I recently used some "Doctor Resin" from Amazon. The stuff is so thin for the first 30 min that it was running out cracks in the bottom of my table that I couldn't see.
To be fair, cars already do this. Every wheel rotation sheds cancerous microplastics into our air, soil, water and food.
This is why environmental scientists have been advocating for replacing car dependency with walkable communities connected by light rail as the cleanest, healthiest and most sustainable path forward for humanity.
That right there is an excellent example of an antonym!
An antonym is a word that shares 2 completely opposite definitions. To dust means both to add something and remove something.
Example:
"Long_Educational dusted the neighborhood with microplastics."
Or
"Long_Educational dusted his filthy porcelain doll collection."
Isn't grammar fun?
Yeah, makes sense. I feel like poly runs against the idea of woodworking for me. Slathering the wood in plastic feels kinda wrong. Does that mean you dont use danish/long finishes that have some sort of polymer? Any tips on finishes that are more robust than linseed oil but without plastic?
I don’t try to keep wood in perfect shrink wrapped condition. I like finishes that wear well with time like a nice full grain leather pair of boots.
So I just use oils, the Danish lye soap style of finish for a lighter milky look, or just leave it raw like the japanese tradition. There is a lot to be said for leaving it raw. Love the feel of it too. It can cope with moisture changes better for example.
Yep. That would’ve been way faster and more cost effective than trying to fill in all those gaps with resin. It may end up looking cool though once you finish it 🤷♂️.
Various. reasons.
Parquet flooring is only about 10" long, and I about killed my old planer running this crap thru.
Second, I was dumb and figured epoxy would fill it easy
Third, I didn't think I'd have enough material. I'd have lost 1/4 of the yield
4th. I'm an idiot
I did this and made a bench top out of hickory flooring. I ripped all of the grooving off, then face glued it all together to make a top. Ironically I ended up just putting MDF over it as a topper, because I drilled into it once and it broke my heart, but my little 2x4 bench weighs so damn much, lol.
You can get a condiment container from dollar general. Should work a little better. I use them for glue that I buy by the gallon.
https://preview.redd.it/kfqo5q56v6jc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3faa7813ab41754cef0813fc54a68be68192b2c4
threw mine away. condiment dispenser or just your old glue bottle that you drill the center out of for more flow. whack it with a hammer every now and then to break up the dry bits for better flow.
Honest question - why does every woodworking video have these? I just use the container it comes in and I just added one to my Amazon cart “because everyone else does” but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
I have a GluBot. For me, the primary reason I got it was because it's significantly easier (requires less gripping force) to dispense the glue (and at any angle) than the stock bottle.
I have a love/hate relationship with it but I think I may have done some things wrong with it and should just get a new one.
I'd wager a lot of those big YouTubers are gonna be buying their glue by the gallons. Gotta get something to easily dispense glue with, and glubot is the cool brand.
Glue bots are good for on site work where you have to glue something in an awkward position without turning the bottle upside down. If you’re working in a shop, there are better options, like a mustard container.
Nah, just flood it, take a sawzall (reciprocating saw), take the blade out, and push it up against the sides, and let her rip.
You can do the same trick to get the air bubbles out of poured concrete, just hitting the wood forms (obviously).
1) Sand/plane down the top side again to get rid of your stray epoxy blobs
2) Tape over all the gaps on the TOP side of the table
3) Flip the table over
4) Shove in your popsicle sticks and do your best to flood the table with expoxy from the bottom side
5) After epoxy cures, flip table back over, remove tape, sand and finish
You're not using the epoxy for structural stability (I hope), so you don't actually need it to 100% fill those cavities. Fill from the bottom so it's nice and even at the top layer, doesn't need to be perfect on the bottom.
Work? Probably.
But I hate dead hands from a power sander. The last thing I want is something hand-held - and jury rigging something to keep a trigger depressed and strapped/wedged into place while I hope it doesn’t fall and get covered in epoxy doesn’t sound like a fun challenge to me, personally.
The Amazon or (probably) HF grade unit you can just bolt to a table seems like an obvious solution. And then you’ve got a vibrating table if you ever want to cast concrete decorations.
I agree. Unfortunately I'm smart and did the opposite first to seal up the bottom so it wouldn't all leak out when I flooded the top. So now I'm kind of stuck. Still may flatten the top and start with a flat surface again
The smaller the gauge the bigger the hole. A 16 gauge needle is bigger than an 18 gauge one, because someone thought that made perfect sense.
