cloudy epoxy

Being the resident “NOT EXPERT,” a couple things come to mind that could have caused this, a lot of air, or moisture.

When I applied thin epoxy coats, I had to seal the wood to keep the air from moving into the resin before it dried. Even sealed, some got in and I had to address it. All that said, to turn milky suggest one heck of a lot of air, so unless it shows the tell tail signs of a bazillion air voids, it’s probably something else.

Of course, if the temp was really cool and the viscosity high, it might be the natural bleed off, when used at the right temp, could play somewhere.

I’ve never tried mixing epoxy and water, or applying it over water, but I’m wondering in that direction.

What are your thoughts?

Well I don’t think the air has anything to do with it, and definitely not water as the wood was all at 7% moisture. From researching i’m thinking had to be the mixture. Could be the temp but I’ve never had that issue before. Anyways I sanded it all off and going to try again, unfortunately i’m going to lose some of the texture in the wood i wanted to keep.

The reason I mentioned temp and air together was, I suspect the two part mix gets a lot of air mixed in in the mix process. If the temp was too low, the heavier viscosity might have inhibited normal bleed off.

If the type of two part mix you are using is as easy to mix as mine was (50-50), it might be worth cooling enough to make a spoonful to apply to a non-pourous surface (I always used clear visquine under my pours) to view the effects of a mix done well below recommended temps.