# Liquid Inlay question??



## mdbohica (Jan 21, 2010)

I am making a bookstand for a friend and I am going to carve out a design on the front of it. When I remove the material, I want to pour in some kind of hardening liquid that I can dye black or red to fill the channels I carve out. I was thinking of some kind of epoxy but it would need to flow almost like water to be sure that there will be no bubbles when I pour.

Any Suggestions?

Thanks in advance.


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## Chelios (Jan 2, 2010)

Could you use a bar top finish? Check out envirotex lite - Pour on finish


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## D1st (Jan 28, 2010)

You could use a non sanded grout and then a clear epoxy over it.


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## Sean (Jul 2, 2008)

I've seen several articles on people doing this, and several projects in mags…unfortunately i can't refer you to any of them…but they were all done with epoxy, and there was no mention of problems with bubbles, so it didnt appear that it was a problem.


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## j_olsen (Sep 19, 2009)

here is something that was on steve goode's scrollsaw blog that might hit what you're looking for
http://www.inlacebook.com/index.html


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

i pour all the time ,
the secret to the bubbles ,
you have a spritzer bottle ,
(like a windex bottle ) ,
*and watch it ,
not lazily but sit by it and spray for about an hour* ,
i use lacquer thinner ,
*i first coat the cut out with sealer *,
( laquer , varathane ,deft , whatever ) ,
*so that the wood doesn't suck the tint out of it and run in* .
i use regular hobby paint , from wal-mart , lot's of colors .
i have also read here that a hair dryer , as the bubbles come up ,
( they do it as they feel like ) will heat them and they burst .
but if you just let the drier sit , (thinking about speeding thing up ) ,
it heats everything up ,
it will just make things kick faster , trapping any bubbles in your inlay ,
then when you sand , they are like little hollows in the mix .
*if you get distracted talking on the phone , forget it !*

here is what happens without sealing the wood first ,
( this isn't the finish , just for the in-size , and surrounding surface )
i just spray the whole surface , and get it in the in-size well .
the epoxy wants to be proud of the surface .
it all gets sanded later , including the sealer .


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## miserybob (Jan 24, 2010)

I've used epoxy as an inlay on many occasions (the inlace product is pretty fun, but you can use any epoxy) - you can color it in many ways, I often use Mixol. It is difficult to avoid bubbles, though. I've had people suggest using a hair dryer to heat the epoxy after filling, putting the wood in the oven for a few minutes, etc. I find the best you can do is make the carving extra deep and overfill a little… that way you can sand or plane through any bubbles that appeared in the surface.

Consider, too, the type of wood, the intended stain, and the color of epoxy you'll be using. Epoxy tends to bleed into the pores of the wood (some people suggest a wash coat of shellac on the surrounding area), which can ruin the effect on light woods.

Get some epoxy and experiment before attempting anything on your nice, carved piece!

[edit] Ha! David either types faster than me, or had a head start! Good advice, David. Have you found any issue with adhesion of the inlay when you coat first with lacquer? I've been meaning to try that, but was afraid that it would interfere with the epoxy. Thanks!

[edit again] Here are a couple of things I've done with epoxy…


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## j_olsen (Sep 19, 2009)

here's steves demo of the product 
http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-key-chain-patterns-and-video.html


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

bob ,
if anything ,
i found that you need to* SEAL* the wood well ,
any sealer dries so thin , 
that it really needs to build some .
the channel is rough enough to hold the epoxy well .


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## Sean (Jul 2, 2008)

miserybob, that freakin rocks.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Good old fiberglass resin from the home center works great as well.


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## 3DWoodworkingSupply (Jan 23, 2010)

Here is another vote for inlacebook.com: 
http://lumberjocks.com/3DWoodworkingSupply/blog/13806


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## davyj (Aug 6, 2010)

don't know if you will ever see this. looks like a very old post. I have and used Inlace brand. tis one of the most expensive, but very good stuff It does NOT shrink/ the regular fiber glas resin DOES. form my stand point/experiance, the Envirotex and brand Pour On works really good and seems to accept most any craft paint for coloring. it doesn't take much pending on how much resin/hardner you need. best part is the 50/50 mix ratio where as Inlace one counts drops per size of amount of resin used. I have also used craft paint to line the inside of the scroll sawed hole to keep bleed outa the grain. IF a ciontrasting color is used for this and a liberal amount it will also serve to outline. Let it dry good before pouring in the mix. I have been doing diff inlays in the bottom of segmented bowls. Do scroll saw work and inlay in a diisk THEN build the bowl from there.


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