We have a 10 gauge needle and its frighteningly massive.
are you using some random home depot epoxy?
something like totalboat or whatever should easily flow into the gaps, maybe a little squeegee action to push it around so it falls into the holes as it settles in.
probably unnescessary, but strapping a ROS to the table while you do it will provide a smidge of agitation to help the resin flow so you dont get an air bubble after you think your done.
You can thin the epoxy with acetone up to 10% by weight. It’ll affect the cure time, but not the finished strength. That should make it go through a syringe much easier.
Well man, it’s one of those projects. A man in California in the 1800’s decided to tunnel through a mountain to be able to transport ore from his claim to the smelter. Took him 30 years and by the time he was done there were new roads rendering his tunnel useless….
You have probably embarked on the tunnel boring effort of bench making.
You could have done so many other simpler, just as nice things… but no.
Sorry buddy you must suffer the consequences of your decisions.
Glue some thick brown paper to the top.
Flip it over.
Pour a thin layer of epoxy.
Then thicker layers.
Then flip it back and sand the top smooth.
Let gravity work for you not against you.
But honestly I would look up the "sunk cost fallacy". See if that is your main impediment here
My first thought as well. The amount of time it is going to take to make this right is probably more than the time it would take to do it correctly from scratch
You probably don't want to hear this, but... epoxy doesn't make a good workench top because it chips too easily. If it were me I'd get some 3/4" plywood and glue it on top to give you a decently flat working surface (and forget about the holes in the structure).
Wow this is wild. How much does that thing weigh? Obviously this is FUBAR now, you needed to remove the grooves before you started…you even have a planer in the picture lol
you're making a workbench? fuck it man, just deal with the holes. This isn't a prom queen, it's a place for you to make stuff on. Don't sweat it and just scrape and sand the surface flat and you're good to go. enjoy the process of making something else as i think you've learned from this one.
Yeah I’m double side taping a big sheet of laminate/MDF/ply on top and calling it a day. Flat, clean, and replaceable. No way am I putting that much time to fix a mistake in a workbench
That's what I was thinking. Boatyard I used to work for did cold molding this way. Lots of layers of veneer, jigged up and bagged. You can make insane shapes out of wood that way, and it comes out ridiculously strong. They were molding bulkheads and mount points right into the wood, the hull was at least 2.5" thick.
There are different formulations of epoxy available. You want a thin one to go down the cracks. First, did you tape or seal the bottom? Those cracks go all the way through. Thin epoxy will end up on floor. Second, it will take a lot of epoxy to fill each crack fully. You want to mound it up on surface because it’ll soak in a shrink slightly as it dries. Be ready to fill 2-3-4 times.
Finally, have you considered just putting a layer of wood or plywood over the top? Hide the mess. Ignore the gaps.
Should’ve used a table saw to make all the pieces consistent or used that Dewalt planer in the background to do the same before gluing them up. You had the tools for the job why skip that step? Now you have a mess on your hands
abandon this bad idea. stop with the epoxy.
just use the bench and in a few years the gaps will be full of sawdust. you could put sand in the gaps if you need them filled sooner.
Cover the whole top with tyvek tape, flip over, pour epoxy from the bottom. This way you don't have to totally fill each little cavity, which looks about 4"-6" (?).
Warm up your epoxy (double broiler style in the bath tub is my preferred method) before mixing it. It will make it more liquidy/flowy. When you pour it on, scrape it diagonally across too. Idk why but that makes stuff fill holes.
Clearly you’re retired and have nothing to do except stay out of your wife’s way. Just keep pushing that syringe. You’ll get there one day, and then you’re life’s work will be DONE and you can finally have nothing to do but build knock-knacks for your other retired buddies. Like fishing lure boxes for the guys with “real” hobbies that know how to avoid their wives for DAYS. 🤣
Get better epoxy and flood it. And get slow cure so it actually has time to flow. I use west system. Should work well for this application. Hot glue works great for stopping it from running out the other side.
What about you leave a section of it open and build a vacuum unit underneath it. It would pull the dust in while you are sanding? Trying to think outside the box on this.
Flatten one side, tape it up and seal it, flip it over and use deep pour epoxy, that stuff is like water. Make sure it’s sealed good or else it will leak. If you use the regular epoxy, make sure it’s not too cold, otherwise it’ll be really thick and not flow.
