ZPoxy & polyester sealer

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

I’m going reach out to @bashkin_guitars and see if he’s got any ideas on this one. Ive neve used Zpoxy before.

[Michael Bashkin Bashkin Guitars]

Hi :

You can use the sealer under and/or over epoxy. Just anecdotally, Iv’e heard mixed reviews of using zpoxy and some people have had adhesion problems, others think it is great. It is also a good preactice to scuff between the sealer/epoxy/sealer layers.

[Randy King King Electric Guitars]

Thanks! I’ll probably just do an initial fill with aqua coat first, then a few coats of sealer. Don’t wanna risk it. I’ll do a test with the ZPoxy while I’m sealing just to see.

[Michael Bashkin Bashkin Guitars]

Careful with the aquacoat. I’ve heard it is problematic on end grain. I’ve not used it myself though.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

It may be somewhat unrealted due to how open the pores are on spanish cedar, but Michael just did a whole demo on pore filling with epoxy. Not Zpoxy either.

This is the link

dev.loothgroup.com

Log In ‹ The Looth Group — WordPress

Log In ‹ The Looth Group — WordPress

[Robert Schmidt]

Can you elaborate on end grain issues with aquacoat? I am currdently using it to fill walnut on an octave mandolin. I did notice some white blotchieness on the end grain, but sanding back and re-filling seemed to fix it. Is there an adhesion issue with it?

[Martin Maudal]

Hey all. I’ve used zpoxy quite a lot as a sealer both on open grain hardwoods, and soft woods to give it a bit of surface hardness. *Very* thin coats. Usually 3.

To combat any adhesion issues I’ve used a washcoat of shellac, before a clearcoat of lacquer or French polish. The disadvantage is how long each coat takes to cure.

Another possible disadvantage, if it’s not a very thin shell, is heat-creep when buffing. I was actually going to ask about west systems to see if it was an improvement on zpoxy for heat-creep.

Ken Parker has a great yootoob video on epoxy application.

[Ian Davlin The Looth Group]

I don’t think you’re going to find West to be any more resistant to heat creep. Last time I looked, heat resistant epoxies were really pricey and fairly exotic.

[Michael Hermer Brenzasi Guitars]

Randy, I have used Zpoxy as pore filler before French polish in this example using Machiche for back and sides and it had very large pores. The Zpoxy worked very well. Initially I used pumice on a previous build and it was David Wren who advised me he had moved away from pumice and started using Zpoxy to pore fill in advance of French polish and encouraged me to try it. I found it worked well. After sanding it back, the initial French polish coats (sealer coats) were done with 1 lb bench cut (about a 6-1 ratio for 2-3 sessions), and then I moved to a 2lb cut (3-1 ratio) for the body coats.

Hope this helps

Michael Hermer