[Liz Silva]

Hello, can you advise on the best resin to use in a humid climate, with moist wood that never seems to dry out? I have had white foam issues with Alumilite Clear Slow Set, even when using a pressure pot.

Recently I made a 1″ thick cherry burl slab into a serving tray. The piece is potentially lovely, looks like land with ocean all around it. It was too large to fit in either the vacuum pump (to use Cactus Juice), or the pressure pot (to remove bubbles). Wondering if their Amazing Clear Cast product would well for a top layer to minimize the pitting I have after planing and sanding, and also in the future for the large pour to minimize the bubbles/foam? The wood pieces I am using can be humid, even after baking them in my dehumidifier for days. I am in NC. Even in my house the humidity doesn’t go below 60%. And it’s even higher in my shop the has just a window A/C.

I would like to continue to use wood burls to make flat items (serving trays), and also turned items on the lathe (bottle stoppers, bowls). I just need to overcome this moisture issue!

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Liz,

Both of the Alumilite resins you mention are polyurethanes. Polyurethanes hate moisture, even in the air. Here are a couple of suggestions:

1. Work the wood and resin in a room with a dehumidifier. I live in Florida and have had success running one in a bathroom for a couple of days, then casting the polyurethane resin. Of course telling your family you can’t use this bathroom creates another host of issues…. but at least the resin cured without bubbles.

2. You can try using the Alumilite Amazing clear cast epoxy for this. Woodworking is not my thing, but I saw the team from Alumilite at the beginning of the year and they showed me several woodworking/woodturning projects done with this epoxy. They mentioned taking a few extra steps since epoxies don’t generally do well with the heat/friction from power tools, but it looks like it can be done.

Their tech support should be able to help you more. It’s world [at] alumilite {dot} com. Please let them know we referred you.

Good luck!

[Author]

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