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Now that the putty has dried, sand the putty and the rest of the plug, test fit all the parts, now is the time to do it, saves alot of fighting latter on....
Time to seal, these are the only plugs I epoxy seal, IMHO, it just isnt worth the time it takes or the mess it creates, I can turn a half dozen in the time it takes to epoxy seal, my original fear was the sealer absorbion rates of the two woods when using BLO, I made a bunch of test subjects for this season sealed with BLO, I'll know by October if it is reasable..
Most guys I know that epoxy seal use their wives oven( obviously when she's not home) and preheat to 250 and heat the plugs for about 20 minutes, it is my understanding that toaster ovens dont get it done.... however, I have my own heat sorce.... yup, the GRILL.. it's still fairly clean from the fall cleaning so it doesnt take much to bake off the residue, I wrap the plug in foil and place them on the warming rack for 15 minutes, while I'm preparing the grill, I have the epoxy sitting next top the light bulbs in my spinner, soaking the bottles in warm water accomplishes the same thing, warm epoxy is a hell of alot eaiser to pour and mix correctly... I use a plastic teaspoon and a plastic mixer that came in a west system package,it is the perfect tool for scraping the spoon and mixing the epoxy..
Mixing epoxy: I use Envirotex lite, once I masterd it, I love it, I havent had an issue in years... here are the steps I folow, this also applies to the finish coat, not just when I am sealing plugs...
1) Warm your epoxy..2)lay out your utensils ...3) keep paper towels handy... 4) measure carefully,if you use a spoon scrape the soon completly between pours... 5) always pour the hardener FIRST, a little extra hardener will not make the epoxy cure any faster ( unlike polyester resin) but it will not make the epoxy stickey and not cure... ...6) always add the resin to the hardener, scrape thouroghly betwwen pours.... 7) mix completly, at first the mixtire will become cloudy, keep mixing, be sure to scrape the sides as you mix, after a minute or so of mixing the misture will become clear and v=begin gassing freely... your ready to go...
got retrieve your plugs from the grill (or oven) I keep a heat gun handy, I'll ezplain in the next frame....
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