using wood flour (saw dust) in fillets

[Ann and Neville Clement]

We are using wood flour a lot just now in building a little dinghy using ply/epoxy/fibreglass and I think someone here knows the answer I need.  The fillets made from wood flour are a bit rougher than what I was able to get when we built Peace using West System Low Density.  That was lovely stuff to work with, but expensive compared to wood flour and for this dinghy, we need to be economical but still get strength.  I am thinking of mixing in a little bit of left over  microlite from West  along with the wood flour to see if it will make smoother fillets.  Can anybody give me a better idea?  We look forward to when this darn economy picks up again...   Ann and Nev

[Rogerio Martin]

use a sieve and use sawdust from sanding, sawing let in the sun to dry before use, a little microsphere and you will have a fillet

cheap, strong and easy to sand

[Lee Dilkes]

Perhaps try using vinegar instead of alcohol on a cotton rag or sponge when its tacked off. Heaps cheaper.

Or a run a length of cheap packing tape over the fillet the go over it with your fillet stick then once its cured will be a lot easier to sand.

[Jeff Kittle]

Hi Lee,

 

Have you used vinegar for this purpose?

If it works it would be great because after a while the alcohol will eat through the gloves.  So using vinegar definitely would be  cheaper.

 

Sue

[Lee Dilkes]

Yes vinegar  is an epoxy solvent much cheaper than other stuff, great for cleaning brushes, hands and tools as well as non toxic.

[Ann and Neville Clement]

Hi Sue,

    Actually alcohol never did eat through any of my gloves.  I used it to wipe up as I made fillets while building Peace IV and the wiping up was nearly constant.  I was also thinking that a brush lightly damp with epoxy might be drawn along a fillet to smoothe it.  I got lots of experiments ahead.  Nev will have to build another dinghy! 

[Ann and Neville Clement]

I have been making fillets with wood flour and found the solution to making them smooth.  First make the mix less dry.  Second when the fillet is nearly hard put a drop of unthickened epoxy on the tip of a gloved finger and rub it on the fillet to make it smooth.  Third, buy Nev a better sander and let him make it nice with just on easy pass of that machine.  Presto!