Ron Magen wrote:
Jay,
Ian said, '. . . treat the un-cured epoxy {that you are scraping} AS toxic .
. .' - NOT that it IS 'toxic'. It is simply not the nicest stuff in the
world, and I think he means you should protect your eyes, skin, & lungs. The
same 'coverage' you would use when installing / removing fiberglass
insulation. Disposal is the same - DON'T just throw it in the can, carefully
bag it, first. The bit about rubber gloves & skin is directly related to
ALLERGIC reactions. Some people get an instant 'reaction' to things {like
'Poison Ivy'}, some never do, and others develop it at a later time in life.
With epoxy, once it does appear - it supposedly never leaves.

Yes, I understand that it is not truely toxic. That's why I said it is
"toxic like". And I pretty much follow what you have suggested to
protect myself. This is good to be reminded for such an important
thing.

With the 'ratios' you got it reversed - the 'higher' ratios {like my 5-to-1}
tend toward the 'harder & brittle'. the 'lower' ratios tend toward the 'less
hard & more flexible'. ALSO NOTE - I said 'everything is relative' and my
particular project was NOT 'boatbuilding critical'. It has NOTHING to do
with boatbuilding. I consider ALL boatbuilding uses to BE 'CRITICAL'.

I don't quite understand. If you put less hardener into the mix, I
would assume that the final result will be less hardened and more
flexible, right? Do you mean to say that the mixture that has less
hardener than it should will not be properly cured and will not provide
the proper suggest?

This is probably not an issue because I will not play around with
varying hardener ratio anyway. I need to strictly follow the
manufacturer's recommendation of the hardener ratio.

Jay Chan