I have made a couple of ply boards and just epoxied the wood surface without painting the board.
I would like to paint a design on my next board but not sure how I go about it:
1. What paint should I use?
2. Do I paint before or after putting on the epoxy
3. To get a nice flat surface is there some type of epoxy cover that should be put on as i final coat?

Thanks.Bill

If you put the paint over the epoxy you can use pretty much any paint you want, as long as it's waterproof.

If want to keep the paint from scratching off you can put it under the epoxy but then you have to be more careful about what you use because the paint can interfere with the epoxy bond. Very thin coats that do not fill the wood grain (such as stain) work best. It is not a bad idea to do a small test sample with whatever you decide to use.

If you use epoxy on the outside of the board you should use a special uv-resistant epoxy or use several coats of exterior polyurethane varnish to protect the epoxy from the sun.

The best way to get a smooth finish is to start with a board that is smooth. Sand the board carefully before and between coats of paint or epoxy.

i used a common polyuirthan paint, (usually used for woods), to paint the wood core, BEFORE applying the epoxy resin and skin.
I added patterns with spray paint and It came out real nice.
just make sure the paint is let dry at least 24 hours, before you apply any epoxy on top of it....

as said before, the best is to try out on some wood pieces BEFORE doing new stuff on the shaped board

the best way to go is to mix the color to the epoxy. just add the weight to the resin, but keep the ratio resin+color : hardener constant.
ask your epoxi suplier for epoxi color component.

it turns out just perfect.


regards

mede