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I'm trying the Z-poxy fill technique on my latest- curly Narra w/flamed maple binding. The first two coats went on fine using the credit card method. I tried rubbing on the third coat (thinned 50% with DA), but it was coming out with enough ridges in it that I'd definitely need to sand, with concurrent risk of going through to bare wood fibers again. So I tried applying with a foam brush, but if anything, that's worse- now it's thicker with ridges. I know I want a very thin, clear coat. It's the correct PT-40 Z-poxy from LMI. Is there a better way to apply it?

TIA

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I put on the thinned coat by wiping lightly with a wet, but not dripping wet, paper towel. It goes on so thin there is no sanding needed. I did touch it with some fine steel wool, which made it perfectly smooth and ready to receive french polish. The neck I did this way is my favorite feeling neck of all time.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

OK, great suggestions. I think I want to use a finer applicator- I was using a pretty coarse terrycloth towel. I'll wait until this coat drys tomorrow, sand, and reapply.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I use a piece of balled up cheesecloth as well, I found that the paper towels tended to lose some fibers into the mixture eventually...the DA flashes off very quickly, if you try to wipe too long it will get really tacky and messy. I also give my cheesecloth a generous dip into the 50/50 mixture, seems to give me a better finish with less sanding.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

I must be missing something. What is the purpose of the thinned Z-poxy mixture after the bodying coats have been applied?

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

@TRein

Some people sand down to the wood after pore filling and other people want a very thin layer of epoxy on the wood as well.

I wanted the latter and so the reason I did a thinned coat is because I wanted to be sure there were no places where I sanded through the Z-poxy. The thinned material is more self leveling and is so thin it doesn't leave ridges or require any step to remove excess and thus, really doesn't require any sanding afterward.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I scraped the guitar to remove the excess thickness from the previous attempt, sanded to 220 grit, and applied a thin (25%/75% epoxy/DA) coat of epoxy. Went on very smooth, but didn't fill the areas where I had scraped through to wood very well. On this guitar, I'll do one more coat of 35/65 thinned epoxy. On the next, I'll try the 50/50 mix again, but with a cheesecloth applicator instead of a coarser towel material.

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain