DIY Resin & Wood Comb

My best friend and I wanted to make a unique gift for a friend with an epic beard. So, we grabbed a piece of wood from my scrap pile, mixed up some epoxy resin, and made some really cool combs!

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Want more projects like this one? Visit my website & YouTube channel!

Website: www.diyhuntress.com

YouTube Channel: www.diyhuntress.com

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Supplies

Tools
Table Saw
Miter Saw/Circular Saw
Scroll Saw/Jig Saw
Rotary Tool
Planer (Optional)
Drill/Driver
Sander & Sandpaper
Tape Measure
Epoxy Resin Mixing Supplies

Materials
Choice Lumber (I Used Walnut)
Deep Pour Epoxy
Melamine Shelving
Screws
Tyvek Tape
Wood Finish
Pigment Powder

Step 1: Prep the Lumber

Choose the lumber you’d like to use for this project and prep it by cutting it down to size. I had to run my piece through the planer a few times to get it to the thickness I needed (but, this is optional).

Step 2: Build the Mold

After cutting your pieces to size, build a melamine mold for your resin pour. I did this by marking how big my pieces were and then cutting the melamine on the table saw to fit the pieces.

Step 3: Prep the Mold

Next, prep your mold using Tyvek tape. This will help prevent the resin from sticking to the melamine.

Step 4: Assemble the Mold

After the mold has been prepped, attach all of the pieces together by pre-drilling holes and inserting screws.

Step 5: Seal the Mold

Once the molds has been prepped, it’s time to get ready for the pour! Use a vacuum to get rid of any debris leftover in the mold, and then seal up the edges using caulking.

Step 6: Prep & Place the Wood

Once the caulking has dried, prep the piece of wood for the pour by sanding the edges that will be exposed to the epoxy resin. Then, install the wood into the mold.

Step 7: Mix the Resin

Next, prep your epoxy resin by following the mixing directions on your particular bottle. Make sure to add some fun pigment and colors to your resin!

Step 8: Pour the Resin

Pour the resin into the mold (one trick I've found is to seal the piece with a thin coat of resin prior to pouring in order to keep bubbles from forming while the resin cures). I used a clamp to keep the pieces from floating up during the pour.

Step 9: Clean It Up

After the resin cures, remove the piece from the mold by removing the screws first and then using a chisel to pull the melamine away from any tough spots. You may need to flatten your piece after this (but, using a planer is totally optional).

Step 10: Sand

Next, sand your piece to the desired thickness of your comb.

Step 11: Apply Your Template

Once your piece has been sanded and trimmed to its final size, use a stencil to figure out the shape in which you’d like to cut your combs. I found my stencils on Google by searching "Comb Clip Art" and then attached my stencils using spray adhesive.

Step 12: Cut & Shape the Combs

Cut the combs using a scroll saw or jig saw and then to sand, shape, and fine-tune your combs. I bounced back and forth between sanding and engraving bits on a rotary tool to get mine to their final shape.

Step 13: Finish the Combs

After your pieces have been shaped, sand the piece to 400 grit (and don’t forget to wet sand as well to help polish the resin) and then finish with a food safe finish!

Step 14: Admire Your Work!

Comments

[Kmac354]

Beautiful resin art. I wish I had seen this a few days before Mother’s Day. I’ve only used West System epoxy, a structural epoxy, not thick building resin but it may have made the teeth stronger. From boat building experience I’ve found grain running the lengthwise (the length of the teeth) would also made them stronger.

[diyhuntress]

Thank you! I think it was a perfect storm of things that made the teeth break - grain direction being one. I also made it too thin during the planing process and probably should have let the pour cure for longer. Oh well, all learning experiences!

[turtlewax]

At 11:04 in video the teeth in the comb easily broke off because the wood grain is the wrong way. The grain should be running the length of the teeth instead of sideways. An experiment with make the comb out of laminated wood similar to plywood would add strength to the teeth as well. Other than that, I loved the epoxy idea and the overall project is very interesting. Great video in that they did not "hide" the mistakes but let you see them so you can learn what not to do as well. Cheers!

[diyhuntress]

Mistakes are part of the process! I always share them to help others avoid the same ones when they try in their shops! :)

[SailorHalo]

This is so gorgeous

[diyhuntress]

Thank you!

[M3G]

That looks beautiful!

[diyhuntress]

Thank you so much!

[JPH1150]

what was the food safe finish you used?

[diyhuntress]

Hi! I used Walrus Oil Cutting Board Oil. Wasn't sure if my friend had any allergies to finishes, so I took the safe route...

[batcrave]

I've played a little with wood & resin before, but only on pieces where the resin was fully contained. How sturdy is the bond on thin, unsupported bits like that mostly-resin tooth on the right?

[ post-video-watching edit: Another solution to #vomitcombproblems might have been (after hopping in the shop's high-quality-but-higher-priced Festool TimeMachine™) to align the piece so the grain ran along the teeth rather than across. I had similar problems when I was working with some engineered bamboo (despite the tooth-equivalents being ~.75" thick), and reorienting the workpiece made all the difference. Or, well, it would have, except that it lost the surface patterning that made me choose that bamboo in the first place. Oh well. ]

[diyhuntress]

OH man... what I would do for that TimeMachine! I do think it was a combination grain direction problem and also that I sanded it too thin (boo). Was so happy that the blue one and black one worked well though! They're still going strong!

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Wood and blue resin is such a lovely combination :)

[diyhuntress]

Totally agree! 😍