Heating Up

[ed morini]

The 127 resin and any of the other hardeners offered by Raka are great products and I have been using them for quite awhile. The viscosity of those resins are formulated for laminating and or bonding. The sealing of stock in the plug building case does not involve the added cloth. I don't think I said the resin wasn't thin enough for sealing, I meant that in the plug building case the resin cut with xylene will act the same way as the BLO and thinner mixture that started this whole thread. The priming of both surfaces with unthickened epoxy is a widely used and trusted method when bonding. Sealing is perhaps the wrong for prepping plugs.
This I do know, when not using a layer of fiber in the project or using epoxy as a fillet, I prime my surfaces with xylene thinned epoxy. I have used this on boat interiors, framing members, and as a prep on woods to finished to be finished bright. the trim on my home was trated this in 1974 and has only been painted once during that time. Epoxy cannot last as a top coat as it is not UV resistant. I have tried all kinds of additives and have not been satified with the results. Varnish oil based, waterwhite waterbased, and the oil modified urethanes are much more resistant. Hood finishes makes an above the waterline varnish that is very good.

[adson]

Ed, thanks for the info and reply...I wasn't questioning the exterior stability of the epoxy, i was just surprised to hear of someone using a thinner to help epoxy penetrate when sealing wood. in all my years reading about boat building projects using epoxy I have never heard of anyone using that stuff to help penetrate. I'm sure it works well for you. I just have never heard of it. considering how flammable it is ( and that most guys are building plugs inside ) I will continue to seal with pure epoxy.

[ed morini]

CPES Warm Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer MultiWoodPrime and Rot Repair - System Three Resins, Inc. These are just two of the many

Check out the above links CPES has been around awhile as well as some others, If I remember correctly System 3 bought out the line of T-88 epoxies just for their sealers.

Jamestown's CPES sells for $179/gal, mixed Raka at $100/gal, then cut, would $25/gallon, and does the same thing. As far as safety goes, one should always know the parameters of materials being used. Xylene, BLO&thinnner, lacquer thinnner, AND epoxy with solvents same (that why I use Raka.. no solvents) BOOM. THe thinned epoxy doesn't need to be heated to work. It IS as dangerous as heating any solvent or petroleum or resin based (turpentine).