How to duplicate small items with silicone molds and epoxy resin

In this project I used resin related products from ResinPro: 

Resin

Mica powder set

Website

Tools and materials I propose:

Silicone rubber for molds making

Vacuum chamber kit

Micro mesh sanding pads

Hot glue gun

Bandsaw

Belt sander

Cordless drill

In this video I duplicate a small cross. I first made a silicone rubber mold. Then I cast epoxy resin into the mold to create an exact copy of the original item. 

My small cross was missing its hanger. So I used the bandsaw and the belt sander to create a small wood block. This acts as a funnel for the resin and it also gives me some “meat” to create a new more robust hanger.

I used a small plastic piece of packaging as a mould for the silicone rubber. I hot glued the cross into the mold. 

I then mixed my two part silicone rubber. The one I used dries white and uses a 1:1 ratio of part A and part B. 

I degassed my rubber into the vacuum chamber and then poured it into the mold. 

In about 5 hours my rubber gold was ready.

Using an exact knife I carefully cut through the mold in order to remove the cross.

Next I mixed some epoxy resin. I added a drop of white dye and some white mica powder into the resin. I degassed the resin in the vacuum chamber and then poured it into my mold. To prevent the resin from leaking I closed the mold with tape and rubber bands.

In a few days, the resin was cured. I cut the funnel off the casting, drilled the hanger’s hole and shaped the hanger. I polished the casting a little with my micro mesh sanding pads.

To give to my casting a little more character. I first sprayed it with a coat of silver paint. Then I sprayed some black paint on a piece of plexiglass. With a small brush I applied  some black paint. While the paint was still wet I wiped it off with a rag. This left some dark spots on the backs. Then with a piece of 400grit sand paper, I sanded the edges of my cross to highlight the high spots.

And I was done. I hope you liked my little tutorial, because that was it, see you soon with a new project video. Until then Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

Making a spoon out of basswood and epoxy resin

Tools and materials I propose:

BeaverCraft tools spoon carving knives

BeaverCraft big bent  carving gouge

BeaverCraft small bent carving gouge

Spokeshave

Flat file

Round file

No4 hand plane

Bandsaw

Vacuum chamber kit

Micro mesh sanding pads

Buffing kit

Resin

Resin colors

Bandsaw

Woodworking vise

In this video, I make a wooden spoon, out of resin and basswood. I used both hand tools and power tools to make it. 

I begun with a flat and square piece of stock on which I designed my spoon on all faces. 

I then used a big bent carving gouge to start hollowing my spoon. I used a small cardboard template to check how deep I was. At some point I used a smaller gouge to reach a few tighter spots. Once I was 90% done I stoped hollowing.

Next I cut a piece off on my bandsaw. I wanted to fill this area with resin. I glued the pieces back together with hot glue. I also added tape to make sure my resin could not escape. 

I mixed some resin with green dye and I degassed it in my vacuum chamber.

I then poured the resin into the hole and let it cure for a few days.

Next I cut my spoon on the bandsaw. Once I did the cuts on one axis, I glued the pieces back together with hot glue and did the cuts on the other axis.

With my spoon’s basic shape done, I used the spokeshave to finish shaping. When you get  bad cuts with the spokeshave you should turn it around and cut with the grain of the wood.

Once I was done with the spoke shave I switched to a flat and a round file to even up all surfaces. 

I also used a spoon carving knife and a regular carving knife to fine tune the shape of my spoon.

Finally I started sanding with 100grit. To sand the cavity of my spoon I used a home made spherical sanding bit for my lathe. I then moved on to 220 and 320grit. I started wet sanding with mineral oil at 400grit until I reached one thousand grit. I polished the resin part with my micro mesh pads which go from 1.500 to 12.000 grit.

Finally I buffed with my buffing wheels.

My spoon came out great. But that was it, see you soon with a new project video!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

How to make a simple solid wood table top

How to make a simple solid wood table top

Tools and materials I propose:

Jointer planer

Table saw

Biscuit Joiner

Biscuits

Circular saw

Circular saw guide rail

Block plane

Random orbit sander

Belt sander

Heat gun

Cordless drill

Cordless Impact Driver

Long clamps

In this video I make a simple table top out of solid basswood. 

First of all I planed one side of my material flat. I then squared it with one more side on the jointer/planer.

With two sides flat and perpendicular to each other , I squared the third side on the table saw. 

Finally I passed all the boards through the thickness planer and my material was now flat and square. 

I then aligned the boards so that I liked the grain orientation. I then added alignment marks and also marks for the biscuits. 

I used my biscuit joiner to cut the slots for the biscuits. The biscuits hold the boards from sliding around during the glue up. 

I glued the top in three sessions. This way I had less stress about the glue drying. And I think it also helps to glue the pieces nice and straight. I also used a few boards to keep the glued pieces from bending. 

Once the two pieces were ready I glued them together. I also like to clean the excess glue with a wet rag. This saves me some time on sanding.

Once my top was ready, I used my circular saw and a guide rail to cut it to it’s final size. 

I did my rough sanding with 80 grit and my belt sander. 

I then rounded over the top edges with a block plane. Finally I sanded everything with 120, 220 and 320 grit. 

I finished the piece with water based, clear satin varnish. I applied several coats ( around 5 ) while lightly sanding between coats with 400grit. I also like to use my heat gun to speed up the drying process. 

I finished the underside first. Then I screwed the top on the table’s metal base. To avoid splitting I first predrilled pilot holes and then screwed the wood in place. 

Finally I flipped the table over and finished the top. 

The table came out great. But that was it, see you soon with a new project video!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase

How to make a big wooden mallet

Tools and materials I propose:

Lathe

Wood turning tools set

Chuck kit

Forstner bit set

Mineral oil

Random orbit sander

Cordless chainsaw

Table saw

Caliper Micrometer

Wire Burning Kit

I made this mallet out of a 40mm spruce dowel and a small log I had in the shop. Due to it's size it was pretty challenging to make it! So I used a few interesting techniques to make it. 

I begun by cutting my log, roughly to size with my electric chainsaw. 

Using a chisel and a drawknife I cleaned the bark off the log. It had started to rot and I didn’t want to inhale all that stuff while woodturning. 

I then used my centre finder to locate the centres on each side of the log. 

I set the lathe at a low speed and used my roughing gouge to turn the piece true. Once it was pretty round I increased the speed of the lathe. 

I squared the ends with a parting tool. 

I filled any cracks with super glue and wood chips. 

With my bowl gouge I rounded over the edges of my cylinder. With a flat chisel I turned the cylinder straight. I roughly sanded with 100grit. 

I cut off the excess wood on the sides with a handsaw. Next I sanded everything flush with my random orbit sander. 

Using a forester bit on my electric drill, I drilled the hole for the handle. 

The handle is a 40mm spruce dowel. I used the same forstner bit to mark how much material I had to remove from the dowel. The I used a simple set up on my table saw to resize my dowel in order to fit snuggly in the hole I had created earlier. 

The handle was longer than my lathe could handle. But using a steady rest and a chuck, I managed to mount it on the lathe and do all the necessary work. 

Basically I created a slight taper. I used my skew chisel to create grip grooves and a wire burner to add decorative burn marks. I then cut the handle off the lathe and sanded it’s bottom on the belt sander. 

Finally I glued the handle in place and finished it with mineral oil!

It came out nice and I think it will be pretty useful to have in my shop. Because the mallet is pretty heavy, you let it’s weight do the job for you.

But that was it, see you soon with a new project video!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.