# Fairing with woodflour



## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

has anyone tried fairing with woodflour (epoxy resin)? Is it fairly easy to fair a whole hull this way? Or would I be better off using other thickening agents (and why: for the sake of time/quality/etc)?


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2020)

I would use micro balloons/q cells over wood flour. With yhe wood flour there is a chance of water absorption causing the filler to swell. Even with epoxy, the chance is there... why not eliminate it?


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)

I've used the wood flour. It's a bugger to sand.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Wood flour doesn’t spread as smoothly or feather out at the edges as nicely, so there is more imperfections to sand down. It is also harder to fair than a microballoon based mix.

Use microballoons primarily with just enough silica to get it thickened enough to stay put. I initially tried to just use microballoons because “silica is so hard to fair”, but microballoons leave the mix very runny without a little help. The small amount of silica needed to stiffen a fairing blend doesn’t hurt anything.

If you want the best finish, use a purpose made fairing compound for the final couple of coats. You use them last because they are really nice to work with, yet rather expensive. You’d be tempted to only use the purpose made products instead of homemade fairing blends if you tried them earlier.

Nate


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

If you enjoy sanding concrete and getting less then ideal results you can do it. I know it's tempting as I have pounds of that stuff left over, but go with glass microspheres, it will cost less then the plastic micro balloons and still give you great results. That is also what Chris Morejohn uses.


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

Thank you all for the input!! As @firecat1981 said, I'm was mostly tempted by the sheer volume of woodflour that I have left over...

I do have some SilverTip QuickFair, just not sure I have enough


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

Yassss, pawn your child... the QuickFair demands it... true happiness comes from sacrifice... the QuickFair loves you... 

Nate


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## trekker (Sep 19, 2015)

Wood flour sucks.


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## Lowtidelowlife (Aug 19, 2014)

May be an unpopular opinion but that total boat total fair sands like a dream and saves loads of time. It’s more expensive than mixing your own. But it’s just so much faster. I get it if you have a ton of fairing to do it ain’t cheap. But for an amateur glasser it’s so much more consistent.


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2020)

Lowtidelowlife said:


> May be an unpopular opinion but that total boat total fair sands like a dream and saves loads of time. It’s more expensive than mixing your own. But it’s just so much faster. I get it if you have a ton of fairing to do it ain’t cheap. But for an amateur glasser it’s so much more consistent.


I agree and I make my own. For small jobs it is usually a wash. My next skiff is an epoxy build and since I am running low on q cells and fumed silica, I will be using a pre mix “probably total boat” for the bulk of my fairing! I will mix a thinner mix for initial filling of the weave but that is all.


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## BassFlats (Nov 26, 2018)




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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

trekker said:


> Wood flour sucks.


For which application? Fairing? That seems to be the consensus. I wouldn't say it sucks for bedding, filleting and potting hardware


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## yobata (Jul 14, 2015)

BassFlats said:


> View attachment 112490


May I ask the ballpark price on that 1 gallon kit?


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## Guest (Jan 20, 2020)

yobata said:


> May I ask the ballpark price on that 1 gallon kit?


It runs a little over $100. Not too bad considering a gallon of good quality poly filler runs around $60.


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