To fill or not to fill

6/19/21, 11:17 PM #1

Craig Spacek
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To fill or not to fill

Craig Spacek

I'm making an outdoor cabinet to use as a prep area next to the grill. The top will be a slab of live oak. Live oak is very rot resistant but naturally has lots of big checks and splits in the milled surface. I'm planning on spar varnish for the finish and keeping it mostly shaded.

I'm debating whether or not to fill the checks with epoxy. I'm afraid if I leave them open they'll collect water and insects. If I fill them I'm thinking the checks will just get bigger as the wood expands and contracts around the epoxy. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/19/21, 11:38 PM #2

Jim DeLaney, Austintown, Ohio
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Re: To fill or not to fill

Jim DeLaney, Austintown, Ohio

Maybe bridge the larger checks with a bow-tie or two, then fill with epoxy.

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/20/21, 12:28 AM #3

Ke
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Re: To fill or not to fill

Ke

I think I would use some sort of flexible product that can expand and contract with moisture changes without falling out. Boat caulks

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/20/21, 4:12 AM #4

AZ
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Bar top finish?

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/20/21, 12:17 PM #5

Mark Mandell
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Re: To fill

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

Go ahead and fill, with or without "flys", but choose a color. Pigment will extend the resin's life. Clear epoxy will "yellow" and degrade even with indirect sunlight.

To minimize dimensional changes, finish both sides of your slab. Good rule with horizontal surfaces is to renew the coating every 2 years, especially for a working surface.

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/20/21, 2:45 PM #6

David Weaver
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Re: To fill or not to fill

David Weaver

I think filling will allow less water absorption but not none, just as you say - it'll expand and contract and the small gaps will still take on water. If you want it to last, I think you'll need to cover it with something.

You can, of course, encase it in some kind of heavy finish (like a two part epoxy), but eventually that will come off, too, and be a pain to deal with - just not immediately.

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/21/21, 2:15 PM #7

Kneale Brownson
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Re: To fill or not to fill

kneale brownson

My experience using marine spar varnish (from the boat shop, not the hardware) on things like screen doors and wooden signs is it will need refreshing regularly.

The only outdoor finishes I've had hold up for multiple years are polyurethane paint and sign paint.

- - -

I’m a fairly spry 82-year-old who had been a reader/participant at WoodCentral since the demise of Badger Pond. I started visiting BP to learn something about finish for a project I’d completed and became hooked on internet forums as a way of increasing my knowledge about all sorts of topics. I have been a moderator for a couple other forums on subjects I enjoy. My interest in woodworking began in the early 1970’s when my wife and I had contractors add to our house near Traverse City, MI, and I ended up doing the trim work to reduce mounting costs. I had no tools. I bought a P-C skilsaw, hammer, screwdrivers and one of those wooden miter boxes with a backsaw. I made trim for windows and doors from one-by lumber and started my woodworking career. At the same time, I started a 50-year career as a ski instructor. I got onto the night shift at a mental hospital so I could ski days, and spent my 30s and 40s with that schedule. I eventually replaced the PC-upside-down-in-a-board with a real table saw and began the purchase of enough equipment to fill a jam-packed 40-foot shipping container we used after we sold our property in Michigan. The ski instructing had taken us to Colorado and we were spending too much on maintaining utilities for two homes. A couple years ago, the dozen years spent at 10,000 feet of elevation was making my body produce too many red blood cells, so we had to leave my “forever” home in the mountains and we moved back to Michigan. Now I have to find myself a shop space for all those tools in the container.

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/21/21, 6:27 PM #8

David Weaver
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same...

David Weaver

...just replaced some wooden railing that had been refreshed with spar urethane about 5 times. It still looked good, but the trouble areas at junctions, etc, eventually took on moisture and rotted. The railing was in sun about 1/3rd of the day, but still needed refreshing about two times out of each three years. When it didn't look good, I knew thanks to my spouse notifying me.

Re: To fill or not to fill

6/21/21, 9:53 PM #9

Craig Spacek
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Thanks for the input

Craig Spacek

I decided to fill the checks with epoxy. When the finish needs to be redone it should at least be an easy job on a flat surface. Hopefully not too often.

I'm starting to understand why live oak is not a more popular wood among furniture makers. All the checks and splits make it tough to get any usable lumber out of a board.

To fill or not to fill

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