Epoxy and Wood Project Fails & How to Fix Them 

The cheapest and best tip I can give is tuck tape is the cheapest-thing when doing epoxy pours. We’ve all had leaks so double taping will save you lots of cash!!! Great amount of information was given in this clip👍👍

Thanks so much for all the tips and tricks! I’m about to do my first pour in a couple days and really looking forward to it.

Wish I found your site earlier. Lots of good information I didn't know. Super excited to try some of your tips. That's a bunch

Great video! Appreciate you putting it together. Daughter and I are looking forward to doing our first project and this is very helpful. Thanks!

Epoxy is a weak point for me. Needed to do a table top pour for my outside dining table in 2016. No way to do it inside. Watched as many video's as I could. Taped the edges, got it level and the pour went well. Popped the bubbles with a torch cuz that's what I had. Checked on it 30 minutes later and found a Bee floundering center left. Dug he out best I could. Let it cure for a while then heated up a nickel with the same torch and pressed it into where the Bee had been. My education continued months later when I realized that table top doesn't do well outside. I've since replaced the top again with redwood fence boards, burned, brushed and coated with Spar Varnish. Thank you for your effort. This video really helps as I continue to explore the world of epoxy.

I have made the same mistakes, and this video is really helpful i wish I saw this before I started working with epoxy.

Wow great lessons in one video! I subscribed. I find these Q & A very helpful, thanks!

Haven't done any huge projects to this point. Only worked on plaques and coasters, but so far I've taken time to pay particular attention to correct epoxy, proper temperature and drying times. The video was truly helpful as I'll definitely keep these mistakes in mind when preparing to work on larger and future projects. Keep up the great work and postings, thanks.

Well I pretty much make all of those mistakes on each piece repeatedly. I have done 30 plus pours, and I still continue to do so, as I am building all of My Kitchen/Vanity/Bar Countertops throughout my entire New Barndominium. I am 67 and do this in my Spare time as I still work full time. Its just a Labor of Love.

Great video and some very good advice which will hopefully save some people alot of time and money 👍🏻 great job.

Great video. Well done. Well presented, Probably the best video I have watched on here. Very good information is shared here. This is a save video to rewatch it as needed for sure.

I love your content. Teaches me alot

I've learned a few of these mistakes myself. One of the most important ones is using the right product for the right application. Another one is liquid pigments tend to stain your wood vs mica pigments. So I've learned to seal the edges for liquid pigment pours. And a big one as you discussed. Proper ratios. I've had a few pieces not cured fully. Always learning the dos and don't on each project.

I have made several of the mistakes that you mentioned. Once, on a small coffee table pour, I mixed a table top epoxy with a deep pour epoxy by mistake (the containers unfortunately looked almost identical, and I didn't double/triple check). So, of course, it didn't cure properly, just became a rubbery mess. I was actually able to salvage most of the wood to use in another project (didn't use epoxy on that one). There are many ways to go wrong using epoxy. Thank you for the great video!

I really appreciate that JMD shares some of their mistakes and the lessons learned. As a casual resin maker, it is really disheartening to make a mistake and lose a project. Watching these videos you learn that even professionals sometime screw up.

Hi Jeff. Great channel. What I like most, from the point of view of a non English speaking person, is the way you express yourself, it’s so clear and neat. I watched this video for the second time because I’m looking for the solution to a problem I have when using my router sled. I’ve got a pretty good router and also a pretty good router bit, but I can’t avoid getting a kind of “crater lines” every time I pass the sled. It’s like if I cut bubbles in have and get have a half spheres line all along the resin. I’ve tried to slow and speed up the router, to pass the sled slower and faster, to remove less resin and wood at a time, but I can’t get any of my creations without a single “crater”. I’m not sure if you can really understand what I’m talking about, sorry for not being able to express myself better. But if you know what I’m talking about and you have a solution I’d be enormously grateful if you share it with me. Thanks a lot in advance. Keep creating content, it’s great.

Thank you for this video. It is fantastic and so informative.

Never worked with epoxy myself. A nephew has and told me about some mistakes he's made. I'm planning on making some pieces using epoxy so I'm trying to learn everything I can so I don't waste a lot of money. This video answered some questions. Thank you.

Good video. Thanks for taking the time. One more I would add is I did a pour recently and apparently the mix ratio was slightly off. The epoxy never hardened. Instead I have a sticky glue mess. Luckily the pour was just over voids / cracks and not the whole piece. After several attempts to clean up the stickiness I'm at the point of not wasting any more time and will either abandon the project or drill out the troubled spots and fill in. Probably not a good solution either but I'm scratching my head at this one.

