A different epoxy question

[olaf Vogel]

My wife is a painter, who has been sealing her work, with a coat of epoxy.
Art Resin (https://www.artresin.com/) has been her choice because

- many other artists are using it here
- its VOC free, so can be used indoors - critical during (eternal....) Canadian winters
- its easily available
- it resists yellowing under UV

I started using on bowls and found it quite good as well. The first coat gets thinned down by about 50% alcohol, to aide penetration and a more dramatic grain. The second coat is not thinned.

Additionally, this sands well.

Last week, i used it the first time to create a River Table, using a black walnut, edge edge plank. It worked, but...

The material is quite soft and scratches easily, on the table, her artwork and my bowls.
My sailboat is also epoxy (gel coat) and thats quite hard.

Upon contacting Art Resin, they maintain that our ambient temperature should have been above 23C, which our basement likely was not. We'll try again.

I did pour in 1/4" layers, as recommended, but it definitely looks like layers. It my first such attempt, maybe more practice.

So when looking an alternative epoxy solution, what should I look for?

A - harder / more scratch resistant.
B - Low or VOC free. For example, this one gets into a lot of detail, but what is really safe?
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/243cac_8b826220401843a1b95d84f742f8f9e4.pdf

Thanks for the help

 

[Richard Coers]

They market Art Resin as an epoxy clear coat. Not as a casting resin. They don't list any chemicals on the safety sheet. I'm guessing that it may be a catalyzed acrylic finish, and will not perform like a solvent based epoxy or casting resin. That could be the reason you see the layers, there isn't any chemical burn-in. I would also ask them about some strength numbers if you intend to use it for a river table. If it's that soft, it may also have little strength.

 

[john lucas]

I used a casting resin in a project years ago to simulate a puddle of water. It is softer than the West System Epoxy I use most of the time. It scratches very easily. It is not cold here in Tennessee and was cast in my heated shop so I know temperature is not the reason.