David Ison’s “Black Walnut Coffee Table,” right, and Max Shen’s “Coastline Telecaster Guitar” were top winners in the “Pour to Win” Contest.
Max Shen imagined a guitar. David Ison envisoned a coffee table. Both resin-enhanced pieces earned $250 Woodcraft Gift Cards for their makers in the Woodcraft “Pour to Win” Contest in March.
“We are very pleased with the response to Woodcraft’s ‘Pour to Win’ Contest – 530 entries,” President and CEO Jack Bigger said. “It confirmed the growing interest among makers to create with resins. Congratulations to the five winners and a big thank-you to all the entrants for participating.”
Judges selected Shen, from Redwood, California, as the Woodcraft Judges Award winner for his “Coastline Telecaster Guitar.” Contest voters picked Ison, from Catlettsburg, Kentucky, as the Vote Award winner for his “Black Walnut Coffee Table.”
The three runners-up chosen by the judges are George N. Partal, MD, of Bangor, Maine, “Magical Pearl Vase;” Tim Terras of Spring Creek, Nevada, “A Nest of Dragon Eggs;” and Chris Yacoub, no address available, “Knife.”
Shen and Ison will each receive a $250 Woodcraft Gift Card. All five winners will receive a Woodcraft Prize Pack that includes a Woodcraft T-Shirt, a Woodcraft Enamel Mug, a Woodcraft Sticker, and a Woodcraft Beanie.
GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
Max Shen
Max’s “Coastline Telecaster Guitar” features pearlescent resin inlays, a California Ash burl body, a Walnut neck and a Rosewood fretboard.
“I’ve been working on resin projects since 2018,” Max shared in an email interview.
Regarding the prize-winning guitar build, Max said, “I was experimenting with uncommon guitar building techniques. The main body was primarily cut on a CNC router rather than a bandsaw, and the fretboard was laser cut instead of using a fretsaw, which took a few tries to get right.”
David Ison
“I have only been using epoxy for about a year,” David explained, “and this was my second epoxy coffee table. This piece was a gift to my girlfriend Amy.”
The material used for the top was an air-dried slab of Black Walnut, which David split into halves and then glued the Walnut lumber together to achieve the thickness of stock that he needed in order to be able to bandsaw out the curved legs.
David created the1-1/2"-thick tabletop in four epoxy pours. When the resin got to almost the consistency of peanut butter, he created the swirls and designs in the resin by dragging a paint mixing stick throughout the pour. Then he filled the rest of the void between the slabs to a flush state, using deep pour epoxy, while the first pour was still tacky.
David brushed on a seal coat, followed by a flood coat that he poured on and troweled over the surface. He used a heat gun to remove bubbles during curing, and then finished the table’s legs and skirt with spray lacquer.
RUNNERS-UP (Chosen by Woodcraft Judges)
George N. Partal, MD
George created this 12" by 9" “Magical Pearl” Vase from a locally harvested Cherry burl that was dried in a home-made kiln for a couple of months and then turned on a lathe to a roughly cylindrical shape to expose voids and bark inclusions. After removing the bark, George surrounded the Cherry burl with flexible plastic sheeting to form a container to hold the hot liquid resin. He mixed the resin with colored mica powder and poured the mixture around the burl, trying to control the color blends as much as possible. The burl/resin material was then cast under pressure to collapse the bubbles and left overnight to form a solid block ready for turning.
The wall of this vase is less than 1/8" thick. Accents are copper inlay. It is finished with sanding sealer and multiple layers of oil/varnish buffed to a "glass-like" mirror chatoyance. Not counting the drying time, George said the process took about a week.
George has been doing resin casting for the past 5 or 6 years.
Tim Terras
Tim used dead-standing Big Basin Sagebrush to create the eggs in his prize-winning “A Nest of Dragon Eggs.”
“This type of sagebrush grows 7 to 8 feet tall and lives for over 100+ years,” Tim explained.
Tim peeled the bark off the sagebrush, made a mold, and then poured the resin (a deep pour) over the sage in the mold. Next he put the material in a pressure pot and left it for 24 hours at 50 PSI. After removing the sagebrush/resin piece from the mold, Tim turned it on a lathe to create the Dragon Egg shape.
A full-time woodturner, Tim began working with resin in early 2019.
Chris Yacoub
To create his “Knife” entry, Chris etched an Aluminum Honeycomb Core to degrease it and then cast it with resin, using a combination of dyes and powders. The newly cast material was then cured under pressure to remove bubbles, and the knife scales were cut out on a CNC machine, sanded and buffed. Scales were then mounted on a knife.
Get Inspired
To view all the “Pour to Win” Contest entries, log on to www.woodcraft.com/pour-to-win.
If any of the 530 entries inspires you to try a resin casting project, head to your nearest Woodcraft store or visit woodcraft.com to check out all the resin products and related accessories.
TOGETHER, WE CAN CREATE ANYTHING®
