Thread: I hate burl....

I've been working on this project for Travis. It's supposed to be nickle scales with a maple burl inlay. Since the metal is fairly thin, I've been trying to use burl vanier. I have learned a couple of things with this project. First, burl vanier will crack, chip, split, and basically fall apart at a sneeze. Second, getting all the bubbles out of the exopy as it's setting up is a *lot* harder than it seems. However, after going through three sets of scales I think I'm on the right track again.
I've got the metal scales finished and ready to do the burl inlay. you can see in the pic the thickness of the burl I'm trying to work with.
wish me luck!

Sounds like a labour of love John
I suppose you are flattening out the epoxy on the mixing surface to help get rid of the bubbles ?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Sounds like a labour of love John
I suppose you are flattening out the epoxy on the mixing surface to help get rid of the bubbles ?

The first couple of times, I've used a very slow setting epoxy. There were no bubbles in it when I set it down, but a couple of hours later, there they were. The best I could figure out was that the epoxy was settleing into the wood and displacing small traces of air, and the air was staying in the mix instead of comming all the way to the surface. I think that I'll try using a much thinner layer of epoxy, and doing several layers to build up to what I'm wanting. Hopefully that way it'll quicken the curing time as well as avoiding the bubble issue. We'll see...

Maybe try sealing the wood with Shellac first to prevent the epoxy doing the grain filling ?

I,m sure it's gonna look awesome when done.Best of luck and hang in there eh!

Originally Posted by shutterbug

The first couple of times, I've used a very slow setting epoxy. There were no bubbles in it when I set it down, but a couple of hours later, there they were. The best I could figure out was that the epoxy was settleing into the wood and displacing small traces of air, and the air was staying in the mix instead of comming all the way to the surface. I think that I'll try using a much thinner layer of epoxy, and doing several layers to build up to what I'm wanting. Hopefully that way it'll quicken the curing time as well as avoiding the bubble issue. We'll see...

You may want to use a casting trick and set them in a vacuum to outgas.

a plastic bag and a vaccum pump would go a long way to getting rid of the air bubbles. We do this in blade repair for helicopters to get rid of the air bubbles. lay a small diameter cord in there and it will help wic out the air. maybe a food storage vaccumm system would work. wood veniers on furniture were originally laid in this way.
Mike

Hang in there John. It will look great once you're done. Post pics once you're done.

I know that on a few of my epoxy projects bubbles were almost unavoidable.. but I didn't ever feel like they posed a huge problem either.

First, when I was taught how to use epoxy for a clear glass finish we used a small torch (like a plumber would use for brazing pipe) to lightly kiss the surface after applying the epoxy. This drew out a ton of the bubbles.

Then whatever bubbles that were left were easily sanded back after it dried (not into the wood, just until the deepest ones are popped) and then another pour would leave a perfect surface.

Just a few thoughts, I'm sure you'll end up with some great looking scales however you do it though. Good luck!

I agree with the others that vacuum degassing is the best. But, I have had pretty good luck getting air bubbles out of freshly poured epoxy coatings by quickly playing a propane torch flame over the wet epoxy. It does a good job of popping the bubbles if the epoxy is not too set up yet.


Those scales will look great when you get them done.

Charlie