To avoid wasting expensive epoxy, either by mixing too much or by getting the 5:1 ratio wrong, I used two empty hand-wash bottles as epoxy pump dispensers. These come with a dispensing pump, and are easily cleaned out with hot water. Filling one with epoxy resin and partly filling the other with hardener, it’s easy to pump five shots of resin and one of hardener into a small container – which could be made by cutting round an empty hand-wash bottle. The materials don’t pump very well when cold, so keep them indoors in the winter. When sanding wood, I collect the sanding dust in a jar and use it as a thickener for mixed epoxy, to make my own wood filler.

Jonathan Humphreys

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