glass chips in epoxy

[vinnie_chip]

Hi all,
I am making two coffee tables from some highly figured 300 year old burr chestnut. There are a lot of cavities on the boards and I want to fill them with some mirror glass chips or bright coloured stones set in epoxy. My question is (as I have never done this before) are there any video tutorials or any text I could read that would explain how to do it. ie what type of epoxy to use, how to finish the inlays flat to the workpiece and what finish I can put over epoxy.. any help or guidance would be appreciated.
Regards, Vinnie.

 

[Mike.S]

This link might help:
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/table-top-applications/

 

[Steve Maskery]

Try asking Racers. He's done this with coffee rather than glass and has done a terrific job on his burr oak. I am going to steal the same idea.

 

[marcros]

This may be worth a read. post648614.html?hilit=butterfly table#p648614

I expect that your true answer will be to take an educated stab at the correct epoxy, and test it out on something other than the real piece.

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I did some knots in Pippy Oak with Wilcos epoxy (Araldite went off to quickly) and ground instant coffee they where only small holes, it sounds like you are planning to do larger holes.
Some one did an oak coffee table with a split in filled with epoxy.

Pete

 

[Dangermouse]

Be very careful if you use glass chips, just tiny tiny bit projecting from the epoxy will cut if a hand is wiped across it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If I remember rightly, you can buy copper, bronze and brass powders to mix with resins. Might be worth a try for contrasts.

 

[Dodge]

If I remember rightly, you can buy copper, bronze and brass powders to mix with resins. Might be worth a try for contrasts.

K & C Mouldings just down the road from my workshop sell the metalic powders and polymer mixes for doing this :-

http://www.kcmouldings.co.uk/index.html

HTH

 

[vinnie_chip]

Thanks for the great response everyone. think i will use the west systems. [dangermouse] the reason i wanted to use glass mirror chips is so the light shines off them, also to 'connect' the table to a mirror i made from the same tree.. {images in the showcase section} If i cannot use mirror chips i would like to use bright coloured stone chips, i would like to have them slightly protruding the surface so i can 'sand?' them flat.. This is an image of one of the table tops after surface planing with my router..

 

[vinnie_chip]

bottom of same piece

 

[vinnie_chip]

dodge... just looked at kcmouldings, looks very interesting, i will have a better look now, cheers.

 

[vinnie_chip]

I have now decided to use tigers eye gemstones instead of glass. Has anyone had any experience doing this?

 

[Gary Morris]

I used sprinkles to fill some cracks in a lamp I made recently, the light catches them well and is better seen with your own eyes or a better photographer. I pored the poly resin added the sprinkles, gave it a stir then added the hardener. I poured it in a continuous stream to keep as much air out and tried to remove all and any air bubbles afterwards. Finished the piece with Danish oil.

 

[vinnie_chip]

wow, that looks cool. was it epoxy you used? also how does the oil finish on the inlay?

 

[rafezetter]

In US they use iron filings a lot in resin to fill voids in Mesquite wood which has similar colored grain, looks amazing, and I'm planning in the sometime future to route out a pattern in a table / coffee table (something large and flat anyway) and fill them with different colored resins using powdered paints.

for the bubbles issues the heating with hairdryer is suggested PLUS i'd use a 1/3 sheet pad sander (the ones with foam) without paper to vibrate it, a la poured concrete.

If you do this often ish - alternatively I've seen a technique whereby after mixing a resin based molding agent they put the mix in a small vacuum chamber to suck out the air bubbles thus giving a perfect bubble free finish to the casting in seconds - grab a large clear mixing bowl (or make a box for larger / longer casts ) beforehand cut a hole smaller than the end of your vac, plasticine to seal the edges plop it over where you cast and hey presto!