Have you ever wondered how to cast resin? This is a great way to extend your woodworking skills into another area, as once you know how to cast resin you can incorporate casting resin into a woodworking project, such as the infamous “River Table” design, or you can use the resin as an alternative medium to wood. This is commonly done for turning projects, and you will be amazed and how easy and satisfying it is to turn resin.
Learning how to cast resin is easier than you might think. After you have collected up all of the materials that you’ll need, you can:
Mix the casting resin. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for mixing ratios, open time, temperature, etc.
Add colorant and other materials. Be careful to not put too much colorant in, but just enough to achieve the effect that you are going for. At this point you can also incorporate other materials into the project as George demonstrates.
Spray molds. You will want to use the special molds that George shows in this video, and use the mold release spray so that the piece pops out of the mold when you are done.
Pop out when cured. After about 24 hours you can remove the project from the mold. Do not rush this step or the project could be ruined.
After you’ve removed the piece from the mold, it can be used for its intended purpose. Go ahead and chuck it up onto a lathe and enjoy the beautiful streams of material that fly off. Then check out some more shop tips from WWGOA!
For your convenience, here are sources for the products used in this video:
