Suggestions for First Attempt at an Epoxy River Table


TomInNC

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My brother just asked me to make him an epoxy river table for a new office he is opening. The rough dimensions are 6 foot by 18 inches. I don't know what the office space looks like yet, but he said the designer recommended light wood (maple?) with a light blue epoxy pour.

I've never worked with slabs or epoxy. For those of you that have built these types of tables before, do you recommend just jumping right in with a full-size project? Or are the odds that I screw up the epoxy high enough to warrant trying some smaller epoxy projects before starting the full table?

 

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I'd try a small project to understand the sealing and forming that is likely to be needed to ensure the epoxy doesn't end up on the floor.

Make sure to use a slow set casting epoxy meant for this type of thing most epoxies aren't meant to set up in that large of a batch.

Also make sure your brother is aware of the cost. The epoxy can get expensive quickly, it's probably goign to cost more than the wood it's self.

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Like Drew states above know your epoxy as that will determine when and how you pour. For a table like you are suggesting i would feel fairly comfortable doing it right out of the gate just take some time to watch some YouTube video's and don't worry there are lots and lots and lots of videos on this and when you are done with those there are still many more :D

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Yes, be sure to price out the epoxy (slow setting, deep pour type) and slabs before doing anything. Buy more epoxy than you need, both for testing and in case you have a leak on the project piece. The test will also familiarize yourself with the work involved in flattening, polishing, and finishing the piece after the pour is set.
 

He should be thinking in thousands, not hundreds.

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Never done a river table, but I do a lot of epoxy casting. Definitely do a few test casts to get a feeling for how epoxy works, mixing, etc. I'd also say a vacuum chamber is pretty much required if you want it to look professional at any thickness, otherwise you're going to end up with bubbles, even in expensive low-viscosity resin.

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On 2/28/2022 at 1:05 PM, BonPacific said:

Never done a river table, but I do a lot of epoxy casting. Definitely do a few test casts to get a feeling for how epoxy works, mixing, etc. I'd also say a vacuum chamber is pretty much required if you want it to look professional at any thickness, otherwise you're going to end up with bubbles, even in expensive low-viscosity resin.


I think a >72”x18” vacuum chamber is going to be a bit cost prohibitive…

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1 hour ago, JohnG said:

I think a >72”x18” vacuum chamber is going to be a bit cost prohibitive…

I don't think you vacuum chamber the entire piece, you pull a vacuum on the epoxy to remove the air and then pour it out. Cremona and Howarth both have videos on this Franks most recent one. I'm sure there are other youtubers as well.

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On 2/28/2022 at 2:02 PM, Dave H said:

You tube has about a zillion river table  video's watch a few, you will find some very informative and some that demonstrate all the things you shouldn't ever do. Matt Cremona has a You tube channel and has some good epoxy projects here is a link https://www.youtube.com/c/mcremona 

Thanks. Differentiating between the 2 types of information you just described is arguably the fundamental challenge of the internet. 

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1 hour ago, Valleyslim said:

I do coffee size tables but at 6ft you may need c channels

I don't understand the C channel thing that has be showing up a lot lately. At 18" wide and 72" long how would C channel benefit? A solid base with an apron should do just fine across 18".

14 minutes ago, TomInNC said:

Thanks. Differentiating between the 2 types of information you just described is arguably the fundamental challenge of the internet. 

Cremona does have an entire guild build with waterfall river tables. It's not inexpensive but cremona puts a lot of good information in his builds.

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On 2/28/2022 at 1:49 PM, Chestnut said:

I don't understand the C channel thing that has be showing up a lot lately. At 18" wide and 72" long how would C channel benefit? A solid base with an apron should do just fine across 18".

Cremona does have an entire guild build with waterfall river tables. It's not inexpensive but cremona puts a lot of good information in his builds.

I'm not sure about the c channels. I personally have never used them but on big dining tables, I've seen them used. My guess to keep it stable since you have 2 peices of wood that are connected by epoxy? 

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My understanding of the C-channel is it essentially acts as a hidden breadboard end. A lot of slab tables I've seen don't use a traditional apron/stretchers at all, so nothing is mechanically keeping the top from cupping in those cases. For a river in particular I'd want more support underneath, as Epoxy isn't an amazing structural material on its own.

