Where to buy epoxy

Woodshop
#1

Hi!
I’m slowly preparing my self to make my first cutting board with epoxy. What brand of epoxy should I use and where is the best place to buy it?
Thanks for your help!

#2

I’ve heard good things about MAS (brand). They make a deep pour epoxy that Rockler sells.

I’m using a different epoxy of theirs for some kayaks I’m building.

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#3

I work with epoxy a lot and have used a lot of brands.
My favorites in order:

  1. Counterculturediy.com --> my favorite. least amount of bubbles, very clear and dries hard (heat reisitant to 500 degrees and food safe). use artist resin for pours up to 1/4" and deep cast hard casting resin for pours up to 2"

  2. Faux Rizzle Resin. https://artresinfauxrizzle.com/ --> second favorite. this resin does produce a lot of bubbles and its much thicker so not great if youre wanting a clear resin with no pigment or a resin with multiple colors to flow together. good for single color pours, dries VERY hard, also heat resistant to 500 degress and food safe.

  3. Dr crafty (can buy from amazon) --> good medium viscosity resin but isn’t as heat resistant, I have had large trays warp in the mail from the texas heat. plus here is you can get it in a day from amazon.

  4. the epoxy resin store --> DO NOT RECOMMEND. its much cheaper than the other brands but that’s because its hit or miss if youll actually get your shipment within a month or two… also left some soft spots in my pieces.

Hope this helps

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#4

Also here are coupon codes if you decide to go with suggestions above:

Counterculture: Blossom5 (5% off)
Fauxrizzle: luxartoctober (15% off)

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#5

Thank you so much! That’s help a lot :slight_smile:

#6

I recommend you stay away from Dr Crafty. I bought some to do a small live edge table. It poured well, and is very clear, but you can’t us a router on the edges and you have to be careful sanding because it gets gooey instead of dusty instead of sanding. I have a little bit left if you want to try.

I am going to stick with Alumilite. It is more expensive but it works. You can get on their mailing list and they text you discount codes. Most recent ones are ACC+15 and ADP10 for discounts.

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#7

I highly recommend ecopoxy. Flowmaster for thick pours.

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#8

You said “cutting board”…are you talking about for food? If so, make sure to get a food safe version.

#9

You better not be using live edge and epoxy on our planers and drum sander!

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#10

Actually, as discussed on another thread – the drum sander is indeed the equipment to use for the live edge with epoxy.

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#11

Hopefully there will be a mandate coming from the woodshop leadership. I have used a few different epoxies. The Alumilite I use, when sanded, gives you dust and wont hose the drum sander. However, the batch I just bought from Dr. Crafty gets gooey when sanded.

There isn’t a blanket “Epoxy works in the drum sander” possible because epoxy, or resin, is just too generic of a term for a material. If you can use one of the hand sanders on it for 5 minutes and it doesnt get gooey, it should be fine in the drum.

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#12

Per the committee meeting today,

Fully cured epoxy (7 days to fully cure) is permitted on the table saw, planer, chop saw, horizontal sander, combo sander, hand sanders, bandsaws, CNC, and the spindle sander with no exceptions.

Fully cured epoxy is permitted on the drum sander if you bring your own drum paper.

No epoxy is permitted on the jointer.

Be excellent, clean up your dust, and be particularly gentle with your cuts as the dust will easily clog sand paper or melt onto blades (particularly band saw blades.)

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#13

Live edge w/bark still on has been known to chew up the drum paper, hence why it is sometime said “no live edge”; I’m not sure as of this post this prohibition is strongly in effect, weakly in effect, or not a rule at all. A live edge with bark removed should not be a problem, in general.

@IanLee: Q: why is epoxy OK on the planer but not the jointer? (note: I am agnostic assuming any epoxy is fully cured and thorough cleaning performed, just curious as to the logic behind the discrepancy/difference)

To users of sanding equipment: it makes a huge difference to the quality of your outcomes as well as the life of the sanding medium if you use the sandpaper conditioner/cleaner sticks (aka, the “eraser”) both before and during your operations. Be selfish (I know you have it in you…you can do it!): clean the sanding paper when it needs it and improve your results!

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#14

I think the logic was that there should be no reason to joint a project once you’ve added resin to it.

Usually the project is too wide, has a reference flat edge, reference 90, or doesn’t need one at all.

I suppose there’s no real reason for the ban besides a supposed lack of need for the tool usage.

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#15

I’ve worked with a ton of epoxy as well. My two cents;

  • 1 for Ecopoxy. MAS is good but $$$.

  • research the differences and buy what you need. Deep Pour (casting resin) is different than table top epoxy. Ecopoxy Flowcast is what I use. It’s 125 for 3 liters of 2:1.

  • obey cure times… don’t try to shortcut or take chances. That’s how ppl lose money.

  • Black Diamond Pigments are my recommended pigments. Micah powder is different than dye and produces different results. Again, do your research on that and purchase accordingly.

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#16

I’m a little surprised that no one mentioned Reynolds Advanced Materials. It is about a mile south of DMS on Diplomat Dr (which is what Monetary turns into south of Valwood). It’s a great place if you are uncertain of the type of epoxy for your desired application, but perhaps a bit pricey compared to buying online. I know Matt mentioned Rockler, which has several stores in the metromess. Woodcraft also carries epoxy resins, but be careful in Rockler or Woodcraft as they have all kinds of things to relieve you of your hard earned money.

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