of hardwood off-cuts by my cousin - shelving, kitchen worktops etc. Always useful material to have around. Anyway, his wife requested a plinth for a handled glass dome they've got - haven't a clue what for, maybe some sort of decorative candle stand or something? I used a piece of the worktop he'd given me and came up with the following:





The typography isn't mine - it's from an original piece by a designer called Marko Purac, who has kindly granted me permission to post pics of my work which feature his design - you can see more of his work here: www.flickr.com/photos/sepra4life

By and large I'm happy with the result but one thing I noticed was how the resin penetrated into the more open-grained pieces of wood, leading to a few dark patches.



Perhaps I didn't help, as I flashed the resin for air-bubbles multiple times maybe encouraging penetration by doing so. Anyway - using a grain filler on the surface wouldn't have helped very much, as the resin would have been poured into the pockets which would have been machined post treatment.

So how would you seal off those open-grained areas? I'm aware of wood stabilisers etc. but in reality the DIY results I've seen for larger pieces of wood have been pretty hit and miss - in many cases not worth the effort/expense.!

My initial thoughts turned to painting super-glue into the pockets and their surrounding areas and then letting it dry out over a couple of days, thereby (in theory) creating an impenetrable barrier. Worth a try? Any other suggestions?

Wal.

[the great waldo]

Hi Wal
Thin super glue would probably do the trick. You have to watch out a bit with what resin you use. Epoxy should be fine but polyester sometimes reacts with super glue. Check it on a small test piece. In all honesty brushing some thinned cellulose laquer/shellac or the laquer you are going to use (if your'e going to finish it) would probably do trick and stop the bleed. That piece of wood you used looks very porous ! Give the whole piece a wipe over with laquer/sealer before going on with the resin. If your using deep grain wood and you want to keep the deep grain effect you'll have to go over it with thick cellulose and wash it off afterwards with Aceton (a bit messy and plenty of kitchen rolls and do it outside.) If the inlay is deep enough and the wood thick enough just fill/seal the inlay sides with sealer and mill of the top 1-1.5 mm surface of the piece after the resin. The wood pores/grain shouldn't be much deeper than that. The end grain is what really soaks the colour up. Basically the idea is to fill the end grain with anything clear to stop the colour getting in. Sorry if this is a bit long winded. By the way are those machining lines in the close up, they make it look like carbon fiber in the photo, nice effect!
Cheers

Andrew

[Wal]

>By the way are those machining lines in the close up, they make it look like carbon fiber in the photo, nice effect!

It's a cool effect, but I can't replicate it with any consistency. It's more than likely a side-effect of my spindle being out of tram..!

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

[Ger21]

So how would you seal off those open-grained areas?

Carve.
Seal carving and surrounding areas with clear epoxy.
When cured, run the carving program again.
Fill.

[Wal]

Just adding to this thread as I've recently made another one of these cake plinths and have the pics to hand. Used an old oak table top that was being thrown out by a cafe. Process has been updated a bit too - I tried sealing the grain with shellac after the first carve, not as effective as I thought it would be and there was a fair bit of resin that penetrated into the wood. Had a think and decided to extend the white resin all the way across the top, hiding the leaks (it's also probably a better idea to do it that way, this being a cake stand...) Second attempt at sealing the grain was with OSMO Raw - worked a treat.

Stages here are: carve wood, seal it, pour black resin, carve black resin, pour white resin, skim off excess, sand top to smooth satin, sand wood through grades and finish with thin coat of OSMO Raw and Beeswax.

Time consuming, expensive. The bloody cake better be tasty.

[JAZZCNC]

Top notch work as usual Wal..

[MartinS]

Brilliant Wal

[Mickey_Smith]

That excellent. I am just obsessed with your videos. :)

[cropwell]

I tried some resin fill and eventually (after several attempts that failed 'orribly), I carved out the design then covered with clear resin, then recarved, sprayed with matt black, sanded back to sharp edges and refilled with clear resin (I was experimenting with the look). It turned out looking OK but the polyester resin did not cure properly, it felt sticky, so after a couple of weeks it went in the bin. Maybe epoxy resin would have been better.

As ever, I am impressed with your work, shame about the spelling mistake.


Cheers,

Rob

[cropwell]

Only Joking Wal, bet I made you look for the spelling mistake though.

I researched seal carvings, this is the best I could come up with