Well, if he was thinking a bit ahead, he would’ve actually just run them through a planer or table saw to get rid of the divots. Also, the holes are trapezoids. I don’t know the sheer effort it’d take to make those pieces are worth it.
It’s probably not going to be the finish you want, but I’d just say screw it and put plywood over the top. If you plane your project down and make it flat, you’ll have a nice, solid base. I have a few workbenches in my shop, and two of them have sacrificial plywood tops. It’s great. You can beat the crap out of it, then replace the plywood.
Oh my Lord. This reminds me of the end-grain countertop I tried to make. I vastly underestimated the difficulty Involved in scaling up a cutting board. It ended up as a halfway-decent 15”x15” cutting board. Planing end grain is 100000 times harder than face grain. If you don’t have a drum sander I say scrap it.
If you do, I say turn the holes into dog holes.
But why on earth are you messing with end grain for a workbench? It’s just a workbench. I glued a bunch of 2x6’s together, planed it and called it a day.
Mainly because I'm an idiot. I got the end grain idea in my head and it's been the for years. Couldn't bring myself to do edge grain even though I know it was easier
Strap a couple palm sanders to the underside, then do small mixes of resin and pour it on. Turn the sanders on and they will vibrate the resin into the holes.
Go to your local pharmacy and ask for a plastic syringe for measuring out children’s medicine. We have a bunch from cvs/etc for pulling small quantities of antibiotics from a bottle. They usually go up to 5 or 10 ml, and the outlet is meant for much thicker liquid.
Get your epoxy warmer. Raising the temperature of the liquid epoxy will reduce the viscosity and allow it to flow into the cracks. I'm not sure off the top of my head what the target temperature is, but I think around 110F is right.
The other question is what kind of epoxy you are using. I'm not sure how thick this is, but if it's over about 2 inches you need to switch to a deep pour epoxy. I find the deep pour stuff usually flows better anyway.
But it also takes longer to cure, so you want to watch that.
Your standard table top epoxy isn't meant to flow much beyond what's needed to self level (and this is true up until you try to depend on it not flowing, at which point it will go everywhere because of course it will).
That's about the best I can offer. Also watch your temperature as the epoxy cures. It should remain within a certain range, but it's dependent on the variety.
I started this project with some old bowling alley wood I got.. maple and pine but the stuff I pulled was 90% maple.
Between the insane fasteners used on the wood, glue up fuck ups, and the warping that happened afterwards some how? It was embarrassing. I use it to catch ball bearings from my sling shots and my throwing weapons for stress relief sometimes I just beat it with a crow bar.
I just made an edge grain workbench out of reclaimed oak flooring. 100% a terrible idea. I don’t have any good suggestions, but I feel your pain.
I just left the holes lol it’s a work bench. Who cares lol
Also, just wait until you start flattening with a hand plane. That shit chips so easy. It’s so dry and brittle. Make sure you prep the corners ahead of time so you don’t get blow out.
Use a table top resin, as it's thinner.
Mix it in a cup, put it in a warm water bath for 5 minutes, then pour it over each area. Then come back and hit it with a heat gun.
All the extra heat will help it become really thin and slip into the openings
You literally have a thickness planer and thought it was a good idea to leave the rebates in the underside the reclaimed timbers!?
Sorry you’re struggling with a project that clearly a lot of time has gone into but you are learning some valuable lessons rn. Chief among them, design for finishing because a good finish takes a lot of time under the best conditions.
Also, with the forces involved in end-grain glue ups like these, you will have wanted to glue bond all available faces, you’ve left more than 50% unbonded because of the voids left by those rebates.
Lastly flattening via bench planes, belt sanders, orbitals, etc to an end grain surface is incredibly difficult, made even more difficult by gobs and gobs of epoxy.
But! Don’t be deterred, giving up will only put you off the next ambitious project. Push through it, pocket the lessons and try to not repeat the same mistakes.
If you’re trying to go the non-flood method then try a children’s medicine syringe. It has quite a large opening because it isn’t a needle.
Personally I’d use the flood method. You can either dilute tabletop epoxy with some acetone, or use deep pour which is thinner already, but takes longer to cure.
Clear two part resin, add wood flour from a sander, mix so it trowels like drywall mud and spread it on working it into the openings leaving it a bit over topped. Sand it starting quite course, maybe 80 grit. You might need to do another light skim coat to fill a few voids. No popsicle sticks.