Just did our first pour on a penny bar top. We did a seal coat and I think we took too long as the epoxy got hot, thick and cloudy on the final few spots we brushed. Would you recommend trying to sand those down and re-sealing them before we do the 2nd pour?

Thanks! I plan to do some wood "cookie" type tables just for myself. There are holes and cracks in the wood, is there a thicker type of epoxy to fill the cracks with or do you have a video covering that. Also, on this video you said to use a meter to be sure the wood is ready, what degree of dryness does it need to be?

Thank you for the video.

Great video

Can you saw (like a table saw) a small section of set epoxy to remove the wood mold since I can't get it off?

I'm relatively new to this epoxy game and I'm set up for wood working in my shop which is only 12x16. Stuffed full of tools and equipment, machinery, lumber, cutting and charcuterie boards in various stages of completion. Actully same as they were when I started messing with epoxy. I'm using a 14" round silicone mold with various woods and epoxy. Here's the kicker.. I'm in Central Florida, pouring on my screen porch with only a ceiling fan on medium directly overhead. Poured my 5th one today ar 84 degrees and it went up to 94 this afternoon. I swirled it at 10 hours and all looks good. I've seen 100s of yt videos with caution about too hot. My highest temp pour was at 90 and it hit 98 that day with a heat index of 106. Why aren't I having trouble? What trouble should I be having? I'm pouring a table next week and don't want this customers 40th anniversary present to his wife to go wrong. Thanks, good video btw.

Great info

Thankyou for the video Very helpful. Also instead of measuring I weighed the resin for one project and had a big goopy mess, was that the reason it failed

I did my first poor today on eight tables. I used ultra clear epoxy A and B I hope they come out good

Such a great video with lots of great tips. thanks for that. my question: what am I doing wrong if matt spots can be seen on the surface after curing. In any case, I mixed it conscientiously. so what could be the reason? thanks in advance and best regards, Silvia

My brother inlaw tried to pour expoy on a very expensive customer corn hole boards and according to my sister he ruined them. They were gifts from their children. I'm a amatuer woodworker and have never used Expoy. I appreciate all the tips. I may ask some questions once I get the boards.

I found your video very informative. I have never worked with epoxy and would like to make a live-edge coffee table using epoxy. Where do you purchase epoxy and how do you know which type to use for your project?

Hi this was very educational. I made a small epoxy and I noticed later on many small tiny white dots. What have I done wrong ? I appreciate your input. Thanks

I appreciated your video. I came across it while looking for a way to repair a torch burn on white epoxy resin. The white epoxy resin bubbled up and turned a golden yellow. Any suggestions? Thanks

How do I remove my kitchen countertop light scratches ? Is there a wax or spray?

Thank you , you cleared many of the issues but I would like to ask that how can we avoid dust particles to stick on the pour ? Than you

Can you use "found" wood with epoxy? I love the shape of decaying root balls and would love to capture a ring of the root ball inside an epoxy pour but it sounds like I could have separation issues. thanks

I can't remove the wood I used for the mold to pour the epoxy. Can I just sand it down until the wood is removed?

Hi, I did a pour for a 1m2 stair landing. Mold was fine and sealed well, but kept having to top up epoxy. Didn't realise until cured that the epoxy was capable of floating 40kg of timber. Used twice as much as I should have. Clamp the pieces down!

Epoxy hardens fast just after mixing with mica powders and metallic color and unable to work for a kitchen counter top for about 32 sft.? Outside temp. was below 72F. 1:1 (0.5gal) : (0.5gal) mixed separately before mixing with colors separately in a small cups. After researching it's noticed exothermic reaction ... *Timer *Volume *Temperature. What is your advice to avoid the fast hardening when mixing with colors?

My go-to for leaks is Flex Paste to temporarily stop the leak and hot glue over it to reinforce it. Its thicker than any silicone I've used, so it gives you enough time for the hot glue to cure.

I am a newbe and will try a pour soon however need to learn more first..

Hey man, very helpful video first at all. I did my first project and I've poured the rist layer about 2cm thickness and come back about 20hrs later to pour another 2cm on top, but I haven't scuffed it... I haven't yet removed it from the mould... how would I fix if the 2 parts gets separated? I was thinking of maybe drilling through holes top to bottom and then pour some epoxy?

Please talk about uneven ripples either from using heat gun and forming waves or how to fill in dimples. I am on my 9th attempt on my dining room table after about a year. Very frustrating, not to mention expensive!!! Probably $750 of wasted product bcuz I'm a perfectionist and if I see 1 hair fiber or raised dust particle-i start all over worried that it wouldn't be even if I try to level out a dimple

Great vid. I want to also step into epoxy projects (perhaps first some smaller ones). These answers will help me for sure. But how do you measure the amount of epoxy you need. especially when you use a very curved piece of wood. Because making way to many wil cost a lot of money to throw away unused.