And Chestnut is correct, you use the vac chamber to degas the mixed epoxy before you pour it.

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Others have mentioned a vacuum to degas the epoxy.  If you are careful with the mixing you should not need to.  I did not do this, but understand the principle.  Another source of bubbles of gas in the epoxy por is the wood itself.  I coated/painted the edges of the river with a very thin coat of epoxy to seal the wood.  Worked for me, YMMV

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  • 1 month later...

I bought the slabs last week and am starting to go through all the helpful info here. It seems like the general consensus is that sanding is very important. Unsurprisingly, that is the part of the project that I am less than enthused about. I am decent with handtools, and I am wondering if it would make sense to plane the final table down with my No 4, scrape out the planer tracks, then light sanding with the grits 220 and up. I have never tried to hand plane epoxy, but some of the random stuff I've seen on sites where people talk about cleaning up epoxy used to fill defects make it sound like it isn't a totally crazy idea. Has anyone tried this?

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On 4/29/2022 at 11:54 AM, TomInNC said:

I bought the slabs last week and am starting to go through all the helpful info here. It seems like the general consensus is that sanding is very important. Unsurprisingly, that is the part of the project that I am less than enthused about. I am decent with handtools, and I am wondering if it would make sense to plane the final table down with my No 4, scrape out the planer tracks, then light sanding with the grits 220 and up. I have never tried to hand plane epoxy, but some of the random stuff I've seen on sites where people talk about cleaning up epoxy used to fill defects make it sound like it isn't a totally crazy idea. Has anyone tried this?

Are you talking about getting the epoxy off after a pour or just flattening your slab after the pour? 60 grit makes quick work of the epoxy if your just trying to get the excess off. But if your flattening i personally just went to my local hardwood dealer and paid them to flatten it. They charged 35 for my small slabs and 75 for my larger one. I have a router sled too but im just lazy and don't wanna clean up after. To answer your question about hand planning, there is nothing wrong with that. 

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On 4/29/2022 at 10:54 AM, TomInNC said:

I bought the slabs last week and am starting to go through all the helpful info here. It seems like the general consensus is that sanding is very important. Unsurprisingly, that is the part of the project that I am less than enthused about. I am decent with handtools, and I am wondering if it would make sense to plane the final table down with my No 4, scrape out the planer tracks, then light sanding with the grits 220 and up. I have never tried to hand plane epoxy, but some of the random stuff I've seen on sites where people talk about cleaning up epoxy used to fill defects make it sound like it isn't a totally crazy idea. Has anyone tried this?

Epoxy is just plastic, it'll plane/shave away fine. You won't get a perfect polish off the plane/scraper obviously, but that's what sanding and finish are for.

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I was asking about getting the slab ready for finish. With solid wood, if things go well with the No 4, you can frequently move right to the finish without sanding further. Would that be possible with a table that has epoxy in it? Or should I at least plan on sanding the epoxy to prep for finish?

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The only epoxy on this table will also be the river. What kind of rubbing compound did you use on the epoxy?

 

Unrelated question: has anyone used the Domino for making waterfall joints? Since I have to learn how to work with epoxy for the table my brother asked for, I figured I would make a waterfall table for the house. As I have several around-the-house projects that I need to knock out quickly this summer, I am also going to use this as an excuse to get a Domino. 

I purchased the guild build with Matt Cremona, and he uses the Domino on the waterfall joint. At least to my untrained eye, it isn't clear what size domino he is using , nor is it clear which unit (500 vs XL) he is using. I asked for clarification in the discussion section, but I have no idea how frequently that is monitored for 4-year-old projects. For anyone that has made waterfall joints, what size dominos were you using? After surfacing, I am guessing the material will be about 6/4. 

At this point, I'm on the fence about whether I should get the XL or the 500. I mostly plan on building solid-wood furniture, and I understand it, this would put me in the gray area between the 500 and XL. 

 

 

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If your goal is a glass-like finish on the epoxy, I like 3M's 06068 polish. I've also had decent results with Chemical Guy's V34. The v34 works better as a single-stage from a rough (400/600 grit) finish than the 3M stuff, which I generally use as a final polish after 1 micron papers (roughly 8000 grit).

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