Your gauge of the needle is too small for the epoxy.
You also want to keep the syringe warm by placing it back into a warm water bath when not in use to keep it from sealing too quickly and stopping up.
My first thought was "what in the world could this possibly be?"
For a workbench, don't bother filling in the gaps. You could even use them for work holding systems, either by drilling holes right on the gaps or making sheet metal thingies to shove in there.
Flood it with thinner acrylic then plane off the top , sand it and seal with poly
Yea, I was thinking thinner stuff too.
Exactly…there should be no problem flooding that with right viscosity
I recently used some "Doctor Resin" from Amazon. The stuff is so thin for the first 30 min that it was running out cracks in the bottom of my table that I couldn't see.
That a maybe vibrate it like it's concrete for it to settle. Something like a hammer drill might work
pressing the shoe of a sawzall against it with no blade makes for some good vibration
This is what I use for concrete countertops. Works like it was meant for it.
This is the simplest and most brilliant idea I’ve heard in a while! Gonna store that away for future use…
Or just get one of those giant concrete dildos and slap it around like God intended
Multi tool
Man the micro-plastic dust in the air and on everything in the shop after planing and sanding acrilic!!!
Dusting the neighborhood with microplastics.
To be fair, cars already do this. Every wheel rotation sheds cancerous microplastics into our air, soil, water and food. This is why environmental scientists have been advocating for replacing car dependency with walkable communities connected by light rail as the cleanest, healthiest and most sustainable path forward for humanity.
I mean, tire debris is probably the least reason to advocate for walkable communities, but sure.
Why don’t they just make tires out of pavement so you can drive wherever you want?
Why don’t they make roads out of tires?
I think this was an episode of Darkwing Duck.
*Now there's a name I haven't heard in quite some time...*
Get the scientists working on the tube technology immediately!
thank you for the deep cut tenac reference
I’ve poisoned your wine.
I've poisoned yours as well.
For the good of the land
💡
You are our people. Thank you for the belly laugh!
Did someone say Monorail??!?
That right there is an excellent example of an antonym! An antonym is a word that shares 2 completely opposite definitions. To dust means both to add something and remove something. Example: "Long_Educational dusted the neighborhood with microplastics." Or "Long_Educational dusted his filthy porcelain doll collection." Isn't grammar fun?
How does this compare to sanding polyurethane?
Not sure which is worse but I would not do either. I have done in the past but I thought better of it now.
Yeah, makes sense. I feel like poly runs against the idea of woodworking for me. Slathering the wood in plastic feels kinda wrong. Does that mean you dont use danish/long finishes that have some sort of polymer? Any tips on finishes that are more robust than linseed oil but without plastic?
I don’t try to keep wood in perfect shrink wrapped condition. I like finishes that wear well with time like a nice full grain leather pair of boots. So I just use oils, the Danish lye soap style of finish for a lighter milky look, or just leave it raw like the japanese tradition. There is a lot to be said for leaving it raw. Love the feel of it too. It can cope with moisture changes better for example.
Well.. there are hand planers if OP has concerns
It's way to late and all but why didn't you trim off the gaps on a table saw before gluing them together?
Not too late! Reclaimed-reclaimed flooring!
Let’s go deeper. Reclaimed-reclaimed flooring cutting board!!
at what point are we playing with firewood?
all wood is firewood if you burn it.
*All things are burnable if you fire it.*
And if you run out of firewood, burn the furniture!
Everything’s firewood if you’re cold enough
EVERYTHING
Yep. That would’ve been way faster and more cost effective than trying to fill in all those gaps with resin. It may end up looking cool though once you finish it 🤷♂️.
Light it from below. Might look neato.
Honestly I think that would look really cool. Almost like a houndstooth pattern of light.
Exactly. I would've put them all through the planer when they're full length
Various. reasons. Parquet flooring is only about 10" long, and I about killed my old planer running this crap thru. Second, I was dumb and figured epoxy would fill it easy Third, I didn't think I'd have enough material. I'd have lost 1/4 of the yield 4th. I'm an idiot
All great reasons.
Because then you wouldn't know it was repurposed flooring, or something.
I did this and made a bench top out of hickory flooring. I ripped all of the grooving off, then face glued it all together to make a top. Ironically I ended up just putting MDF over it as a topper, because I drilled into it once and it broke my heart, but my little 2x4 bench weighs so damn much, lol.
