epoxy filler color

[mccloud]

I suspect that I've done exactly what many others have done when scarfing a piece onto an outwale, or filling in a deep gouge to a deck: mix some epoxy resin, paint it onto the surface, mix fine wood dust (maybe sander dust) into the remaining epoxy and make it very thick, then spatula that onto the joint or into the hole. My observation is that no matter the color of the wood dust used, the cured epoxy always looks very dark, and visibly stands out in an undesirable way on a light wood. Is there a technique that will give both a strong glue joint and a light color? Tom McCloud

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

The problem is that wood dust of any sort is essentially all the color of end-grain when it comes to saturating it, and it will turn as dark as, or darker than the end grain of the board as soon as it meets the resin. You can try a lighter type of wood, but even those like maple or birch may be darker than what you need for some fills. That leaves the option of mixing-in something non-wood with the dust, like powdered colored chalk, talcum powder (makes your boat smell like a baby's butt ) white microspheres or whiteish fillers like WEST 404 High-Density filler powder and doing some small test batches to see what the various mixtures and combinations yield in terms of color. Keep track of the proportions and measure them carefully in order to be able to duplicate the results. When you get to the real boat, make sure to mix your resin and hardener and then put a light coat of just that on the wood first. As it's soaking in, mix in your pre-determined filler formula and then do your joint or fill.

 

[Charlie]

I've made several small repairs with epoxy that was tinted with home made wood flour. The trick is to make samples from various colors of wood and wet each sample with water to get an idea of the final color. My most successful repair was the rosewood tote on a #5 Stanley plane. It was broken in half and had been used with the broken handle so considerable wood had been lost. The wood I used was a fairly light colored redwood that darkened way down when mixed. The repair would be undetectable except I left a low spot on the seam.