The best epoxy for wood inlay requires special properties from an ordinary epoxy resin for general use. The article below discusses what wood inlays are, how to select the best epoxy for wood inlay, and steps and tips for using the best epoxy for the wood inlay to achieve the best results.

      

WHAT IS WOOD INLAY?

Wood inlay is the craft of improving the aesthetics of wood by filling specially cut depressions on a wooden surface with veneers. In woodworking, veneers mean thin pieces of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm, which are glued together to form flat surfaces for doors, cupboards, and parts of other furniture. Veneers vary in size, texture, color, shape, and many other aspects making the potential of wood inlay exhibits limitless. For wood inlays, the veneers in the depressions contrast the rest of the wooden base to improve the aesthetics.

OUR BEST PICKS FOR THE BEST EPOXY FOR WOOD INLAY

1• Table Top & Bar Top Epoxy Resin, Ultra Clear Finish, Self-Leveling, Perfect for DIY Epoxy Counter Tops, Tabletops & Bars – BEST VERSATILE EPOXY FOR WOOD

Incredible Solutions’ Table Top epoxy resin cures to a crystal clear surface, making it ideal for revealing details in a wood overlay. When used as a wood overlay material, it vividly any details the designer desires.

The epoxy has specific formulations that significantly boost its UV resistance, reducing the degree of yellowing over time and primarily when wood inlay projects are used for outdoor purposes.
This resin has a self-leveling capability and is thus ideal for minute depressions or those with corners. It is also important when considering the ease of use of an epoxy resin.
The epoxy is durable, offering incredible resistance to blemish, water, and impact.
Since the epoxy is composed of 100% formulations, then the experience with Table Top Epoxy is that with low odor.

2• EcoPoxy FlowCast Clear Casting Epoxy Resin for Wood Working, Tables, Counters – BEST ECO-FRIENDLY EPOXY FOR THICK POURS

This epoxy is compatible with different kinds of pigments, be they metallic, color, or glitter, meaning that it is excellent for custom tints as a resin art.

EcoPoxy Flowcast has a self-leveling property allowing easy application in wood inlay depressions.
The epoxy cures to a crystal clear finish described by the manufacturer as ‘liquid glass.’
Eco-Friendly with high biological content and extremely low odor.
EcoPoxy Flowcast is an excellent suit where the depressions for wood inlay are large; deep pours would be necessary. The epoxy can cure thick epoxy slabs up to 1.5 inches
The epoxy forms an extremely tough and strong bond with wood taking durability to a whole new level.

3• ProMarine Supplies Art Resin – Pro Art Resin Kit – Art Resin Epoxy Clear – Easy to Use and Non-Toxic Formula – High Gloss Intense Shine – Ideal for Photography, Wood, Artwork – BEST VERSATILE AND ECO-FRIENDLY ART RESIN

This epoxy resin is designed specifically for resin art featuring a high gloss intensive shine ideal for photographic and wood artwork, which is an excellent fit for wood inlay.

ProMarine Supplies Art Resin is eco-friendly, boasting of non-toxic formulations, excellent safety for human use, and zero dangerous ingredients.
The epoxy has self-leveling capabilities and is extremely durable, forming a tough finish over your wood inlay material or being used as the inlay material.
The resulting surface is also UV resistant owing to specific ingredients in the formulations of the epoxy.
This epoxy is versatile, offering a wide variety of uses different from wood inlay projects. Other uses include wood crafts, resin jewelry, and resin lettering.

4• DR CRAFTY Clear Epoxy Resin Crystal Clear Art Resin Epoxy Clear 2 Part Epoxy Casting Resin Kit Countertop Epoxy Wood Epoxy Resin Kit – BEST EASY TO USE ART RESIN WITH BONUS

The epoxy is an excellent suit for a wide array of uses on wood, including inlay forming a durable and UV resistant epoxy surface.

The epoxy produces a crystal clear, transparent surface.
Dr. Crafty sells the product with several bonuses, including 1 pair of each of 500ml measuring cups, spreaders, and mixing sticks.
The epoxy is easy to use with simple, easy to follow step by step guidelines. The epoxy cures at room temperature in about 45 minutes, allowing quick curing for functional use.
The epoxy is non-toxic and eco-friendly and, therefore, safe for human use.

WHY USE EPOXY FOR WOOD INLAY?

1• COMPLICATED DESIGNS – FOR BUSY AND HEAVY DETAIL WOOD INLAY DESIGNS

With epoxy resin, it does not matter what design you have engraved on your wooden surface. Liquid epoxy resin will take the shape of the container filling the depressions to make the inlay statement that you want to achieve. As woodworkers, we have complicated designs at times characterized by busyness, heavy detail, and variable characters. With epoxy resin, wood inlay craft becomes a whole lot easier with just a single pour.

2• EPOXY RESIN REMOVES THE NEED FOR CUT AND MATCH VENEERS – FAST AND USER FRIENDLY

For you to fill the cut depressions in wood, then you need to measure out the depressions to allow a fit accurately. If the pre-existing piece before the cut is present, then it is easy to trace out the piece. However, if the pre-existing piece before the cut is absent, then dealing with complicated designs is a nightmare.
Resin allows you only to perform the first step of cutting the depressions on your wood surface, after which you can pour your epoxy resin to fill the cuts.