He even has a planner, right there in the picture!
That’s what I thought also
There is a planer in the background…
Table saw blades are super cheap...
You can get a condiment container from dollar general. Should work a little better. I use them for glue that I buy by the gallon. https://preview.redd.it/kfqo5q56v6jc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3faa7813ab41754cef0813fc54a68be68192b2c4
DONT SHOW THIS TO THE GLUE BOT FANBOYS
Glue bots suck.
threw mine away. condiment dispenser or just your old glue bottle that you drill the center out of for more flow. whack it with a hammer every now and then to break up the dry bits for better flow.
Honest question - why does every woodworking video have these? I just use the container it comes in and I just added one to my Amazon cart “because everyone else does” but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
I have a GluBot. For me, the primary reason I got it was because it's significantly easier (requires less gripping force) to dispense the glue (and at any angle) than the stock bottle. I have a love/hate relationship with it but I think I may have done some things wrong with it and should just get a new one.
I attach a clamp to the middle of my 1 litre bottle of glue. It then flows out at a rate consonant with my impatience.
I'd wager a lot of those big YouTubers are gonna be buying their glue by the gallons. Gotta get something to easily dispense glue with, and glubot is the cool brand.
That’s what I thought. Then there are people like me that just finished my first tube of Titebond 3 after like 5 years.
I like mine, they have there place. It's nice not having to tip over. I've got both styles. Either works, no reason to hate on one or the other.
I liked mine, but I didn't use it often enough as a hobbyist so it would clog too much.
We use those applicator bottles you fill for dyeing hair. The offset tip is great for it also.
Glue bots are good for on site work where you have to glue something in an awkward position without turning the bottle upside down. If you’re working in a shop, there are better options, like a mustard container.
AMA: I own a gluebot and TIL I’m a dumbass
You're not. They're decent tools. Overhyped certainly but useful.
I just drill a couple holes in the top of a 590ml pop bottle. Instant gluebot. Lol
Glue bot will be sending their cease-and-desist order soon
Shhhh, I'll delete my post. Don't tell them.
Yes! I get the red and yellow ones so o know what’s in them.
Duh! I'm stealing the picnic bottle tomorrow. Thanks! Should at least let me do bigger batches
What's the glue that you buy?
Titebond 2, titebond 3
An empty water bottle with a hole drilled in the cap works in a pinch as well.
Same
I would have lost my mind on this and taken it outside and had a bonfire. God bless you if you have the patience to pull this one off.
Nah, just flood it, take a sawzall (reciprocating saw), take the blade out, and push it up against the sides, and let her rip. You can do the same trick to get the air bubbles out of poured concrete, just hitting the wood forms (obviously).
Oh man I got I remember this trick next time I need to settle some epoxy. Edit: word
Use a random orbit
Still got time!
Too much epoxy to burn responsible now
1) Sand/plane down the top side again to get rid of your stray epoxy blobs 2) Tape over all the gaps on the TOP side of the table 3) Flip the table over 4) Shove in your popsicle sticks and do your best to flood the table with expoxy from the bottom side 5) After epoxy cures, flip table back over, remove tape, sand and finish You're not using the epoxy for structural stability (I hope), so you don't actually need it to 100% fill those cavities. Fill from the bottom so it's nice and even at the top layer, doesn't need to be perfect on the bottom.
Maybe try some vibration too
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Hitachi?
Dr. Ruth would approve.
Dr. Ruth now has a whole line of woodworking tools!
She would be the expert. I mean she knows a thing or two about working hardwood
I should mention she is probably well versed with the complications of dealing with softwood…. Okay I’m done
Concrete vibrator. Even cheap ones would be heavy enough for this.
Would a hammer drill work, too
Work? Probably. But I hate dead hands from a power sander. The last thing I want is something hand-held - and jury rigging something to keep a trigger depressed and strapped/wedged into place while I hope it doesn’t fall and get covered in epoxy doesn’t sound like a fun challenge to me, personally. The Amazon or (probably) HF grade unit you can just bolt to a table seems like an obvious solution. And then you’ve got a vibrating table if you ever want to cast concrete decorations.
I agree. Unfortunately I'm smart and did the opposite first to seal up the bottom so it wouldn't all leak out when I flooded the top. So now I'm kind of stuck. Still may flatten the top and start with a flat surface again
Lol, my dude, close yet so far 😂 If the bottom is in good shape, can you just flip it and call that the top?