Around the 1130 mark you discussed under mixing and epoxy not drying. How do you fix. I have a sticky spot and I assume that is what happened.

What epoxy do you use

Hi 👋. I poured my table with a second coat, within the 24 hour time limit. Came out this morning to find that condensation dripped down on the table whilst I was sleeping. The rest of the table turned out beautiful. Can I sand just the affected areas and pour on top of them? Will it meld into the rest of the cured epoxy and look ok? Or will it look like a blurb/epoxy bubble?

great tips!!!, however I do not recommend using a paddle for fast setting epoxy, it introduces a lot of bubbles into the mix, which can become a problem if your proyect is 1/4" thick or above

I made several mistakes on my first pour, resulting in labor-intensive salvage efforts. The first mistake was that I did not flatten the slabs before putting them in the mold. The slabs were slightly warped, which required more epoxy to fill the gaps (more money). Then, removing the excess epoxy required a lot of work on the router flattening table! The second mistake was I used melamine plywood for the form and didn't tape the bottom and sides. I used a silicone spray-releasing agent (two coats), and the epoxy still stuck to the melamine. Again, a huge chore to router the plywood off of the epoxy. The third mistake was not measuring the epoxy ratios correctly. I had several brands of epoxy on hand. Some of the ratios were 1:1, and others were 1:2. On one pour that was supposed to be 1:2, I mixed it at a 1:1 ratio, and it heated up too fast and cracked in several places. The epoxy was tinted, and when I mixed up more to fill the cracks, the tint wasn't the same color, and the cracks were still visible. Another mistake I made was not sealing the inside edges of the slabs which resulted in thousands of air bubbles that did not rise to the surface and were trapped in the epoxy. I think the epoxy was too cool and was not fluid enough to allow the air bubbles to rise to the top. Additionally, I should have done several shallow pours instead of pouring the 2" all at once.

My piece has recently formed two cracks in it. One is from a bubble, the second one I’m not sure why it came about. It’s not separating from the wood, the resin cracked. My pour was made about a year ago. Any suggestions on how to fix the cracks? It’s a 8 gallon pour and any suggestions would be appreciated.

Great video! My biggest problem is that I don’t give up on a project gone wrong and keep pouring flood coat after flood coat and it almost ALWAYS ends up getting tossed. I need to say enough sooner and quit pouring good epoxy after bad. I’m trying but I just tossed another charcuterie board after a seal coat and two or three flood coats. COME ON!! $$$$$

I want to put crushed glass on a table top that has resin on it do I sand the resin on the table or can I just go ahead with it also do I put the glass down and pour the resin over it or do I need to put a small layer and put the glass down and then pour over the top to seal it in

Did my first pour a couple of days ago. Did some cutting board art , and was too light on the pigment. There's like barely any color to it lol

I have a cured rattlesnake skin on a piece of white pine. I would really like to do a pour on it to make it last longer. Any advice on this? Should I do a seal coat w/out the skin and let it dry or should I do a seal coat and apply the skin while it's tacky, let it dry, then do the final pour? Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think my biggest mistake is not removing the bark properly, devastating and ruined my first poor, as well as properly clamping to keep most of the epoxy from getting under the project because takes a lot more time to sand. Lastly making sure your surface is level when pouring, super important!

Is there another way other than sanding and polishing to give the finish a clear shiny finish?

I need your help with my wooden bowl i have a crack in it and it leaks what’s the best way to seal the leak

we did a wooden floor the hardwood was about 3/8 s “ thick and 1-1/2 “ wide we sanded as best as possible with a flat large sander, poured in the day temp about 75 degrees, we poured it looked great left and stayed out about 8 hrs. as not to take a chance of walking on it until cured, came back some had seeped through the tiny cracks leaving the top thin layer in higher spots which cured hard, but the lower spots pooled in areas that didn’t seep out it would not cure 3 weeks later we scraped it off, and varnished it instead, ? what went wrong our measurements were correct, we were super careful only second time with epoxy, if anything we were over cautious we didn’t want any mistakes we even over mixed being sure everything was completely mixed, was it just a bad batch of epoxy or did we do something wrong ?

I have pits in the second seal coat. What would cause that?

3 weeks after an epoxy for I came home from work when the house was really warm and found a spot in my countertop that had gone soft I've removed the soft part but need to know how to fix. Also had a coffee.maker over flow and now have a stain when I had used ultimate top coat? How to fix it

can you recommend a good way to fix tiny pin holes in cured epoxy? Thanks

What about many fish eyes on a stain table, what the problem can be? No seal wood after stain? How to fix it? Thanks!!!.

