Epoxy and planer blades

[Anthony Whitesell]

I'm making a workbench top. I am using 2x material as this is my first bench and not quite sure what I need. So I thought I would keep it simple and cheap. I stated with 2x8x12' cut in half, jointed, edged, ripped in half, planed, face glued (4 at a time), then re jointed, edged, and planed. So far it looks like it will be really nice. While I was in the glue step, I aligned the pieces with the fewest knots to be all on one side (the top). But there are still quite a few knots and most are cracked and leaving voids. My thought was to fill them either with wood filler first and then epoxy or perhaps just epoxy. THoughts?

After which I was thinking of running them back through the planer for a nice even surface before I glue the bundles together and make a massize 3x25x6' top and have no way to run them through the planer. How hard will the epoxy be on the planer blades? Honestly, I'm not too worried as the spruce stock had pretty much already destroyed them, but I'm more worried about the planer. Or should I run them through the drum sander?

[Frank Drew]

Anthony,

If I'm imagining your situation correctly, I think I'd probably true up and mount the top before applying epoxy to the knots and voids, then level the cured epoxy with a sharp paint scraper, like a 1- or 2-inch Red Devil.

[Mac McQuinn]

I've used a planer in the past to take down some epoxy laminated stems for a Canoe Yawl I was building. 7 layers of Ash with plenty of epoxy.....No problem and did not seem to adversely affect the planer blades. I think the trick is to do it after couple days of curing instead of 2-3 weeks when it will harden enough to really tax the planer blades. A little more give to "green" epoxy.
Good Luck,
Mac

[Jamie Buxton]

I wouldn't be too concerned about epoxy and planer blades. However, I would be concerned with those knots. Knots, or maybe the upset grain around the knots, tends to knick my planer blades.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

The glue will gum up your sanding belt.

Just cutious, why do you want to fill the voids? It's a workbench, it will get nicks and gouges and everything.....

[Anthony Whitesell]

The glue will gum up your sanding belt.

Just cutious, why do you want to fill the voids? It's a workbench, it will get nicks and gouges and everything.....

Two reasons. First, I'd like the top as smooth as possible when I start. I know it will get nicked, gouged, scraped, etc. but I'd like to start as solid and flat. Secondly, (and maybe the more important) some of the knots are there leaving large holes in the top. I will probably plug the larger ones, but the smaller ones I'd like to fill. At the same time I'd like to stabilize the cracked knots so they don't flake out later. I'm not going to go hog wild and coat the entire top in epoxy (though the thought has crossed my mind). I'm just going to fill in the knots and gaps.

[Peter Quinn]

HSS has no problem with epoxy IME. Knots are another issue altogether. The knots in construction grade fir or SYP are rather dense, and are basically like milling end grain, so that might be more of a problem. I like a belt sander for leveling epoxy personally, and I try not go glom it on too thick to make that task easier.