Does resin break easily?
TL;DR It depends.
Like it does or it doesn’t. What could it possibly depend on?
Well. Under normal circumstances, fully cured resin doesn’t break easily. In fact, it shouldn’t break at all. Resin doesn’t spontaneously break without something going wrong first.
So what could go wrong?
1. Gravity
Hard-curing resins dropped on a hard surface will break.
And how do you know if you have a hard-curing resin?
The easy rule is that resins for casting cure harder than resins for coating. Anything made with a casting resin can crack or shatter if dropped on a hard surface. This includes all types of resins that cure hard.
💡 Pro tip: Here’s the rule I follow. If glass breaks when dropped on a surface, then hard-curing resin will break on that same surface.
2. Including something else with your resin
Resin that’s glued to something else, like a piece of wood, may break along that seam, especially if the resin shrinks a lot during curing. This usually isn’t an epoxy resin problem but is one of the challenges of using polyester resin.
💡 Pro tip: If you want to make an epoxy table, be sure you use a resin for wood.
3. Cracking
Resin that’s cracked is more likely to break, even if you don’t drop it. Resin cracking is never normal.
If you have to worry about hard-curing resin breaking, why use it?
There are a few advantages to using hard-curing resins.
You can polish hard-curing resin with tools.
And by tools, I mean rotary tools and buffing compound. That means you can get a high shine without the resin crumbling or melting.
They won’t soften when you wear them.
Ever wear a resin ring or bracelet only to have it soften and misshape? That doesn’t happen with hard-curing jewelry resin.
Does that mean you can drop things made with softer curing resins, like doming resins, and not worry about damage?
No. Anything made with a doming or coating resin is likely to dent or bend but not break if dropped on a hard surface.
Ready to try resin crafting but feeling overwhelmed with where to start?
There’s so much information out there. How are you supposed to know it all?
It’s why I wrote the resin beginner book, Resin Fundamentals. I’ve condensed my 17 years of resin artist experience into an ebook you can download and read today. It’s the PDF book I wish I had when I started with resin.
Unpublished Blog Posts of Resin Obsession, LLC © 2023 Resin Obsession, LLC