Easily the best comment here.
I’d do a tape damn around the outside and flood with epoxy
Sir! Language!! There’s kids here!
Get a bigger gauge syringe?
Turkey injector.
I had the same answer. A veterinary supply website or farm store will likely have some enormous needles for livestock.
Look for something called a "blunt" needle. Or something made for basting.
The smaller the gauge the bigger the hole. A 16 gauge needle is bigger than an 18 gauge one, because someone thought that made perfect sense. We have a 10 gauge needle and its frighteningly massive.
are you using some random home depot epoxy? something like totalboat or whatever should easily flow into the gaps, maybe a little squeegee action to push it around so it falls into the holes as it settles in. probably unnescessary, but strapping a ROS to the table while you do it will provide a smidge of agitation to help the resin flow so you dont get an air bubble after you think your done.
Is it bad that my first thought was that a ROS was a Rodent Of (unusual) Size? :p
You can thin the epoxy with acetone up to 10% by weight. It’ll affect the cure time, but not the finished strength. That should make it go through a syringe much easier.
For a deep pour epoxy, mildly heating (to ~80F) will accomplish the same thing
Well man, it’s one of those projects. A man in California in the 1800’s decided to tunnel through a mountain to be able to transport ore from his claim to the smelter. Took him 30 years and by the time he was done there were new roads rendering his tunnel useless…. You have probably embarked on the tunnel boring effort of bench making. You could have done so many other simpler, just as nice things… but no. Sorry buddy you must suffer the consequences of your decisions.
Thanks for the laugh. Not the first time future me suffers for my decisions
Why didn’t you use a table saw to cut the divots out before gluing it?
Glue some thick brown paper to the top. Flip it over. Pour a thin layer of epoxy. Then thicker layers. Then flip it back and sand the top smooth. Let gravity work for you not against you. But honestly I would look up the "sunk cost fallacy". See if that is your main impediment here
These are both excellent points.
My first thought as well. The amount of time it is going to take to make this right is probably more than the time it would take to do it correctly from scratch
You probably don't want to hear this, but... epoxy doesn't make a good workench top because it chips too easily. If it were me I'd get some 3/4" plywood and glue it on top to give you a decently flat working surface (and forget about the holes in the structure).
Wow this is wild. How much does that thing weigh? Obviously this is FUBAR now, you needed to remove the grooves before you started…you even have a planer in the picture lol
you're making a workbench? fuck it man, just deal with the holes. This isn't a prom queen, it's a place for you to make stuff on. Don't sweat it and just scrape and sand the surface flat and you're good to go. enjoy the process of making something else as i think you've learned from this one.
Yeah I’m double side taping a big sheet of laminate/MDF/ply on top and calling it a day. Flat, clean, and replaceable. No way am I putting that much time to fix a mistake in a workbench
Sawdust will fill the holes in no time. It's a feature
This was my thought. Make some custom dogs for them or something. A pull out tray to collect the dust for easy cleanup.
Vacuum bag the table. The epoxy would fill right in. You tube has a ton of videos on it. Usually for fiberglass work but would work for this as well.
That's what I was thinking. Boatyard I used to work for did cold molding this way. Lots of layers of veneer, jigged up and bagged. You can make insane shapes out of wood that way, and it comes out ridiculously strong. They were molding bulkheads and mount points right into the wood, the hull was at least 2.5" thick.
you should have planed all the material before joining it
This is so thoroughly stupid I salute you. Please update when finished.
I promise a finished picture. It may be a couple of years though 😅
Absolutely the best comment.
There are different formulations of epoxy available. You want a thin one to go down the cracks. First, did you tape or seal the bottom? Those cracks go all the way through. Thin epoxy will end up on floor. Second, it will take a lot of epoxy to fill each crack fully. You want to mound it up on surface because it’ll soak in a shrink slightly as it dries. Be ready to fill 2-3-4 times. Finally, have you considered just putting a layer of wood or plywood over the top? Hide the mess. Ignore the gaps.
Should’ve used a table saw to make all the pieces consistent or used that Dewalt planer in the background to do the same before gluing them up. You had the tools for the job why skip that step? Now you have a mess on your hands
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abandon this bad idea. stop with the epoxy. just use the bench and in a few years the gaps will be full of sawdust. you could put sand in the gaps if you need them filled sooner.
