West System Epoxy

[Scott Brandstetter]

I don't post a lot of threads on how to do this, or product reviews, but, what the heck......maybe another newbie would appreciate this thread.

I have been getting a lot of new business on dressers, night stands and occasional tables; everyone seems to want them in Walnut. As most of us do, I choose the wood for the top first, then the drawer fronts, and set it aside; it's easier to use the less than perfect wood for the legs and stringers (as my son and I call it). Not to long ago I read an article about West System Epoxy (think it was the wood wisperer) and filling flaws in wood....like knots, worm holes, slight splits, etc. I have to say that I consider this a major changer in my builds, my business.

This is a great product that I add sawdust to and create what would be a thrown out piece of wood to a great piece of wood, acceptable piece. The way I do it is to joint and then plane to approx 1/16 thicker than what I need the thickness to be. I then take the epoxy finish with the same sawdust from the piece I'm working on and fill any blemishes. The next day, once cured, I then run through the planer to the final finish. To me, this method allows me to use so much more wood than before, and minimizes the need to find each "perfect" board.

[Victor Robinson]

Thanks Scott! I've been waiting to jump in for a little while now. I started a thread a while back about epoxy that had a lot of great contributions/advice on how people use the stuff.

Can I ask which specific West System product(s) you're using?

[Jebediah Eckert]

+1 - what specific WS product did you use? I would like to do the same thing and I have researched it here a couple times to no avail. The threads tend to bounce around and get way too complicated for somebody who has never purchased it before, or at least too complicated for me. Walnut voids is exactly how I would use it, and if your happy with it that's good enough for me. Thanks for posting.

[Scott Brandstetter]

No problem guys. I use the 105 epoxy with the 206 slow hardener. The way it was described to me, and it seems to be true, is the slow hardener allows the epoxy to completely fill the void before setting up. Couple things to add, I also bought the dual pump dispensers (the listing says it's for a different type but it's for the 105/206 as well) so I didn't have to measure (worth every penny) and I also make sure and tape the bottom of the wood if I have a knot that appears to go all the way through the board.

Good luck and hope it works as well for you as it does me.
1 X Mini Pump Kit for 301 and 305 in Quart, Gallon, 5 Gallon sizes


by WEST SYSTEM

30 customer reviews

| 8 answered questions

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List Price:

$14.99

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[Art Mann]

System Three is another premium epoxy that is commonly available and works just as well.

[Stan Calow]

I always thought hardened epoxy would damage planer blades. Is it still soft enough to plane cleanly on your schedule? I use T-88 to fill knots all the time, but sand it down.

[Wade Lippman]

I always thought hardened epoxy would damage planer blades. Is it still soft enough to plane cleanly on your schedule? I use T-88 to fill knots all the time, but sand it down.

Damage might not be the right word, but any glue will wear planer blades. It will wear sandpaper also, but that's a bit cheaper to replace.

[Peter Quinn]

Epoxy planes and works fine with hss and hand tools. It's not IME significantly more damaging than the wood itself, knots are a fair bit more dangerous to contend with, don't mistake damage from epoxy filled knots to be the fault of the epoxy, it's usually the spectacularly hard knots going cross grain causing the problem.

I find when possible if you warm the resin to around 95-100 degrees the epoxy will flow out very easily for knot filling and have less tendency to create air bubbles. air bubbles form as entrained air in the mix heats and expands. Warming the resin makes the epoxy much thinner without making it weaker like solvent additives, and the epoxy cools S it cures rather than heats so air does not expand, no bubbles to get trapped in the mix......got that directly from the Gougeon brothers site.

ps.....directions are to warm resin, mix in hardener quickly and fill. Do not mix then warm, it will cure too fast That temp.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I intended to use West Systems, but my local woodcraft had the System 3 five minute epoxy, so I got that instead.

I used small batches to deal with compromised knots and some very interesting holes.

This five minute epoxy sets very fast, so, I used small batches and I worked quickly. The fact that it was fast meant that I was able to layer it very fast rather than waiting significant time between layers. One thing that I liked about the System 3 is that it is a 1-to-1 mix. The reason that I like a 1-to-1 mix is because (warning, opinion not thoroughly researched) that it will be slightly less fussy to the mixing ratio than if you have a 1-to-5 mix since the percentage difference will be smaller. Also, I took some cheap small plastic cups, poured the same amount in each, and them dumped them together.

After I filled the imperfections and strengthened the knots, I used a chisel for initial clean-up to make things mostly flush and then I sanded. Everything worked and looked great. Because I made an error, I ended up with one of my hand-cut dovetails going into one of those re-enforced knots (it was between two tails and not actually on a tail, but, I had to chisel through the middle of it through the base line. I had no troubles using a chisel or even my Knew concepts saw while cutting close to the base line. I was very happy with the results.

The primary items of interest:

1. Work fast, very fast. The five minute stuff set faster than I expected.
2. When that epoxy heats up, it is curing so once I felt a hot cup, I knew I was finished spreading.
3. Mix small batches since you can only spread so fast.
4. I did not tape off areas that I did not want epoxy; I probably should have. Luckily the excess came off well with a chisel and sand paper, but, I expect that some soaked into that porous Oak and I need to e careful with how I now finish the wood. I have not yet finished all of my pin boards since I had to redo them due to stupidity on my part (I did not square my pin boards before use..... dumb dumb dumb).

[Gregory Lyons]

Does anyone have experience with MAS epoxies? I've been reading a lot about strip kayaks, and Nick Schade over at Guillemot Kayaks seems to use and recommend the MAS products. I was wondering how they compare to West Systems and System 3.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I was lead to believe that for the most part, you use what you know and they are generally all good enough; made by a very few manufacturers, so they are probably made in the same place (different specs and such of course). See what they have to say here:

http://www.oneoceankayaks.com/Epoxresl.htm