Filling large splits holes in end grain with epoxy

[ibecs]

I'm in the processof building an end grain cutting board which has gone from a very rough slicethrough a tree trunk to a reasonably smooth and flat board. It has a number of large cracks in it which Iwould like to fill.

From several of theother posts on the forum it seems that casting resin is the right product to use.

I've been experimenting on scrap piece with how to finish the surface and how to fill the cracks.

Yesterday I mixed some resin with hardener and then mixed some fine wood chips from the router togive it some bulk and mixed some more of it with the sanding dust. I filled the test crack in one go and It's been over 24 hours now but the resin is still very soft.

My questions are:

1. Have the wood chips/dust upset the resin and stopped it from setting or do I just need to leave it for longer? It's been reasonably warm over the last couple of days in Melbourne - 16-23C.
2. Should I mask the top surface of the board? The test I've done so far was pretty messy on the top surface and I'm concerned about how much I'll have to remove to get back to a good surface when I do it on the final board.

Some pictureshere. http://imgur.com/a/uejUx#t5m3EoW

[ubeaut]

You need to make sure you mix exactly the right amount of hardener to the resin. Also the final resin after going off can actually feel sticky or soft on the surface but probably won't be if you cut some of the overfill off and get back to the final finished height of the resin.

You need to also make sure that there is no water present in what you embed in the resin or in or on the timber you are filling as this can cause problems. However it shouldn't affect the drying.

Take a fine slice off the proud bit of resign and you'll probably find what's underneath is fine and hard.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers - Neil

[DJ’s Timber]

From those images you've linked to, I very much doubt that they're dry and that they still have a fair amount of drying to do and most likely a fair bit of splitting to still happen.

How long ago was this piece cut from the log and how long has the log been down for?

[Master Splinter]

If the casting resin hasn't set off by now, I doubt that it will. The surface can feel sticky, but underneath should be hard. Only suggestion would be to buy an extra bottle of MEKP and try a new batch to see if it is something to do with the catalyst.

Don't worry about masking the top surface; the resin is not going to draw into the timber for any significant distance - you'd probably need a magnifying glass to see it, so it'll rout/sand out just fine.

[ibecs]

From those images you've linked to, I very much doubt that they're dry and that they still have a fair amount of drying to do and most likely a fair bit of splitting to still happen.

How long ago was this piece cut from the log and how long has the log been down for?

The tree was cut down in July 2012 and these were cut from the tree at the same time, so it's been 20 months. They've been sitting under the cover of the carport since then.

How long should I leave these to dry? I haven't seen any movement in the splits for the last 6 months so assumed they were probably stable, but I have to admit that I have absolutely no experience in this.

[DJ’s Timber]

The tree was cut down in July 2012 and these were cut from the tree at the same time, so it's been 20 months. They've been sitting under the cover of the carport since then.

How long should I leave these to dry? I haven't seen any movement in the splits for the last 6 months so assumed they were probably stable, but I have to admit that I have absolutely no experience in this.

In that case you've been pretty lucky, it can be a bugger to dry these without major splitting. If you haven't seen any movement in the last six months then I would say they're dry enough.

[ibecs]

In that case you've been pretty lucky, it can be a bugger to dry these without major splitting. If you haven't seen any movement in the last six months then I would say they're dry enough.

This one was definitely the best of the bunch. Some of the others are a total mess.