Epoxy resin has become extremely common in woodworking.
River tables, trays, jewellery and decorative objects: it is now used everywhere, sometimes with great skill and sometimes simply because the visual effect works.
I have nothing against this wider adoption. It has helped people discover an interesting material and opened new possibilities.
In my workshop, however, I prefer not to treat resin as an automatic recipe.
Not every crack needs filling.
Not every table top needs a blue river running through it.
And not every project becomes more interesting simply because epoxy has been added.
I prefer to consider it as one material among others, with its qualities, constraints and, above all, one simple question: what does it genuinely bring to the project?
When resin brings something to the wood
There are several ways to integrate epoxy into a project.
It can fill a crack, stabilise a fragile area or repair a local defect.
It can also become part of the design.
In that second case, its role is no longer only technical. Its colour, transparency or opacity participate directly in the composition.
That is the aspect that interests me most.
I generally prefer combinations where the wood remains clearly identifiable and the resin creates visual tension with it.
The contrast works particularly well when it remains simple.
On the small drawer fronts I made from pear wood and black resin, the resin is not decoration added at the end.
It is part of the material from the beginning.
Pear wood has a soft, relatively warm colour. Black creates a clear break without overwhelming the wood.
The interest lies precisely in that opposition.
The wood retains its grain, variations and character. The resin creates a more graphic line or mass.
The two materials do not try to resemble each other.
They work because they are different.
Design before pouring
Resin can give an impression of complete freedom.
A mould is prepared, two components are mixed, the resin is poured and then left to cure.
In reality, a clean pour requires a great deal of preparation.
The final form has to be considered first.
Is the resin simply filling a cavity?
Must it pass completely through the piece?
Does a mould have to be built?
How will the part be processed after curing?
How much material will still need to be removed by planing, sanding or machining?
Those questions must be answered before anything is mixed.
Once the components are combined, time begins to matter.
That is no longer the moment to look for a clamp or discover that the mould leaks.
Preparation is therefore a genuine part of the work.
Cleaning the piece, preparing the areas to be poured, protecting surfaces and checking for leaks: a successful pour often begins with an hour of work that is not particularly spectacular.
The mixture does not tolerate approximation
Epoxy depends on a chemical reaction between several components.
That principle imposes a very simple rule: the mixing ratio must be respected.
Guesswork is not an option.
The ratio depends on the system being used and must follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
An incorrect ratio may prevent proper curing or alter the final properties.
The mixing itself also requires care.
The components must be thoroughly combined without unnecessarily introducing too many bubbles.
Workshop temperature also affects the behaviour of the product.
Resin that is too cold becomes more viscous and behaves differently. A temperature that is too high accelerates the reaction.
The larger the volume poured, the more important it becomes to consider the heat generated during curing.
Not every resin is suitable for every use.
A small local pour and a deep casting do not necessarily require the same product.
The material appears simple while liquid, but it demands fairly strict respect for its instructions.
Black: a deliberately understated choice
I use black resin in some projects.
That choice corresponds well to what I am looking for visually.
Black does not try to imitate a stone, a river or a natural effect.
It creates a clean separation.
On a pale or slightly pink wood such as pear, the result can become highly graphic.
But the visual proportion remains important.
Too much resin and the wood becomes secondary.
Too little and the effect may appear accidental.
On my drawer fronts, the aim was to preserve the real presence of the pear wood while introducing a more contemporary black break.
The final result also depends greatly on the finish.
A freshly sanded surface may look rather dull. As soon as the finish is applied, contrasts deepen and the colour of the wood returns.
On those fronts, I wanted to preserve precisely that deeper, almost wet appearance.
The finish therefore becomes the final stage in the dialogue between the two materials.
After the pour, another kind of work begins
Once the resin has cured, the project is not finished.
A clean, even surface still has to be recovered.
Depending on the part, that may involve machining, flattening or a long sanding process.
This stage matters because wood and resin do not react in exactly the same way.
The aim is a genuinely continuous transition between the two surfaces.
There should be no step or difference in level at the joint.
Sanding scratches also have to be controlled visually.
Dark resin can reveal marks very easily under raking light.
The process must therefore move forward progressively.
It can be lengthy, especially on small pieces where light catches every defect immediately.
Resin creates a spectacular moment during the pour.
Final quality is mostly determined afterwards.
Repairing without necessarily hiding
Epoxy can also be useful when wood contains a crack or local void.
The question then is whether the defect should be concealed or deliberately kept visible.
I often prefer the second approach.
A crack can be part of the history of the material.
Filling it does not necessarily mean trying to make it disappear.
A contrasting resin can stabilise the area while preserving the visible record of what happened in the wood.
But that principle should not be applied automatically.
Some defects genuinely compromise the strength of a part.
Others are only visual.
And some pieces of wood simply do not justify the time and quantity of resin required to make them usable.
Reclaiming material is an interesting principle, but it should not become an excuse to keep everything.
Reasoned use of epoxy also begins with deciding what is genuinely worth working on.
Resin and marquetry: two very different approaches
I enjoy contrasting materials, but I do not consider resin an automatic substitute for marquetry or inlay.
They are different approaches.
Marquetry works with species, fibres, orientations and the natural colours of wood.
A resin inlay allows a more uniform, more graphic and sometimes more radical design.
One does not replace the other.
The choice depends on the project.
For certain precise forms, the CNC or laser may also help prepare recesses or elements.
This opens interesting possibilities between digital design, solid wood, veneer and resin.
But I prefer to keep one simple rule: the technique should be chosen after the project, not the other way round.
I do not look for an object on which to use resin.
I first look for what the object needs to become.
What resin has taught me
Epoxy resin demands a different kind of discipline from woodworking.
With wood, it is often possible to stop, observe and continue later.
With resin that has already been mixed, time is far less negotiable.
More preparation is therefore required beforehand.
The mould, ratio, temperature, quantity of product and processing after curing all need to be anticipated.
Resin has also taught me to think more carefully about contrast.
A highly visual material can quickly take over an entire project.
The challenge is therefore not always to achieve the most spectacular effect.
Sometimes it is exactly the opposite: knowing when to stop before the resin becomes more important than the wood.
In the projects I prefer, both materials retain their identity.
The wood keeps its fibres, shades and irregularities.
The resin brings a line, depth or interruption.
When it is used for a genuine reason, it becomes much more interesting than a passing visual trend.