What is an Epoxy Stick?

Epoxy Putty Sticks | What They Can and Can't Do

This post was written by Israel Oba on January 09, 2024

The invention of the epoxy putty stick was a giant step forward, especially for do-it-yourselfers. To use them to their full advantage, make sure you pick the stick best designed for the specific repair job you’re about to do! Epoxy putty have recently become popular with 3D modelers who use the flexible material for filling gaps, cracks and imperfections in 3D printed models. It's typical use however is in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. This article aims to help you understand more about this product and what it can and can’t do.

What is the history of Epoxy?

First, a bit of background: Epoxy putty sticks were invented by an entrepreneurial chemist in 1973. Several different ways of combining the two ingredients (the epoxy and the hardener) were tried, and the ultimate answer was a cylinder within a cylinder. The inner cylinder was the hardener, and the outer was the epoxy. This design keeps the two parts from reacting with one another until the putty is mixed. The hardener, which goes bad when exposed to air, was protected by the outer epoxy. This design lengthens the shelf life of the product.

The user simply cuts off as much as they want (giving the perfect amount of each ingredient), then kneads the coloured ingredients until they reach a consistent colour, ready for application. Using that technology, a whole line of application-specific epoxy putties was developed for a wide variety of uses. Today, there are specific products for the repair of wood, steel, concrete, aluminium, copper, plastic, and fibreglass, as well as a generic repair putty. A version for fibreglass repair that contains fibreglass actually bonds and cures underwater. While the original technology has been refined over the years, the basic principles remain the same.

What are they used for?

While epoxies are often used as adhesives, epoxy putties perform best when used as a permanent filler, replacing some other material that has been broken off, gouged out, or worn away from another product. They are not intended to perform tasks such as:

Towing and hauling very heavy loads.

Solving structural problems almost instantly, such as gluing a heavy shelf onto a wall.

Replacing the common adhesives that glue paper together.

The best epoxy sticks are designed for specific end uses. Here the generic epoxy stick sinks to the bottom, while the stick made specifically to repair wood actually floats.

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