straight black epoxy

[silvertonessuckbutigotone]

I ran a search for it in this forum and what came up helped a little but not much. Here's my question.

Here's what I want to do, I want to carve or route my headstock in a design or word (im not sure what its going to be yet) and fill it with straight black epoxy. Would this work very well? Should I do this or mix it with ebony dust? I want to see if it works without ebony dust. There's no real reason why i want to use it without the dust, i just knda see if it would work, im curious. I hear all these people talking about ebony dust mixed with epoxy, and i dont see the point of mixing black with black if you want black to be the final color. So if anyone has advice to give. If it wouldnt work without the epoxy dust howcome? thanks

-jack

[Setch]

People mix in ebony dust to make the epoxy black. If it's black to start with, well....

[Clavin]

When people refer to mixing ebony dust with CA, or epoxy , or any other method with regard to INLAYS, the goal is very different from what you are seeking.

It seems you just want a black filler to make something seem black. When edging off an inlay made of pearl, etc... the goal is to hide the route gaps as best as possible and make them look like the wood the inlay is inset into, or make your gaps become invisible. The inlay should look like it was always part of the wood.

For me personally I feel CA with ebony dust of a very pure and small size works wonderfully well. I have also seen black dyed epoxy work well for others, but NOT for me. I normally bring an inlay to 1,500 grit, or micromesh for final buffing. Epoxy tends to get more shiney than the wood at that point so it's better to stop around 400 grit or so possibly.

If your just filling a route to make an "inlay" by filling it with epoxy, use whatever you want..

C.Lavin