Is it possible to color epoxy without affecting it's bonding strength? I am repairing a broken wood insert and there are some small pieces and a crack that need to be filled in.

If it is possibe what product would you recommend adding?
The color to match is a medium brownish-gray.

Thank you

It will not take very much pigment to color the epoxy and bond strength should not be affected.

What to color it with? I can't honestly remember - it has been so long since I have colored any.

Try a search on this board relating to "blank finishing" or "blank coloring or painting". I know the topic has come up before and several guys mentioned products that worked well for them.

................

I use Coloring Agent for Polyester and Epoxy Resins made by Pocket Plastics. It's normally used to color gel coat repair on boats and should be found at most marine supply stores. It comes in 1 oz. tubes and a variety of colors. It's a thick substance about like toothpaste and "just a dab will do you". My primary use is my home made rod butt caps to shade the five minute epoxy to match the trim. I've never mixed it with a wrap finish epoxy but probably would work ok. As a matter of fact I think I'll be trying it soon on a wrap finish just to see how it works.

Capt. Harold

I did some work, but seems it DID affect the epoxy average life.-

Dennis, Harold is dead on with the polyester pigments, and it will not weaken the epoxy. The only thing I will add is that this stuff does not come in anything except the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. It is also available in black, but I have heard that is not a color. You will need to get all three primary colors and then consult a color mix chart to get the shade you need. Hope this helps.

I believe its true that there are only 4 true colors and everything else is just a combination of those 4. Tom -- don't printers only use 4 colors?

Dennis: I have used RIT liquid dye to color five minute epoxy. I use it to make winding checks for small diameter rods. John

William,

For the most part you are correct - there are only 4 colors and everything else is made from a combination of those 4.

There are some new twists on printing however, which allow what is known as a 5th or spot color, to be used in conjunction with the 4 color process. These spot colors are usually premixed and added in addition to the 4 primary colors used. The new RodMaker uses a 5th color metallic gold (Pantone Spot color) on the front and back covers. It is not mixed with the 4 primary colors, but instead used by itself in a pre-selected location. It gives us something we could not get with our 4 primary colors.

This is more than you wanted to know I'm sure. But you asked.

By the way, cyan, magenta, yellow and black are your 4 colors.

................

The four colors Tom mentions in his post are printing standards often referred to as CYMK. They will give you a full spectrum of colors albeit with some tricky blending at times.

If you look at your computer screen, you are seeing only three colors RGB (red, green and blue) which explains why it is so difficult to get a magazine color page to reproduce accurately on a computer monitor. For purposes of coloring rod finishes these three are more than sufficient, although a tube of black can save you some time.

TMI?