pmandra1

I am attempting to turn a piece of reclaimed white oak into a tabletop. The slab is about 2 inches thick and I have 2 cracks running through a small portion of it that I wouldl ike to clear epoxy. At its widest, one crack is about a half inch wide. At one portion, you can see all the way through part of the crack - otherwise it is staggered.

I have been told that West and System 3 are the best, but am a little confused by the number of choices they have and what would be best with my project (so if you could tell me what you work with, that would be very helpful!) I have not found other clear epoxys available locally - most have a tint.

Do you need to apply with a syringe? Do you add a filler (and if so, does the filler maintain the clear color?) What I read makes me think that the epoxy is very drippy if you do not use a filler, so maybe you just wait for it to set up a little before applying?

Sorry for all the questions - any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Julian the woodnut

I don't use west system as they are expensive. I use Non Blushing Cycloaliphatic epoxy from jgreer.com. It is cheaper and works great. The reason for using non blushing epoxy is that it can be directly coated over without need for sanding off the top layer since it doesn't blush like west systems epoxy does.

I would tape off the bottom of the crack then pour the epoxy in the cracks. If you want it to be clear then don't add a filler. If you want to match the color of the wood then you can use fine sawdust to help match the color.

Wood4Fun

yeah, I steered away from West due to the price as well. I've been using T88 from System Three. I've not had any blushing issues.

It is very thick, but will still ooze through before it sets. I tape off the bottom if it is a crack that goes all the way through.

I typically use on knots and they normally just go to black. If it was a large crack, I suspect the light would go all the way through and be more clear.
I made a pretty big error once with a forstner bit hole location. I filled the hole (not a through hole) with epoxy and wood flour from the project and I was not happy with how it looked at all. Fortunately it was on the underside of the project.
If I were to do it again, and the crack went through, I'd look for some pigment option to make it go to black. India dye or something like that.