3• EPOXY RESIN ART

Choosing epoxy resin to be your wood inlay material allows you to access the infinite possibilities with which resin art provides. The very best feature is the ability to include pigments with more than 16,000,000 colors. Although some design situations could call for translucent epoxy resin, playing around with pigments allows you to sync the colors of the spaces around you with your current wood inlay project.

4• NON REACTIVE TO WOOD MOISTURE

Epoxy resin does not react dramatically to wood moisture allowing it to be suitable as the ideal wood inlay material. Other resins and paints often react with wood moisture leading to cracking or peeling off. The big benefit here is the extended durability of your wood inlay project.

5• EXTRA FINISH IDEAS/ACTIVITIES

It is worth noting that epoxy resin surfaces can be manipulated after functional curing to achieve specific design features. For example, you can sand, dig, crack, roughen, or engrave on the epoxy surface.
In addition, epoxy resin art involves the inclusion of objects underneath the fluid, which increases the aesthetics. For example, live coffee seeds could be nested in the cut depressions of a coffee table and epoxied to form an elegant piece.
Epoxy resin projects are therefore easy, fast, and limitless.

CHOOSING THE BEST EPOXY FOR WOOD INLAY

For woodworking enthusiasts to select the best epoxy for wood inlay in the market, there are several properties to check keenly. These factors will determine the ease and compatibility with which you will experience when using the epoxy for wood inlay.

1• SUPER CLARITY AND GLOSSINESS

Crystal clear epoxy is an advantage in vividly revealing details underneath. Very often, you are installing inlay in wood to reveal an extra detail that couldn’t feature excellently on a plain wooden surface. In that regard, the epoxy you use over your inlay material should give you the chance to reveal as much detail as you would wish.
Therefore, in artistry, it is critical that the best epoxy for wood inlay that you select should produce a glossy finish and ultra-clear coating.
An epoxy resin that fails to completely reveal the details correctly blurs the message of the art, making the design skewed.
However, the above features situations when the epoxy resin is used over another wood inlay material. Where epoxy resin acts as an inlay material, then super clarity and glossiness is critical but with reference to the overall aesthetics of the finish after the epoxy resin pour.

2• UV RESISTANCE

Depending on where you want to display your epoxied wood inlay project, you will want to go with an epoxy resin with high UV resistance. When exposed to UV rays, epoxied surfaces tend to yellow. Although yellowing is caused by several factors, UV being amongst them, UV tends to quicken yellowing, degrading the aesthetic quality of the original design of the wood inlay project.
If you plan on displaying your wood inlay project in an outdoor environment, it is beneficial to select an epoxy with formulations that significantly resist the impact of UV rays.

3• SELF-LEVELING CAPABILITY

Working with epoxy with self-leveling capability for your wood inlay project allows you to pour epoxy into complicated depressions without the need for smearing with an additional tool or the addition of extra solvents.
Self-leveling epoxy fills all the voids excellently while leaving a smooth surface that is aesthetically appealing and that can easily facilitate any other top dressing works.
Self-leveling epoxy resin is ideal for designs with corners. Since you could be dealing with tiny lengths, faces, and vertices with inlay, this kind of epoxy saves the need to pour your epoxy to the last drop accurately.
When using epoxy resin as overlay material, then this property becomes critical since you want all parts of the overall wedge to be covered with epoxy resin at the same height without leaving voids in parts of the epoxy surface. After sanding such a piece then you would expect a flat surface fully covered by resin.

4• DURABILITY

Although wood inlay is mainly installed to improve the aesthetics of a wooden surface, the fundamental purpose of the surface continues to exist. If a coffee table is improved through wood inlay, then it is beautified but continues to serve the purpose of ‘holding coffee.’
Therefore, a wood inlay project should be durable enough to withstand wear and tear, whose degree depends on the individual use of the wooden surface.
You do not want your epoxy resin overlay scratching, cracking, or dislodging from the depression as that ruins your whole design.

5• VERSATILITY

As with any other ingredient in your workshop, it is very efficient to use an epoxy resin for not only one single purpose or project but also for several other factors.
We recommend picks that can do excellently as the best epoxy for wood inlay and that can do several other closely related woodworking projects.
This way, you enjoy peak efficiency in your workshop budget and save a significant amount of financial resources.

6• BONUS FEATURES

Low odor and zero (0) VOC formulations 

This property is advantageous for environmental friendliness, ease of use, and the impact the epoxy could have on the human breathing system.

Quick curing

Epoxy resins with quick curing allow users to use the surfaces they apply epoxy as soon as possible. With this advantage, woodworking enthusiasts can save a significant amount of time.

Conclusion

Epoxy resin is an excellent wood inlay material. Even when not being used as an inlay material itself, epoxy resin serves as a protective and aesthetic coating over other wood inlay materials. The advantages of being easy to use epoxy plus tough and limitless design allow epoxy resin to be an excellent choice for wood inlay material. It is easy to select the best epoxy for wood inlay with the guidelines we published above, given the clarity of the information provided on product instruction pages. Depending on the key advantage you would prefer, the above 4 best picks allow you to select an epoxy resin for your specific wood inlay project.