Will epoxy resin adhere to sealed wood?

[Ron Puettmann]

Hello, I have rough turned an oak burl bowl and treated it with end grain sealer almost a year ago. Portions of it have voids which go all the way thru walls. It will not hold up on the lathe as is. My question is, will epoxy resin adhere to the sealed surface (woodcraft green wood sealer), so that I can finish turn the piece, or what will I need to do to prepare the surface for resin? Thanks in advance for advice! Blessings, Ron

 

[Brian Gustin]

Well end grain wood sealer is just emulsified wax , and since I don't think Epoxy will stick to wax, I'd have to say no. Preparation - I'd suggest going over the end grain sealer and see if it has any info on cleaning up dried / cured sealer However, as it likely will have penetrated wood fibers, just a surface cleaning likely would not do the trick either. In all honestly I never tried cleaning off end grain sealer (other than scraping thick deposit off to make pen/pencil marks before turning or cutting away the wood well past any sealer penetration) If it was me, I might consider trying hot met glue to hold things together enough to turn away the sealer (and then DNA to remove glue, heat gun to melt away wax, perhaps do the melting away first then glue & turn, then remove glue) but if you can cut away wood that might have sealer in the fibers, you might have enough wood for epoxy to adhere to? Just my thoughts... I'd defer to others more experienced with this, however.

 

[Ron Puettmann]

Thank you Brian

 

[Spike Cornelius]

I would make a test piece with the sealer on it and then try the epoxy on it and see what happens.

 

[hockenbery]

Like @Brian Gustin, if the epoxy did adhere to the wax you are then depending on the wax to hold the piece together.

Get to bare wood for the epoxy bond.
I often remove surface wax with alchohol.

You might see how that works on the sealer.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Lacquer thinner and MEK will dissolve the wax. I think that naphtha and acetone will also dissolve the wax. I think that at least two or three applications of soaking or washing down the wood with fresh solvent each time would be needed to completely get rid of the wax. Any remaining residue can be evaporated by baking it in the oven at low heat for 30 minutes (use a toothpick to see when it's done). Unless your wife is very understanding, you may have to sleep in your shop for a while.

 

[Michael Nathal]

Some wood sealers are not wax but PVA-based. Not sure what Woodcraft sells, but if its PVA, you are home free

 

[Ron Puettmann]

Like @Brian Gustin, if the epoxy did adhere to the wax you are then depending on the wax to hold the piece together.

Get to bare wood for the epoxy bond.
I often remove surface wax with alchohol.

You might see how that works on the sealer.

Thank you!

 

[Ron Puettmann]

Lacquer thinner and MEK will dissolve the wax. I think that naphtha and acetone will also dissolve the wax. I think that at least two or three applications of soaking or washing down the wood with fresh solvent each time would be needed to completely get rid of the wax. Any remaining residue can be evaporated by baking it in the oven at low heat for 30 minutes (use a toothpick to see when it's done). Unless your wife is very understanding, you may have to sleep in your shop for a while.

Haha, that actually wouldnt be a bad deal...its hard to get quality shop time...
Thanks for your advice!

 

[Bob Brown]

I would start by contacting Curtis @ Turntex.com and ask if cactus juice will react to your sealer. That would seal the wood and wouldn't react to resin. I don't understand why the importance is giving to the bowl in question. Slap some sealer on a piece of wood and let set for a day or two, then put resin on it. Stabilizing the wood with cactus juice will make the wood tunable.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Cactus juice is for reinforcing/stabilizing wood. It only soaks into fibers and does not fill voids. Its possible it can add enough stability to the existing fibers to make the piece turnable. Filling all the voids with resin will definitely make it turnable.

 

[Richard Coers]

One thing about resin is that it cures from an exothermic reaction. That could warm up any wax left in the pores and make adhesion very difficult.

 

[Spike Cornelius]

I don’t know about the sealer that was used, but the stuff that I have can be washed off with soap and water.

 

[Ron Puettmann]

Thanks for your help. I attempted to turn the piece as far as I dared to prevent it blowing apart. I then used a dremel tool to clean out voids, followed by acetone brushing to remove end grain sealer where I couldn't turn. Lastly, I applied epoxy resin to all cracks and voids. I was able to final turn and finish the piece.
Thanks again! Blessings, Ron

 

[Bill Boehme]

Thanks for your help. I attempted to turn the piece as far as I dared to prevent it blowing apart. I then used a dremel tool to clean out voids, followed by acetone brushing to remove end grain sealer where I couldn't turn. Lastly, I applied epoxy resin to all cracks and voids. I was able to final turn and finish the piece.

Wow, I wasn't expecting to see such an interesting piece of wood and you did a spectacular job of turning it into a real beauty of a bowl.

 

[Ron Puettmann]

Wow, I wasn't expecting to see such an interesting piece of wood and you did a spectacular job of turning it into a real beauty of a bowl.

Thank you very much!