What is Dry Resin?

Dry resin is resin treated to reduce its moisture content to a low level. Resins are hardened substances that melt when heated and burn when exposed to high heat. Previously only used to refer to plant-based substances, resins can now be synthetic substances that exhibit the correct properties. Though it takes a long time to cure and lose its moisture when dried naturally by air, dry resin is frequently used in manufacturing and building because it forms an exceptionally strong bond once the curing process has finished. Outside of nature, dry resins are most often seen in the form of dried varnish or wood glue preparations.

In manufacturing, chunks of resin are often dried and formed into cakes for easier storage. When a resin is dried, it is first heated to get it to soften and melt down into one mass. After the resin is heated, manufacturers use a centrifuge to extract water from the resin. The still-warm, slightly dried resin is then pumped through an extruder, giving it shape and further drying it. The shaped and dried resin is then cut or ground into shapes that make it easier to ship and store, usually in uniform cakes, but sometimes in the form of pellets or powders.

Often applied to improve the appearance of a surface, veneers are thin coverings glued over the original service using dry resin. These wood coverings are usually strips of attractive decorative wood applied as a face over existing woodwork. Woodworkers buy dry resin in powder form. The woodworker mixes batches of the powder with water and applies it to the thin wood strips used to create the veneer covering. This process is used in creating works of art crafted with inlaid wood veneers.

Resin-based glue designed to fasten wood can also be called resin glue, epoxy resins, and aliphatic resin. When a resin is applied as an adhesive, it becomes a dry resin when it dries. Dry resin should ideally have a moisture level of less then one percent of the total weight of the resulting resin.

Most resins have no scent until they are heated. One well-known dry resin is amber, which is the fossilized resin of a plant often used in jewelry. One method used to authenticate amber is to heat a pin and touch it to the amber. Real amber should have a slightly woody smell when the pin heats the amber. This method is not completely accurate because some amber counterfeiters put a coating on the outside of counterfeit amber designed to give fake amber a misleading amber smell.