Mahogany question.

[JCooke]

Is there anything that you can use to help seal mahogany under the epoxy finish? I think I heard someone say linseed oil...but will that effect the epoxy bonding to the wood. I use West Systems epoxies. I want to keep water from getting to far into the wood from scrapes and banging around before I can seal them back up.

thanks
Jason

 

[blaiz]

You have to be careful. In order to get a good bond with the epoxy to wood it needs to be free and clear of all oils and oil based finishes. Your just going to need to take care of your gun and keep an eye on the finish. Touch up any scratches or nicks you get. Before you finish your gun rub it down with acetone prior to putting on the epoxy. This will clean any natural oils from the wood and leave a better surface for the epoxy to bond to. Use several coats to ensure a bulletproof finish.

 

[Mr. X]

Re. oils. Linseed oil -- which is Omega-3 rich flaxseed oil -- is/was popular in the UK. Used for lots of things from oiling cricket bats to making putty. It goes cloudy; if you buy it to eat it comes in black bottles that you need to store in the fridge. Perhaps that reaction is beneficial once it's absorbed into the wood? Prob. mainly used for "uneco"-fuel these days . Seemed like teak oil / tung bean oil was more common in the USA. I've been using teak oil on my garden furniture the last few years -- just seems to soak in, hope its doing some good.

I had a house built in the USA & all the railings were treated with a product called, I think, Danish oil. I had to go to a special woodworking store to find it. I saw a van last week from a "French polishing" company - I used to have a PE teacher than had the notion that French polishing (for ships/boats) was the road to riches, so it made me laugh. I did wonder if it might be useful for spearguns. I don't recall much about the process (I used it on a toy car I'd made in class) other than it involved a lot of work and some sort of oily goop but there is more info. here: [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_polish[/ame]

 

[cantankerous82]

google: clear penetrating epoxy sealer. i guess they use it in boat building and other outdoor applications. im working on a mahogany build too, and what i'm going to do is thin down my epoxy probably 3:1 with acetone and use that as a sealer. being thinned down, it should help it soak into the wood much easier. i'm using envirotex epoxy coating for my final coating process, but it should be the same principle for other epoxies.

 

[JCooke]

Found this about thinning epoxy

WEST SYSTEM - Projects - Thinning WEST SYSTEM epoxy


Jason

 

[cantankerous82]

Really good info thanks 4 sharing! Scott at Merlo uses Smiths Penetrating Epoxy Sealer for finishing his guns. Finish
On Smith's website, there are testimonials of people using it for boat bottoms with great results so it must be pretty effective in what it says it does. TESTIMONIALS

 

[foxfish]

Using epoxy is not always as straight forward as the can states!
One reason teak is so popular is because of the oil content will stop any water penetration on the other hand the oil also stops deep penatration of the epoxy.
With wood like mahogany that has very little natural oil content will generally give a better bond with epoxy.
Epoxy is a very good glue but it is extremely difficult to use as a finish coat, I would suggest to get the best penetration you need to ensure the epoxy is warm & the wood as dry as possible, thinning epoxy with acetone is not always recommended as it can effect the cure?
You can run a hair dryer along the wood just before application & warm the epoxy mix in a bath of hot water.
Perhaps you should consider a very tough finale finish on the wood work, two pack paints or varnish or an epoxy powder mix?
Mart.

 

[JCooke]

I did a little testing with the laminates (mahog)and West systems epoxy. It seems that the more and thinner laminates used the stiffer the barrel. Just a simple 6 layers (no T) on the top.. wouldn't flex as much as the side (flat side) I put it between a few wooden box's and stood on it (4 foot long). It held me very well with little deflection ( about a 1/8"on the top, but the side seems to give a little more +/-3/16"but held me very well also.(lbs) Also did 3 laminates, it was strong also but flexed a little more both ways. I know this isn't a very big control but from what I did this was the results.

I can see why the "T" is being used now. If you could equal out the laminates number that are perpendicular to each other i would see were this would be ideal.

Jason

 

[HEDS]

Epoxy , especially on oily woods is not straightforward!
I consistently cocked up finishing an iroko gun with west systems , even though id thinned and heated. There were some patches on the gun that the epoxy just didnt stick to!.
Although i have heard plenty of success storys , i think its something very difficult to get spot on.
If i make a gun again there is no doubt that it will be soaked in teak oil or similar , so that the finish can be reapplied with ease every now and again.
Good luck

 

[cantankerous82]

hey just ran across this. it was pretty informative as far as trying to use epoxy as a penetrating sealant.

Penetrating Epoxies - Test Results

 

[Den]

My original trade was as a French Polisher I did it for about 12 years, Basically it uses shellac sealer and button polish to gradually build a deep finish on period antiques. If applied properly it looks amazing on a 200 year old dining table but is completely hopeless as a protective coating. It marks from contact with water, exposure to heat, damp, sunlight. It prints if something heavy is left on it, it scratches fairly easily, it is a time consuming and expensive process.
enough said
I don't do it anymore

 

[Mr. X]

So it wasn't the road to riches after all. I did wonder. Perhaps it is the lack of robustness & work-intensive nature of it that made my old PE teacher think it was the basis for a good business. Given what you say about, I'm surprised it was popular in nautical circles (the teacher was from Cornwall & I think had Navy/yachts in mind) - probably most popular where OPM (other people's money) is being spent. Was surprised to see the deep shiny finish in pictures. My only use of it was for a small wooden 1920's-style race car I made in class - it gave it a rather attractive dark satin finish, it obviously takes some time & technique to get it right.