Funny , Will! I love Red-Green!  We don't get it anymore in NE.  It's in Seattle, though!  Nice over Christmas break to see it. I like the duct tape demolition ball to the old Ford Taurus, so you don't need a third wheel.  It actually worked! LOL Duct tape works for all kinds of things...including a dam.  Not Hoover or anything...just sayin! Keep yer stick on the ice, eh? Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td>From: <td>"Encore Pianos" <encorepianos@metrocast.net> <tr valign=top> <td>To: <td><pianotech@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td>Date: <td>01/24/2012 03:20 PM <tr valign=top> <td>Subject: <td>Re: [pianotech] Epoxy Filler</table> <hr noshade> <tt>Duct tape dams?  That calls for a highlight feature on the Red Green show! That surfaces periodically on PBS around money begging time.  It's about  a couple of good ole boys from back, back, backwoods Maine, whose solution to everything is duct tape.  They once made a wide body SUV by duct taping two old Econoline vans together.   Will -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [</tt><a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org"><tt>mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</tt></a><tt>] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:27 PM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Epoxy Filler To whom it may concern, or anyone interested, Yesterday, I filled a set of rib mortises out in the shop, preparatory to routing new mortises for a new and considerably different rib set, and installed a cutoff bar, fish, and further belly rail bracing. I used thickened West System epoxy. In the past, I'd used maple floor (band saw and sander sweepings) for a filler and thickener. It works nicely to increase the volume of the epoxy, but I don't like how the epoxy drains out of it as it sits. Adding something of a smaller particulate, like high density filler or colloidal silica tends to keep the epoxy in the wood flour, but it seems like a waste of materials when all I want is a cheap filler and volume increase that doesn't separate and doesn't kill the strength  and toughness of the epoxy altogether. So yesterday I tried good old non-exotic general purpose wheat flour. I used my wood flour for bulk, and enough wheat flour to make a peanut butter viscosity mix for bedding the cutoff bars and bracing, and more like yogurt to pour into the mortises and plate lag holes with my highly sophisticated duct tape dams. It handled beautifully, and the epoxy stayed suspended in the filler with no indication of it settling out. When I leveled everything this morning, I was very pleased with the texture of the cured mix. It's less brittle than straight epoxy, but still quite tough, and works as well as anything I've tried, better than most, and cheaper than almost anything. If you have a need, I recommend you give it a try. Self rising? You're on your own. Ron N </tt>