The results are in from my first experience with epoxy pouring in the realm of woodworking. See Part 1 HERE / See Part 2 HERE
Overall this was a fun project. I had some missteps along the way, learned a bunch and was thankful to practice on small pieces that were not a custom client order.
The cherry & walnut blue epoxy piece had some issues that I’ll touch upon briefly here and will do another post on soon. 
There are a few things that could have happened…
- Perhaps it really was too deep of a pour and that small section of the epoxy just couldn’t fully cure to specification.
- It may have also been too short of a final curve time (5 days vs 7)
- I also may have overheated it on the jointer somehow, compromising the epoxy
What’s great about running into issues on this project was having it be so low pressure. I got a sense of how epoxy pours, it’s cure time, ability to be shaped and just how fiercely it bonded to the wood!
The oak & copper piece turned out well I think. No epoxy issues, it took to routing/jointing well and finished up I think pretty nicely.
Here are my key takeaways from this experiment:
- Epoxy is a GREAT way to save pieces of wood that might otherwise be deemed “useless”
- You can be super creative with shapes, designs, colors etc.
- Ensure the epoxy has plenty of curing time AND final hardening time
- Don’t pour too deep unless the epoxy is specifically formulated for a deep pour
- Utilize less pigment based on the project size (I went too dense on the color with these)
- Sand to a higher grit. I think the epoxy could have popped more if I went to a 240+ grit
While I don’t think epoxy is the “end-all-be-all” of modern times and woodworking (as some social media channels might make it appear to be), I do think it’s an awesome way to add artistic aspects to a project or custom piece. I also really like that it can be blended and customized to use wood that might otherwise be considered useless or worthless for a certain type of project.
Would I take on a larger perhaps client commissioned epoxy project in the future? Certainly.
What are your thoughts on epoxy woodworking projects?