Paduak Inlay Epoxy Serving Board

In this instructable I will walk you through step by step on how to create an Inlay serving board out of epoxy.

Supplies

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I am using a wood species called paduak. (Pick your own color choices of hard wood that suits you)

Epoxy resin Total Boat http://www.totalboat.com/product/high-performance-...

My form is made of Left over Birch Plywood

Tyvek Tape https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tyvek-Tape-1-88-in-x-164-...

Arrow hot glue gun https://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Fastener-TR550-Lever-...

Rustoleum Headlight Restorer https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rust-Oleum-Headlight-Re...

Sander.

Drill

Screws

CNC, Planner or Belt Sander

Measuring and Set Up

Using a combination of miter saw / table saw I cut my squares to 3.25 (3 1/4). This gave me a 4.5 (4 1/2) diagonal measurement.

Laying out the approach I cut my form base 1/4" over to allow a tight but breathable fit of 1/8" on each side

Building the Form

I went with the overlap design as it does not need to look pretty but serve a purpose. Quick and dirty way to ensure you have a solid box.

In the short video you can see I use a counter sink bit pre-drill and then screw everything together to my base.

Taping the Form

I am using the tyvek tape listed above. The epoxy will not stick to the tape allowing a clean and easy separation when cured.

This part ended up being a little tricky getting into the corners. Wish I had some better advice here I used a paint can opener that had the rounded back.

Adding Squares and Gluing Up the Form

Using hot glue I add a dab to the back of each piece and secure them in place you can see in the video.

As I had the glue gun out I went back over the form and applied glue to all inside corners also shown in the video above.

Color Choice and Pouring

This was a tough choice as there was no turning back.

Any pigment coloring will work in epoxy I like the depth pigment adds over paint additives.

But gray it is!

Cured and Ready for Flattening

Once the pour is completely cured its time to break the little guy loose. Now grab a rubber hammer and get out some of that anger haha.

Once its out I gave it an over all inspection and moved over to the Shapeoko 3 CNC.

!!!!!NOTE!!!!!!

Here is where some projects may differ Instead of a CNC you can use a planer but you will need to take very small passes extremely slow. Drum Sander would work great. Or a belt sander also would be a nice alternative.

For cnc users Im using a 1.5 inch flattening bit. I first took a little off the bottom to give me a flat surface to work off of. I then flipped it and completely cleaned off the face as you can see.