Newbie stuck with a red gum slab

[davep]

Hi folks,

Have been a reader of this forum for sometime, but now I've become a user.

We have a red gum slab which is 265cm long by 70cm wide by 5cm thick. It has a live edge on both sides. Our plan is for it to go on our bar.

We were wrongly advised by our paint shop to use Northane Clear Gloss which is a polyurethane to fill our cracks and holes. Others had told us that epoxy resin was the answer.

With first mixing the product we felt it was too liquidy, rang the paint shop who said it will be fine. With our application it sank into the wood. Rang the paint shop again about this, the answer allow the 1st coat to dry, the second coat will start to build up. 2<SUP>nd</SUP> coat again generally soaked in. We rang Norglass who told it is absolutely the wrong product, we should have been sold their Epoxy Laminating Resin.

The picture taken is with the polyurethane on it, all the dark bits. We are worried about how it will now finish. Further enquiries about what to do lead me to think that the job is too hard for us. My wife and I have been doing heaps of renovation work, but this red gum slab is beyond us. My question is, would someone like to take this job on? We'd want an approx. price up front. I have several more pictures of the slab which I could email. We want the slab finished off with a matte finish. I really hope someone would like to do this. We live in Wahroonga.

Best regards, Dave.

[Tonyz]

South Oz is a bit to far away but Iam sure someone closer will come to the aid of the party.

Dont worry thougfh all is not lost and with some gentle coaching we'll get you doing the job yourself and being stuffed proud of it.

[watson]

I agree with Tonto,
I can't help you with info, but other members of the forum will be able to set you on the right track....and then it'll be your own work....and your bar will then be your own thing.
Relax and incoming stuff will solve the problem!

[davep]

Thanks guys, where we see the difficulty is how to get the epoxy onto the live edges. We've been told to use white plastic cutting boards as they do not stick to the epoxy. Heat the boards to fit the curve of the edges. This is what sounds just too hard. Then questions like what is the best epoxy product for our job and how do we go about applying it? Is the existing polyurethane going to create problems? I guess many more.

In our situation to avoid more grief, paying $$ is an easy option.

Thanks greatly, Dave.

[RufflyRustic]

Dave, I think the red gum slab is VERY salvageable and I'm sure you will be able to do the work yourself, without a problem.

The difference between the poly and the expoxy, (imho) is that the epoxy will stop any further cracking.

My suggestion is to get a scrap piece of timber with a crack or two in it, put the poly on it the same way as you did for the slab. Then when it's dry, lightly sand with 80 grit, clean away the dust and apply a coat of expoxy. This test is to see how the two products go together eg does the expoxy never set? etc etc

For the slab, give the top a good sand down all over to keep it even, 80 grit's a good start and then maybe 120 and 180.

Are you intending on using the epoxy to cover the whole slab, or just fill in the cracks and such?

I've found the West System epoxy doesn't stick to Tiger Baking paper and another member on the board uses plasticine as a stopper when epoxying cracks and holes in turning blanks.

Hoping this helps and gives you an idea that it is salvagable and you are able to do this job yourself.

Cheers
Wendy

[BUNTA]

If the resin you have put in is already dry... ? buy some glass coat from bunnings (i am not affiliated with this company in any way ..bla bla bla) it is a two part resin. for the live edges i use a wire brush wheel fitted to a angle grinder to clean off any remaining bark then sand both top & bottom surfaces of the slab so tape will stick.
position the slab so that the resin can be poured strait in & any parts that will allow the resin to drain away can be blocked off using duct tape ( the wide gray tape ).
it takes about a day to be touch dry & after 2 days should be fine for sanding .
hope this helps.

[BobL]

Thanks guys, where we see the difficulty is how to get the epoxy onto the live edges.

By the look of the bits of tape stuck to the sides of the slab, instead of "onto" I think you mean "into the cracks on the natural edges"?

If so, it is impossible to get the epoxy to stay in the cracks unless the surface you are working on is facing directly upwards. Stick a gaffer tape sleeve all the way around the outside of the upward facing surface so that the epoxy doesn't leak out of any side cracks. if it's a cool or cold day heat the timber up with a hot air gun till it is noticeably warm

Then use a syringe to gently squirt drop epoxy into the cracks till it slightly oozes out of the cracks. If you don't have a syringe a large splinter of wood will do as a dipping/application strip. For very fine cracks use a disposable paintbrush. If the epoxy pools unecessarily in any hollows you have to suck/wipe out the excess. You may need to apply the epoxy several times to fill all the cracks. In some cases it has taken 6 applications fo fill the cracks. Once the cracks are full and set, move onto the next surface. At some stage you should paint all the natural edges with epoxy

Then sand back the flat surfaces and finish with your preference.

For the natural edges bush use gently with a very fine/soft wire brush. A good example is the very fine wire brushes available for Dremel tools. These will polish the epoxy/timber on the natural edge to a nice soft sheen.

It is time consuming work and you just need to be paitent, but it's well worth it in the long run

Cheers

[salty72]

we have the ability to suface anything upto 1200mm in width and can probable fix your problem for you ... HOWEVER we are 130Km North of SYDNEY (Raymond Terrace) -this might be a problem,

If not give us a ring 043 TURNING (043 887 6464)

[Bodgy]

This is not such a big problem. Best to have a look.

I'm at Turramurra so PM me and I'll try and get over one evening. Strongly suggest you don't do anything else to the slab yet.

[davep]

Thanks very very much to everyone for your words of encouragement. Rufflyrustic we used to live in Toowoomba, both went to school there, 1st jobs and first house.

I'm taking up Bodgy's offer for him to have a look.
We hope to keep the live edges, the epoxy is to fill the cracks on them and also on the flat top surface. Several holes to be done as well. Then we just want a matte finish of some type that is fairly resistant to spills, etc, as a bar top needs to be.

Many thanks to all again, this is a top forum. Dave & Di.

[RufflyRustic]

Good on ya Bodgy!!

Don't worry Dave & Di, Toowoomba hasn't changed that much


Also, check out the Slab Hut's website. It's a small site, but interesting to see.

cheers
Wendy

[davep]

Also, check out the Slab Hut's website.

Thanks Wendy, I particularly like the Slab Hut's bar stools.

Kindest regards Dave.

[davep]

Hi folks,

We've made no further progress with our red gum slab. Basically indecision is our problem.

The first pic shows the polyurethane on the top.
How do we remove this? With a cabinet scraper or a citrus chemical remover? Or any other ideas?

The second pic shows an area that we'd like to fill with epoxy.
Can we build this up with gaffer tape or baking paper so that the epoxy ends up being equal to the top, but at the same time forming a wall on the side?

Finally is polyurethane okay to finish the live edge or should we use epoxy? We are after a matte finish.

Thanks greatly, Dave.

[davep]

Can we use blu tac to dam up and make walls to hold the epoxy?

Thanks, Dave.

[MacS]

I think that if you used the "epoxy putty sticks" you could do the job yourself if you wanted too.

You won''t need any "daming" as this putty will not run, sag, or shrink. it is easy to apply, and with a plastic credit card you can scrape off the excess, or you could shape or mold it any way you wish. It is hard in less then one hour, and is ready for finishing.

I mentioned this before here on the forum, do a fast "search" there is a photo of what it looks like. I think I may have one showing the steps of how is done.

I will go look for it, and post it, if I find it.

MacS