Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Gun Building and Repair => Topic started by: BEAVERMAN on October 06, 2008, 10:44:41 PM

Title: Coloring or tinting epoxy
Post by: BEAVERMAN on October 06, 2008, 10:44:41 PM

OK Guys, heres the deal, I have a TC that needs some stock repair and has some fibers at the break that are missing, very small fill, I wont use any standard wood filler cuz the stuff is crap and wont stain worth doodly! Ive been trying to find some brown epoxy, have seen it in the past but cant find it now(go figure), I dont want to spend the 20 some bux to buy arcaglass for about aneraser size dob of epoxy, anybody have a recipe or method of coloring clear epoxy for a fix?

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Post by: FG1 on October 07, 2008, 12:22:02 AM

Might try making some sanding dust with coarse paper after staing it close or a little darker and mixing in with epoxy to make your own filler . I' ve had luck with walnut .

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Post by: Captchee on October 07, 2008, 09:34:05 AM

well jim , you have a couple choices .
 one FG brought up  but another  you should already know about but may just never thought of . thats pigments for floor epoxies .
 you can get them through T&A  or Associated .
 i know the  T&A   down in Boise used to have it right next to the colored grout samples . It comes in buckets , tubs and even small tubes like oil paints .

 Now the other trick , I learned from an old gunsmith friend of mine many years back is  charcoal .
Charcoal makes a wonderful color match filler  for  mixing with epoxies  .
 The way he showed me to do this was to go down to the arts and craft store and get  artist charcoals . Not the ones in a pencil , even though I would think they would work to . But the ones he preferred were the charcoal sticks . They kind of look like pieces of chalk  .
  Find the shade of color that  matches the closest to you final stain color .  Then take that and rub it back and forth on  sand paper tell you have a dust .
 Mix the dust with your epoxy tell its about the consistency of   warm peanut butter . It must be alittle runny or the  epoxy will not grab  the walls of the fill .
 Pack just enough to fill the hole  so its just a tad higher then  what you want
.
 Now the final trick takes a little technique  and timing to get down .
 Taking a razor blade “ I use a square edged  Roberts carpet blade   one of the trimmer blades  as you know well there isn’t anything sharper then a  fresh carpet knife blade  “.
 Anyway  watch the epoxy dry  by testing your  mix location . When it reaches the point of being  like fresh chewing gum , take you blade and  holding it at 90 deg  slowly drag it across the fill  being carful not to scratch the surrounding finish . Go lightly so  it takes off the  high spots and leaves  the fill  level .
 Now before the epoxy completely dries . Take a soft cloth with a little  denatured alcohol on it  and lightly  brush the  area .  What this will do is clean off any of the residue that’s  out around the crack ..
 Once that’s done , set things aside and let it dry  completely , the buff to a nice finish  

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Post by: BEAVERMAN on October 07, 2008, 12:53:25 PM

Hey, thanks for the tip guys, this repair is on a stock that has been stripped, its raw TC walnut at the moment, I found some tint pigments for epoxy and stains and finishes this morning at woodcrafts site, fairly cheap, about 6 bux for a small bottle, but I do like the charcoal idea, would be alot cheaper and I have an artist supply here in town, wont have to drive the 30 mile round trip to get to woodcraft, gonna give a couple ideas from here and over the the alr forum a try and see what works best, will report back on my findings, Beav

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Post by: Captchee on October 07, 2008, 02:23:26 PM

just remeber jim , the epoxy will not stain with  wood stains .
 now you can patena it  but  its not easy as the epoxy will take a diffrent color then the wood .

IMO wood fillers dont work  eather . i have yet to find one that stained the same as wood  and infact most IMO  flat suck  when it comes to stain

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Post by: BEAVERMAN on October 07, 2008, 04:13:06 PM

Cap I agree on any wodd fillers, they all are cr#p! havnt found one yet thhat takes stain worth a dang, the wood glue and saw dust is worthless also, thats why Im tinting epoxy and using it like bondo, the areas I need to repai are miniscule, about 3/16 to 1/4 long and maybe a few fibers are missing, problem is that its around a toe plate that was installed and if there not filled their gonna stick out like a sore thumb, was going to use the colored epoxy like bondo, fill and sand back, the stock will have a dark finish to it so no worries about a supreme color match but want to get it as close as possible, thanks again for the tips fellas, Im heading out to find some dark brown and black charcoal sticks, I also have some various dyes around here, going to do some experimenting, will take some pics of all the different dye results and post here later as an FYI, Jim

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Post by: W. Welshman on October 08, 2008, 10:48:51 AM

Use a burn-in stick,look at the wood grain and match the lightest color burn-in stick to that color in the stock."Go light",when you burn in the hole sand with 600wet-dry paper lightly.Then take blending powder match the lightest color in the wood let it dry then draw in you grain.Spray over your area with a clear finish done

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Post by: Kermit on October 08, 2008, 10:26:13 PM

I've been building furniture for a good part of my life, and fixing both my work and that of others. People can be hard of stuff, even at high custom prices. Then they want you to work wonders.

Burn-in is one way to go, but a little tricky to get the hang of. Sometimes I'll go that route.

I like epoxy. I've settled on System Three 5-minute stuff. It's one-to-one, so mixing on a scrap of wood or veneer is easy. I use the end of a little 6" stainless ruler for that chore. For color I use regular artist's acrylic paint. Go to the local art store and get small tubes of sienna and umber, both regular and burnt. Get some mars black too. Look for paint in earth tones for the most part. I usually have some green and some white around too for fudging shades. You can even use the paints as paint (novel concept) with REALLY FINE brushes to paint on grain and shading if you need to. That'll depend on the finish you will be using to protect the final repair. But tinted epoxy will work well for you. Just remember that if you match the raw wood, the wood around it will age and darken, leaving your repair the same shade it was wneh first done. Just another woodbutcher's way of doing it.

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Post by: Kermit on October 10, 2008, 11:15:47 AM

Oh. BTW: it takes VERY LITTLE of this paint to tint epoxy. Go VERY lightly and add more if need be, but you're most likely to over-tint. And 5-minute epoxy will get gummy and start to kick pretty quickly. Use blue masking tape to keep the epoxy off of surrounding surfaces, and pull the tape BEFORE the stuff gets rock hard. Never leave it on for more than 20-30 minutes.