Heating Up

[Jackbass]

If you really want to warm your sealing mixture do what they used to do in the lead paint days. Get a block of metal stick it in the oven for a while to warm it to 150-200 degrees and drop it into your sealing mixture. It will definitely increase the viscosity of the product. But if your are using an oil based sealer and want better penetration try penetrol. That stuff works great and you don't need to heat anything.

[ed morini]

Regular boatbuilding laminating epoxy is not thin enough to seal, it has enough viscosity to hold in the cloth and with brushing will wet out the glass cloth. When you seal wood, you are trying to get some protection as deep as you can.
Hardwoods are biologically constructed with pores(ring porous (oak), semi ring porous(ash) and diffuse porous(cherry)) which make them good candidates for most sealing applications, particularly in the area of the end grain, as the pores can conduct the sealer into the wood. Soft woods contain no pores and usually some type of protective resin. There can be some absorption into the end grain but the sealer has to fight the resins. Sealing on softwoods is usually a surface protective coating. In the case of using this sites favorite sealer 60/40 BLO and thinner, in my opinion, works on softwoods because the thinner in the mixture will cut the resin and the BLO will take its place, on hardwoods the thinned BLO is pulled along into the pores with the thinner (capillary attraction).
When you seal with epoxy, the epoxy is mixed at it regular ratio and then thinned (xylene), this effects the set up time of the mix and its strength, but allows via the thinner, its aborption into the wood through the pore in hardwood, and by reducing the resin in softwoods. Some softwoods don't need sealing (cedars, cypress), their resistance to the weather are well documented. Pine if kept out of the dirt is very durable. The oldest timber frame house in America, The Fairbanks Morse House, in Dedham still has it siding and frame. I don't know about the old plugs, there are builders here would have more knowledge than I have, but I would be willing guess the sealer they used, if they sealed them at all,along with the paints contained either a linseed base or an oil base as the vehicle in the paint. Back then the top coats more than likely contained lead. All in all apretty good protective coat. Sorry for the long post

[Eric Roach]

Anyone else try ESP 155? It's a Xylene-thinned, 2-part marine epoxy which dries quickly. I've only used it on cherry but it sealed it much better than BLO, Tung or Helmsman.

Mix the epoxy, microwave the plug for about 7 seconds, pour over the plug from cup to cup for about 5 minutes. Wipe excess, let dry about 8 hours. Repeat. After about 20 hours (total) it's ready for paint.

[ed morini]

I have seen it used and it works as described. I buy from Raka Marine, 100% solvent free resins and then cut with xylene, less cost and works the same.

[Eric Roach]

Originally Posted by ed morini

I have seen it used and it works as described. I buy from Raka Marine, 100% solvent free resins and then cut with xylene, less cost and works the same.

Good tip, thank you.

[adson]

I use the RAKA 350/127 no blush epoxy
not sure why you says it's not thin enough to seal, thats what it is designed to do. I heat the plugs in the oven first so that helps with absorption. when the plug is warm it drips all over the place and flows through the wire holes and drips out the other end like water.
( for those that aren't familiar with RAKA, they sell epoxy primarily for boat building)