Re: Heating Epoxy??

Posted by Mark Camp on Oct 22, 2005

Howard and Dave have answered the practical side of your question. Don't bother with heating: the stuff cures fast enough, and heating can cause outgassing bubbles.

But if part of your question is theoretical--'is epoxy cured fast under heat REALLY cured?'--the answer is 'yes'. It is the same stuff as if you had let nature run her course. (Except, if you don't apply artificial heat, you are permitted under California law to label your kayak 'Made from 100% organic epoxy'.)

If Laszlo says I'm way off base here technically, then I agree with Laszlo. But I am pretty sure I'm at least 95% right on this. If speed-heating caused a false sense of curing, we would have heard about on this forum by now. On the contrary, we hear that some of the pro's do their epoxy work in very warm heated sheds.

But note that these pro's start dropping the temperature the moment the epoxy is on, so they get the opposite of outgassing: pressure driving epoxy into the pores of the wood for a superb bond, instead of outgassing.

In Response to: Heating Epoxy?? by John Short on Oct 21, 2005

Replies:

• Re: Heating Epoxy?? by RogerJ on Oct 30, 2005