Hi Derek,

You are right about the cool wood, radiant heaters and the bubbles in the epoxy - I do that on purpose to control outgassing.

I like to seal the wood before glassing. I am using a very tight weave 3 oz cloth that doesn't wet out easily (I got yards and yards of the stuff - real cheap). Pre-sealing helps with wetting the glass (no resin absorption) and eliminates the outgassing problem.

I apply the resin to the "cold" wood and use a radiant heater to warm the epoxy and the surface. The heat thins the epoxy and warms the wood, causing the wood to "vent" the gas. As the wood cools, the thinned epoxy is drawn into the wood. I control the amount of sealing by the amount of resin I apply. Since I am warming the wood to above ambient temperatures, the wood is "cooling" relative to the environment and I am not seeing any bubbles - saves having to wait until the temperatures start falling before starting to epoxy.

You don't want to "broil" the epoxy but a "fair" amount of heat can be applied with no problem. How much is "fair" heat? Check the resin specs for "baking" cure temperatures for an idea of what is "hot". With the resin that I use (West Systems) I apply heat (moving the source around) until I see the bubbles forming.

Hope this is of help.

Hank