I’m in the process of doing some opal inlay into silver pieces. I’m
happy to report that, for my first attempt, the pieces turned out
quite well. However, I dismantled them because I didn’t’ care for the
state of “hardness” achieved by the epoxy. The epoxy that I used on
these pieces was a double trigger-fed, marine, black hardener with
clear resin, long-curing (1 week) epoxy. The working time on this
glue is 1 hour, much longer than your ususal run-of-the-mill 5 or 10
minute epoxies. I’ve read that for inlay, the long-curing ones are
best. Problem is, even after a week of curing, the epoxy never
hardened to the “rock hard” state.it just became like a “hard
rubber.” Does anyone have a fair amount of experience with opal
inlay, and could you give me a brand or type of epoxy that will cure
to the harder state that I seek? Obviously, the harder the epoxy,
the higher polish I can get on it. Thanks for any tips.
Cathy Flory
Owner/Designer
JEWELWORKS
www.jewel-works.com