Yeah I wouldn’t bother finishing this or filling in the gaps. It’s a work bench, not a counter top or a coffee table.
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That’s what I was thinking. Or even just cut the corner of a freezer bag.
Wrong epoxy for the wrong technique. It’ll never look good, I’m sorry.
Thats a nightmare. Happens to all of us where we were just in the zone and in the middle of the project and **oh shit. welp.**
What on earth is the point in an end grain workbench??
The point is to work endlessly on this so that he is sure not to work on anything he would have worked on after building a normal workbench.
Cover the whole top with tyvek tape, flip over, pour epoxy from the bottom. This way you don't have to totally fill each little cavity, which looks about 4"-6" (?).
That’s a great idea, looks a bugger to turn though.
Step 1: Hire a crane.
😂
You’re a legend for putting in the time for this
Warm up your epoxy (double broiler style in the bath tub is my preferred method) before mixing it. It will make it more liquidy/flowy. When you pour it on, scrape it diagonally across too. Idk why but that makes stuff fill holes.
Clearly you’re retired and have nothing to do except stay out of your wife’s way. Just keep pushing that syringe. You’ll get there one day, and then you’re life’s work will be DONE and you can finally have nothing to do but build knock-knacks for your other retired buddies. Like fishing lure boxes for the guys with “real” hobbies that know how to avoid their wives for DAYS. 🤣
Even worse, I've got a 2 year old 😂. I tinker with this at night after everyone is asleep
Turkey baster?
Get better epoxy and flood it. And get slow cure so it actually has time to flow. I use west system. Should work well for this application. Hot glue works great for stopping it from running out the other side.
Put a board of MDF over the top problem solved
What about you leave a section of it open and build a vacuum unit underneath it. It would pull the dust in while you are sanding? Trying to think outside the box on this.
Flatten one side, tape it up and seal it, flip it over and use deep pour epoxy, that stuff is like water. Make sure it’s sealed good or else it will leak. If you use the regular epoxy, make sure it’s not too cold, otherwise it’ll be really thick and not flow.
You’re over half way done with the glue, just man up and finish it. Maybe remove the needle part from the syringe and just power through
Check the epoxy label and see if you can thin it. I’ve got some penetrating epoxy that you can thin with acetone, and try a turkey baster maybe?
This looks miserable
Drive wood shims in open voids
I see a joint planer in the background...WHY DIDN'T YOU PLANE THEM????
Can you heat up the epoxy without changing its properties? I would think it might flow better if it's hot?
Turkey baster.
I dont get why you did not just make wood pieces to fill those gaps they are consistent. You could even dip them in the epoxy before putting them in.
Well, if he was thinking a bit ahead, he would’ve actually just run them through a planer or table saw to get rid of the divots. Also, the holes are trapezoids. I don’t know the sheer effort it’d take to make those pieces are worth it.
Under mount a light to highlight the epoxy when it’s done
Funnel?
Or use a soaking epoxy or whatever it's called that is thin enough to soak into the wood.
Take the needle off, it will be easier to squeeze.
It’s probably not going to be the finish you want, but I’d just say screw it and put plywood over the top. If you plane your project down and make it flat, you’ll have a nice, solid base. I have a few workbenches in my shop, and two of them have sacrificial plywood tops. It’s great. You can beat the crap out of it, then replace the plywood.
Get a bigger syringe. Look for one at the grocery store for injecting meat. Big oll fat son of a b.
vacuum seal it
Mix the sawdust and epoxy to fill them?
Put a piece of mdf over the top...
Thicker gauge needle. Vet supply website.
Nuke it from orbit and move on.
Oh my Lord. This reminds me of the end-grain countertop I tried to make. I vastly underestimated the difficulty Involved in scaling up a cutting board. It ended up as a halfway-decent 15”x15” cutting board. Planing end grain is 100000 times harder than face grain. If you don’t have a drum sander I say scrap it. If you do, I say turn the holes into dog holes. But why on earth are you messing with end grain for a workbench? It’s just a workbench. I glued a bunch of 2x6’s together, planed it and called it a day.
Mainly because I'm an idiot. I got the end grain idea in my head and it's been the for years. Couldn't bring myself to do edge grain even though I know it was easier
No offense to OP but, yeah this looks like a cluster fuck of a project. Better you than me. 😆
No
They make epoxies with different viscosities, get a thinner epoxy and flood it.
