punky wood and low viscosity epoxy!

[Sod saw]

That counter/bar top look great.  A lot of love and hard work shows. Dealing with punky wood takes patience and time.

Having read this post from front to end, and repairing old wooden boats with various epoxy brand products, I have heard that some acetone as purchased in the stores can be recycled acetone.  Recycled may be ok to wipe your tools with but since it is not pure virgin acetone, it may have some left over contaminates remaining in the can of acetone.  

When mixing recycled acetone with epoxy, sometimes those left over chemicals can cause the epoxy to misbehave and not set properly, or off color.

Being a conservative old goat and I'd rather not have to redo a project, I have always preferred to thin epoxy with Lacquer Thinner and have not experienced any problems (unless I space out and mix the ratios wrong. . .  who me?)

All of the folks posting here have valid experiences and I especially enjoyed the music video from 1964.

[doc henderson]

welcome to the forum @Sod saw 

[Sod saw]

What a nice friendly place you all have here.

Thanks for the welcome. Having quietly read for many months, I felt that I may have something to contribute on occasion, therefore my joining, however, my daughter is swifter on computers than I am.  

[doc henderson]

Update.  several of us and prob. many had noticed that the WOC @tule peak timber has been absent for a while.  He was a large component of my education for this project.  I called his number the other day, and spoke first to his wife, and then him.  He sounds great.  very busy with projects and granddaughter.  I just got a note from @Nebraska asking about him today.  so thought I would let you all know, that he and his are doing well.  Hopefully he will have time soon to update us all, and get back to sharing all he knows and experience he has.  may God bless the WOC and us all!  

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks Doc, yes I had noticed his absence and am most glad to hear all is OK with him and his'n.
 Sometimes I am just afraid to ask, y'know? All is well!

[alan gage]

Update.  several of us and prob. many had noticed that the WOC @tule peak timber has been absent for a while.  He was a large component of my education for this project.  I called his number the other day, and spoke first to his wife, and then him.  He sounds great.  very busy with projects and granddaughter.  I just got a note from @Nebraska asking about him today.  so thought I would let you all know, that he and his are doing well.  Hopefully he will have time soon to update us all, and get back to sharing all he knows and experience he has.  may God bless the WOC and us all!  

That's great to hear. I've been wondering too.
Alan

[samandothers]

He has been missed but is a busy guy with all his projects I am sure.   He should take care of family and business first. It is incredible the amount of knowledge/ info he shares. 

[Larry]

I'm making stool seats out of sweet gum crotch wood.  I have several very small cracks.  Typical of what shows up in crotch wood.



I have some TotalBoat penetrating epoxy.  Can I use it straight to fill such small cracks?  If I need to cut it with acetone how much?  Any technique to force it into the crack?

[Ianab]

My  experience with cracks like that (and filling nails holes / cracks in reclaimed wood) is that the epoxy will find it's way into any crack, and right through the board if you aren't careful. 

What I do is mix up a small batch, then trickle a small "bead" along the crack fully covering it, and carry on and do the same with all the pieces. Then go back over the first pour and you will see which holes it's draining into. Top those ones up. Once you have either filled the holes or your epoxy has run out / started to set, put the pieces away till tomorrow. 

Once cured you can sand off the epoxy that's above the surface and see if there are any holes remaining. There almost certainly will be, so mix up a little more and repeat. Eventually you end up with all the holes full of epoxy, and the surface sanded nice and smooth. 

[doc henderson]

the low viscosity is like water so it should go in.  does the crack go all the way through.  if the other side does not matter as much, you can add saw dust to make a paste to block the exit on the backside.