That sounds neat! I bet nobody has tried it. Now that you mention it, the sun treatment was to bleach the wood. If thats the effect you want I guess it looks nice. You got a lot of tricks up your sleeve, Rehd... Thanks!

Even the alcohol can leave impurities behind that will affect the epoxy. If you find a brand that works, stick with it.

> Don and anyone who may have read my earlier post: I was in error on the
> "Washcoat", as we always used [ denatured alcohol and
> "shellac" in a 7:1 mixture. ] I mistakenly wrote varnish because
> I was reading other posts on varnishing. My appologies for the error and I
> hope nobody attempted the previous mixture. Thanks Don for the correction.
> With the shellac mixture we never had any reaction to any type of finish,
> however we never did any resin or glass/resin finishes so it would be
> something you'd want to try-out on a test piece first. The washcoat works
> by soaking into the softer wood/grains and sealing up the pores that would
> draw in more of your finish and easily discolor. If you hunt down the
> White/Shellac (clear) you get little to no discoloring. With standard
> shellac you may get a slight yellowing in lighter woods like pine.If you
> can find some shellac in the small cans ( 3 to 5 oz. ? ) you can do some
> experimenting with it and not be out any big $$. Once the can is opened
> however, you can't keep it for any length of time as it turns dark as
> mollasses. One last note on the washcoat: when you are doing an end/grain,
> you may want to use a 4:1 mixture. End/grain being harder to seal as it
> draws fluids like a straw. When you sand it lightly to remove the fuzz,
> you won't even know it's there. Just "FIRST" try it out with the
> resin finish before using it on a boat. I'd try it out first except my
> resin and glass is in transit as I speak and not sure when it will arrive.
> I will test it and get back to you if nobody else has already tried it. On
> the sun-setting of color in redwood, that is a no-no also. The sun is not
> a friend of redwood. When I worked in wholesale lumber, we kept all
> redwood except the roughsawn timbers in sheds. If left out in the sun, it
> would bleach out in a matter of days. All you'd get is a lighter/dark
> discoloring of your pieces. Another note on washcoats is that they tend to
> give your work-piece a sort of 3/D affect. It gives the grain a depth that
> is quite interesting. Mind you, I've only done it with Pine, Oak, Birch,
> Alder, Ash, and some Mahogany and don't know if it will do the same with
> Redwood, but.....??????? Might be worth a test also. Thanks again Don for
> the correction.

> Rehd