more cunfushion?!?

From my experience with glaze of epoxy finishes, I have some advise. First, don’t unless you have to. System 3 marine top coat, (gloss) will work well for most applications.
Second, mixing is the most important thing in the process because once you pour it, it’s done. I recommend mixing it in a quart container for at least 15 minutes with a drill mixer. One tiny part that doesn’t get mixed well will ruin the whole project.
Third, I install a band around the work and put some silicone caulking on the face of it to prevent it from dripping off the edge. Be sure to have the band at least one millimeter proud of the top.
Fouth, before you start pouring, seal the wood several times with a good clear wood sealer, poly works, sanding sealer works too. These epoxy coatings take about 8 hours to dry completely, but the surface sets up first, if the wood absorbs any of the epoxy, you’ll have a wavy surface with no way to fix it. The wood cannot absorb any of the epoxy so seal it well.
Hope this helps.

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

Dave,

I do not have any experience with the product you are using. My suggestion is to do some tesing on scrap pieces. If you have some scrap from the actual piece, that would be best. You can experiment with some different application techniques.

Good luck!

-- “Big man, pig man, ha ha, charade you are.” ― R. Waters

Hello dbreeze,
Hope I can give you a little positive info from past experience. You don’t say what you are coating or how big it is so you are on your own regarding how much to mix up. That is always a crap shoot but I always like to have too much instead of too little.

All of these two part resins for craft projects are self leveling. That’s the good part. I always start with a clean piece of melamine board under my project. Dust and dirt free. I use painters triangles and shims under my project on top of the melamine and try to get the project dead level in all directions. You don’t mix for fifteen minutes. You read and follow the directions for mixing, usually just a few minutes mixed well is all that’s needed. After it is mixed you just pour it on from the inside out. As it flows over the sides I scoop it off the melamine with one of these. I use nothing to move the resin around. Self leveling takes care of this. As it flows over the edges I keep picking up the resin from the melamine board and putting it on any spots that appear thin or missed. Most manufacturers suggest a “flood coat”. If you are using rough cut material, this first seal coat is advisable as air pockets in the wood will make your final coat not uniform and more bubbles to rise. After 48 hours I put a second and final coat on this kind of wood. If I am using tight grained wood, I will use a spray Shellac to seal the wood and usually only one coat of the two part resin is needed. From the mixing you will get bubbles and from the rough cut wood. Some people will blow on them and some people will use a propane torch to skim over the bubbles and pop them. I have found this to be the quickest and easiest way to get rid of the bubbles without standing over the project all night. Nothing worse than coming back to your project and finding bubbles suspended in your hardened surface. I use no brushes or sticks to move the resin around my projects as you are just inviting something foreign to end up in your resin covered top.

If after you are sure the top is covered, you just keep pouring any extra on the sides. The top will look so good that you will find the sides don’t need to be as thick. A couple of days after it is hard you can flip it over on a towel and sand (orbital or belt sander) the drips off the bottom. You can also put painters tape on the bottom and peel a lot of the drips off but I have found this to be a hassle where the resin sticks to the edge of the tape. You still need to sand. The resin sands off easily with a machine.

I like to whip this stuff up in the evening when there is no dust or other people whipping things up in the shop. I try to keep the shop at least 65 degrees. The next morning you’ll see what you’ve got. As ChuckV said before, a test scrap is always a good idea.

Good luck and post some photos when your ready…........................

-- mike...............