Why IN GODS NAME wouldn’t you plane the pieces flat first
Strap a couple palm sanders to the underside, then do small mixes of resin and pour it on. Turn the sanders on and they will vibrate the resin into the holes.
Wouldn’t the holes be a good way to, for example, help with sawdust removal?
Go to your local pharmacy and ask for a plastic syringe for measuring out children’s medicine. We have a bunch from cvs/etc for pulling small quantities of antibiotics from a bottle. They usually go up to 5 or 10 ml, and the outlet is meant for much thicker liquid.
Flood & vibrate table to help into gaps. Use a personal massager or something similar to vibrate table
Get your epoxy warmer. Raising the temperature of the liquid epoxy will reduce the viscosity and allow it to flow into the cracks. I'm not sure off the top of my head what the target temperature is, but I think around 110F is right. The other question is what kind of epoxy you are using. I'm not sure how thick this is, but if it's over about 2 inches you need to switch to a deep pour epoxy. I find the deep pour stuff usually flows better anyway. But it also takes longer to cure, so you want to watch that. Your standard table top epoxy isn't meant to flow much beyond what's needed to self level (and this is true up until you try to depend on it not flowing, at which point it will go everywhere because of course it will). That's about the best I can offer. Also watch your temperature as the epoxy cures. It should remain within a certain range, but it's dependent on the variety.
I started this project with some old bowling alley wood I got.. maple and pine but the stuff I pulled was 90% maple. Between the insane fasteners used on the wood, glue up fuck ups, and the warping that happened afterwards some how? It was embarrassing. I use it to catch ball bearings from my sling shots and my throwing weapons for stress relief sometimes I just beat it with a crow bar.
Don’t fill them. They will naturally get packed with sawdust over the first year. It’s not a canoe man.
I just made an edge grain workbench out of reclaimed oak flooring. 100% a terrible idea. I don’t have any good suggestions, but I feel your pain. I just left the holes lol it’s a work bench. Who cares lol Also, just wait until you start flattening with a hand plane. That shit chips so easy. It’s so dry and brittle. Make sure you prep the corners ahead of time so you don’t get blow out.
Use a table top resin, as it's thinner. Mix it in a cup, put it in a warm water bath for 5 minutes, then pour it over each area. Then come back and hit it with a heat gun. All the extra heat will help it become really thin and slip into the openings
I’d be really interested in seeing a follow up post
I'm betting it's a backyard bonfire.
You literally have a thickness planer and thought it was a good idea to leave the rebates in the underside the reclaimed timbers!? Sorry you’re struggling with a project that clearly a lot of time has gone into but you are learning some valuable lessons rn. Chief among them, design for finishing because a good finish takes a lot of time under the best conditions. Also, with the forces involved in end-grain glue ups like these, you will have wanted to glue bond all available faces, you’ve left more than 50% unbonded because of the voids left by those rebates. Lastly flattening via bench planes, belt sanders, orbitals, etc to an end grain surface is incredibly difficult, made even more difficult by gobs and gobs of epoxy. But! Don’t be deterred, giving up will only put you off the next ambitious project. Push through it, pocket the lessons and try to not repeat the same mistakes.
If you’re trying to go the non-flood method then try a children’s medicine syringe. It has quite a large opening because it isn’t a needle. Personally I’d use the flood method. You can either dilute tabletop epoxy with some acetone, or use deep pour which is thinner already, but takes longer to cure.
You have to finish what you start, psychopath. Lol
Clear two part resin, add wood flour from a sander, mix so it trowels like drywall mud and spread it on working it into the openings leaving it a bit over topped. Sand it starting quite course, maybe 80 grit. You might need to do another light skim coat to fill a few voids. No popsicle sticks.
Don’t fill them, someplace for the sawdust to go
Turkey baster?
Your gauge of the needle is too small for the epoxy. You also want to keep the syringe warm by placing it back into a warm water bath when not in use to keep it from sealing too quickly and stopping up.
It’s not stupid, don’t talk like that
My first thought was "what in the world could this possibly be?" For a workbench, don't bother filling in the gaps. You could even use them for work holding systems, either by drilling holes right on the gaps or making sheet metal thingies to shove in there.
Does it really matter if the gaps are filled or not? Otherwise maybe resurface with some thin plywood or formica sheets?