Reader Project Gallery

Canoe By Otto Glass When Otto’s wife turned out to be allergic to cedar, he got creative and used untreated 2×6 framing lumber to build their canoe. He milled the boards into strips himself and constructed a 14′ long, 40″ wide, 16″ deep custom canoe. Despite having no prior experience with canoe building or fiberglass, […]

Casting by Lou Yelgin To restore a vintage wooden screw for a bench vise, Lou needed a custom nut with a rare 3½ TPI thread. Since machining wasn’t an option, he used the screw itself to mold the threads by coating it in petroleum jelly and casting WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy around it. The result was […]

Historic Win by Michael Lobieg – GBI Marketing Team Puget Sound Navigation Company was the first to finish in this year’s WA360, placing first in the wind division! The three-person team—consisting of Michael Karas, Molly Karas, and Anthony Boscolo—sailed their Gougeon 32, Incognito. “We had an amazing race getting to put the Gougeon 32 through […]

Windvane by John Mikolich While winterizing his sailboat, John Mikolich accidentally crushed a plastic windvane with an 80-pound outboard. Over breakfast, he spotted a cereal box and used it to trace and cut a replacement, then saturated it with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy. By dinnertime, he had a durable, colorful new part—better than the original.

Leveling Feet by Daryl Brunette After moving into a new house, my workbench wobbled on the sloped garage floor, and I didn’t want winter water puddling around the shimmed wooden legs. As a longtime WEST SYSTEM® user, I knew epoxy could help, but encapsulating the feet with thickened epoxy felt too complicated. Instead, I poured […]

Knife by Matthew Gregory This neo-Japanese style fighting knife, with composite construction handle, was made by Matthew Gregory. The 6″ long blade is made of a Crucible Steel laminate of CPM-154 stainless cladding over a core of high wear resistance tool steel Crucible CPM-10v. The handle consists of a G10 and carbon fiber frame, with […]

Condo Bench by Paul Hayes Reader Paul Hayes recently donated this bench to his condo association so residents would have a nice location near the mailboxes to sit and read their mail. This teak bench had spent some time outside and therefore had become discolored. He sanded the bench on his dry, enclosed porch and […]

Boat Planters by Ed Maurer Yard Yachts are small, boat-like planters and displays for use in homes, gardens and businesses. Working from his shop in Dunedin, FL, Ed Maurer builds these 3′-8′ yachts. He chooses to use interior grade plywood (for its flexibility and affordability) in addition to various types of lumber. To ensure the […]

Wood Dinghy by Robert Hale This design is Nick Schade’s “Coot” plan. It was built by Robert Hale using clear old growth red cedar 1/4″ x 3/4″.He tried to orient as many strips fore and aft as possible, but the last eight strips went in straight, and he tapered the ends. These were edge glued […]

Over the last off-season, Robert Petersen converted the bare aluminum hull of his RIB dinghy into a hybrid plywood/aluminum hull using 1/4″ ply and WEST SYSTEM® products. Robert looks forward to using her as a dinghy for his 1971 Jim Brown 37′ Searunner as he sails the United States Virgin Islands in St. Thomas.

By Duane Northrop. “I have been successfully using the excellent G/Flex® 650 Toughened Epoxy for the last five years. The ease of use, the working time and the epoxy’s waterproof nature makes steel to wood, or composite bonds simple and permanent. No G/Flex 650 bonded knife that has left my bench has experienced a failure. […]

By Chris Benzen. This boat sits in Newport Harbor, California. I fully restored it a couple of years ago. I used WEST SYSTEM 105 Epoxy Resin® and 206 Slow Hardener® to fill the holes left from removing the oarlocks. I mixed cut-up chop strands and 105/206 to a mayonnaise consistency and filled the holes. I […]

By Ray McCarthy. My son’s high school graduation present in 1998, I built this 10′ Kayak. The kayak was built with WEST SYSTEM® Epoxy, okume plywood, and 4 oz. fiberglass cloth. I used the “tortured plywood” or stitch and glue technique. The hard chines make it very stable. 26 years later, my son still fishes […]

This gorgeous Harley Davidson Sportster 883 was refurbished by Rafa Abella using WEST SYSTEM Epoxy and carbon fiber.

Jerold Knox repaired his wooden golf club with G/Flex and wood shavings stained to match his club. Before & after.

Garden Fountain made from a hollow piece of driftwood coated with WEST SYSTEM Epoxy. Submitted by Paul Foley.