Just made one today on my first pour, I took a toothpick to fish out a bubble and is was too far along in the cure process that it grabbed the toothpick and it was like on the matrix when Neo touched the mirror. I created more bubbles and a giant lump lol. Had to route it out to make it look halfway decent, lesson learned.

I've made all of those mistakes in my 35 years of resin top manufacturing and more including working at a shop where $60,000 of resin furniture was stolen. As far as why things crack could be a whole myriad of reasons from: 1)too much exotherm, 2)moisture in the wood, 3) getting too cold then the coefficient in contraction comes into play ( the rate of expansion and contraction based on heat, 4)not enough penetration due to poor choice of epoxy due to viscosity and not knowing how to get around it (yes there are ways of thinning epoxy but can come at a cost if gone too far) 5) Epoxy hardness 6) Poor prep of surfaces 7) Contaminants in the air or introduced unintentionally 8) Weather - humidity and temperature 9) Thinking only table top epoxy gets the job done and not realizing there are better products out there for specific purposes 10) Vacuum infusion leaks

I am getting ready to do my first pour. Your video was great but i missed the temperature you should have your work space.

I keep getting little dimples in my pour. Sanded and poured again and they still come back. I wash it with isopropyl alcohol before I pour but they still come back in different places. I used deep pour and figured that was a mistake for a final coat so then I used Craft Resin and got the same results. Can you help.

what's the coldest temp i could get away with when doing a pour?

Omg you had me at start the car

I just leaning on how to do this I keep getting fuoming like and a lot of bubbles. Still have not figured it out

Great vid and seem to make a new mistake with each poor.

The problem I've run into is, hte epoxy doesn't stay spread out, it puddles up much thicker than it was spread out, almost like dough. It cured perfect in 30 hrs, but it's all stippled and thicker bumps, where it was totally flat after the pour???

The biggest mistake I have not solved yet are billions of micro bubbles suspended in the epoxy. This is very evident on clear pours. Do you use vacuum chambers on all of your clear pours to prevent this. This is extremely frustrating for me as I have talked to the manufacturer and am following all of there steps.

I use melamine and mold release. Silicone the creases. No issues with that method so far.

My epoxy didn’t seem to cover. It puddled up in most of the area, and other areas look like the epoxy didn’t cover. Like drops or dimples all over the surface. Not sure what I need to do now:( This was supposed to be a seal coat, bye the way.

Steering the resin and hardener for three minutes didn't work for me. It was always sticky and not cured properly. I now use a dremel with a whisk attachment that mixes the resin with the hardener better.

Lolz well a clear work area. My mistake was simple. Poured , walked away. Thinking all is well. Kids (4 under 8) playing tag. Rushed though back door and saw dust took over table as a strong breeze came though the door as kids ran out of the door.... So , clean work environment (ps before I did start, wife did say should make sure work area is cleaned to a T, I said, nothing will happen, door is closed and locked. . . . The unexpected variable, "kids"❤ , love them but man.... )

Gosh darn it... i found your video too late. I just poured a bunch of epoxy on my table top and made a few sinful mistakes: 1) did not mix A and B parts long enough..... 2) definitely did not use enough epoxy so now i have a bunch of dimples throughout... and 3) used a torch (not heat gun) and zapped the same spots repeatedly... 😅😅😅😢😢😢

I definitely learned that duct tape will not hold a pour without extra support. Metal tape is very sticky and does not allow leakage. It would serve you well filling voids in cookies.

Small little project literally an inch on the bottom of a dresser drawer. I did it in my bedroom…. I have carpet in my bedroom. I put the container I mixed it in down. And it dripped all down the edge. And now I have epoxy in my carpet…. It’s a brand new house build like 4 months old…… and I’m renting 😳😭

This video made me nervous. I’m getting ready for my first tabletop… hopefully I don’t jack up… 😢

I made a 2” beach scene last week, but the very last layer didn’t cure …after all that damn work. I’m sure I measured right, but I’m unsure if it was/is too cool in my house or if I accidentally didn’t mix enough. Anyways, I decided to cover it for awhile and just leave it to see if it’ll harden at all….give it maybe up to a month. Has anyone tried giving it that much extra time to cure?

You gotta get the cordless Ryobi glue gun. It will change your life.

FLEX SEAL FOR YOUR LEAKS....FIXES IT IMMEDIATELY

okay.

I tried to eyeball the mixture………….sticky.

Don't use 5 minute epoxy to fill knot holes, when it's been sitting on the shelf for 2+ years. Gooy Mess.

Less epoxy more woodworking.

:17 "printing" clip was lude, rude and detracted from your video.