Epoxy clear coat weight?

[numbskull]

Darters do better too light than too heavy.
Pine and the cedars are softwoods. Their pores are closed (or not continuous). They don't soak up much sealer because there is not a lot of path for it to travel through the wood.

Maples, Birch, Basswood are hardwoods. They have open pores/tubes that run the length of the tree (that's why they can tap maples for sap). They are capable of absorbing lots of sealer if it is thin like water. Maybe (probably?) epoxy is less of an issue because of its viscosity but I don't know.

When I build weight critical plugs I tend to use hardwood. I weigh it before sealer then check occasionally while in sealer. I pull it out when it is @.05-.1 oz above desired weight as it usually loses about that much weight during drying (keep in mind your clear coat will add some weight back). You need to be careful as the rate with which hardwoods gain weight in sealer does not (in my experience) seem constant. They tend to gain faster with time.

[Diggin Jiggin]

I didnt know that about the different woods, thanks for sharing that George.

Makes total sense with what I saw from the batch of plugs that were in the spar varnish. I had small maple needles and larger white pine needles soaking in that batch for almost 24 hours hoping to see some weight gain. The smaller maple needles on average picked up .2 oz, the larger pine only gained .05.

[Ryan560]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Darters do better too light than too heavy.
When I build weight critical plugs I tend to use hardwood. I weigh it before sealer then check occasionally while in sealer. I pull it out when it is @.05-.1 oz above desired weight as it usually loses about that much weight during drying (keep in mind your clear coat will add some weight back). You need to be careful as the rate with which hardwoods gain weight in sealer does not (in my experience) seem constant. They tend to gain faster with time.

That's good to know I have a little margin for error on the low end.
I remembered an old post of yours with the batch of darters on fire in the snow. Which is why I made sure to log weight before sealer and check periodically, Just yanked them too early.