Woodworking and Epoxy Resin
1. Protecting Natural Woods for Art Pieces and Table Tops
Wood is a very porous material, which is a good thing. These itty bitty holes let epoxy stick to the wood better. Magic Resin epoxy is often used to coat natural dried wood for an art piece or top of a table.
In order to avoid trapped air bubbles, make sure your wood is fairly warm. If you have recently harvested the wood outside in a cold environment, give it time to warm up in your home or shop.
2. Preserving Art Pieces on Wood
When preserving a new art piece on a piece of wood, such as a painting, epoxy resin can be an excellent way to keep the imagery safe and clear. In fact, epoxy resin is often the first choice of artists when preserving their mixed media pieces, paintings, and installation pieces.
When using resin to preserve artwork, keep in mind that it does not stick to Teflon, polyethylene, polypropylene or nylon.
3. Coat Stained Woods
In many cases, one can easily apply epoxy resin over stained wood. Because dyes can have a very wide range of compositions and ingredients, though, one can never be completely sure if a resin will properly adhere or react correctly to a dyed wood. The best way to make sure resin will work with your dyed wood project is to test it.
Don’t start right into coating your dyed wood project with epoxy resin. First, use a piece of wooden material and dye it with the same dye and test a layer of epoxy resin on it. If the epoxy cures well and looks good, you’re in the clear to coating your stained wood project. Always test, never guess.
Many different types of stains, dyes, and pigments have been used for wood projects. We recommend the use of water based stains. After your project has been properly coated with epoxy and cured, keep in mind that you cannot stain the surface.