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...on the subject of wood flour...

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 12:58 am
by olsnappa
Matt.
On the subject of wood flour.....Is there any reason you couldn't use good old Corn Flour as a thickener?
A few weeks ago I mixed up some epoxy to glue a small length of timber trim to a window frame and having run out of the fine saw dust I'd used in the kayak build, decided to experiment with corn flour from the pantry...... It seemed to work a treat.
Very easily mixed through to the desired consistency......and cheap!! Yeah okay, not as cheap as sawdust out of your sander but an alternative if you don't have any.
I also played around with adjusting the colour with food dye which seemed to work as well.
It was easy to work with and so far the bond seems fine.
Your thoughts??

Re: ...on the subject of wood flour...

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 8:56 am
by Wannabe
John,
Is there any difference in your corn flour and our corn meal? Our corn meal is courser than our wheat flour.
Bob

Re: ...on the subject of wood flour...

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:46 pm
by jem
olsnappa wrote:Matt.
On the subject of wood flour.....Is there any reason you couldn't use good old Corn Flour as a thickener?
weight. Woodflour is generally lighter. And I'm not aware of any studies of how a food product interacts with epoxy. Not saying there's any issue. But I personally stick with what has been researched and documented by the epoxy producing companies. It's not worth the $3-5 you MIGHT save.

Re: ...on the subject of wood flour...

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:21 pm
by olsnappa
Matt.....Yep, fair enough. Just curious. I'll watch how my window frame goes over time....bearing in mind of course that it's not under any stress or forces equivalent to a kayak :D

Bob..... Cornflour is very finely ground cornmeal. About the same consistency as talcum powder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornmeal

Re: ...on the subject of wood flour...

Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 7:24 pm
by jem
oh it could certainly work. Talc is pretty heavy compared to woodflour. But it only makes a big impact if you use a lot of filler on your boat.

Different strokes...