| Epoxy comes at a serious cost 1) It costs a lot of $ to begin with 2) Everything you apply it with is ruined within minutes 3) It can cause terrible dermatitis (always wear multiple pairs of nitrile, not latex, gloves). You can become sensitised to the point that you cannot share a room with sanding dust from it! 4) It's open time is short and varies according to the batch size due to the heat it produces. This means you have to spread large batches out in a tray to lose heat or it goes suddenly hard, or indeed melts your tray! 5) Clean up is nigh on impossible. Normally you are left chipping and sanding what is left 6) It has poor resistance to UV light 7) It leaves a residue that can stop paint sticking 8) It is unsuitable for thin glue lines like are used in furniture and traditional joints But yes it is phenomenally strong and water resistant. A better glue for joinery is polyurethane, especially the titebond stuff. |
I'd say multiple pairs of gloves is overkill, plain medical latex ones do just fine for me. Just don't mix or apply it with a finger.
Open time of modern ones is acceptable, Many times I found myself waiting for it to get more sticky than otherwise. And heat is of no concern for joints.
For point 8 I'm not sure what are you talking about. It's great for thin-layer joints, that's where it actually excels.
Never had any problems with UV, but maybe because it was always painted over (and what's the problem with painting? sand it a bit, that's taken as granted as even epoxy itself won't stick to unsanded epoxy)
Besides, knowing you won't be able to get it off once it gets on something trains concentration and fine motor control :)
As for $ well, it costs a bit more, and time spent on weighing and mixing is well over any cost difference in raw materials. Still in the end you get a joint that'll be the last thing that fails.