Finishing wood that has been 'stabilised' with epoxy.

[BearTricks]

I am making a piece from pear that has some internal bark. It has been sat for several years and is dry.

I have some West System epoxy that I intend to force in to the bark area which is more like a crack in the board. I don't need to impregnate the board with epoxy at a cellular level or anything technical, I just need the bark area to hold together and be smooth to sit on.

I'm wondering what kind of finish to use that will hide the line between the epoxy and the wood. I imagine an oil is out of the question as the epoxy will not absorb it in the same way as the wood (if at all) and I'm not a big fan of polyurethane and other finished that make the wood look and feel like plastic. I generally prefer a more matt/satin look and feel. Walnut oil is what I tend to use the most.

Any help would be appreciated.

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[custard]

You might be surprised. I've seen quite large cracks and gaps in furniture that "disappeared" completely when filled and levelled with epoxy. Mind you, many woodworkers are very fussy about the epoxy they use for restoration and repair, insisting on something that's absolutely glass clear (like Devcon 5 minute) where as West System is slightly yellow. The key thing is to level it perfectly, which usually means after the epoxy has set but before it's completely cured. It's almost as if the transparency of the epoxy let's you see the natural colour through it, and the perfectly levelled surface convinces the eye and touch that there's no crack or gap present.

 

[profchris]

Some luthiers use epoxy for pore filling, scraping back until they are *just* not at bare wood to avoid opening new pores. Finishes over the top include nitrocellulose lacquer, shellac and Tru-Oil or equivalent. Some use epoxy as their final finish. I tried it once with Z-poxy, and it produced a dull sheen with hand buffing but seemed rather muddy, so I scraped back and finished on top. Apparently well-cured epoxy will polish out to a full shine using mechanical buffing.

I believe walnut is a drying oil, so my guess is that it would adhere to the epoxy and then cure to the finish you want.

But I wouldn't rely on any guess - crack a piece of scrap, fill crack with epoxy, scrape back to bare wood so you know the epoxy is level and then apply your walnut oil and see how it goes. Maybe pore fill half the scrap with epoxy to see how that works as a finish.

I think the finishes above would be too fragile for a chair (unless you like the full epoxy look). If walnut doesn't work, how about a wax finish?