Epoxy Resin River Table

I decided to make a dark resin epoxy river table, from two aged slabs that were hard to work with. The project took a lot of work, but it turned out great, with deep and rich colors that accentuate the wooden grain and the sophisticated hue of the epoxy. Given the slab outline, the epoxy resin doesn't form a perfect flowing river, but it is captivating nonetheless, providing a more abstract shape that looks unique and elegant.

I bought a dark epoxy pigment, from Amazon:

Other tools included:

• Torch for getting rid of the bubbles in the polymer
• Nail gun to secure the frame for pouring the epoxy
• Silicone tube for sealing the edges of the frame
• Whatever you can find for making the frame, although I recommend a flat MDF board.
• Sanding paper and an electric orbital sander.

Provided that you chisel and sand the wooden slabs, you can start the epoxy river table project by making the board. Carefully measure the dimension that you had in mind for the final product, and frame accordingly. I used an MDF board because of the smoothness and light weight, but you can use any other material provided that it is flat as to avoid irregularities of the tabletop once finished.

Seal the inside edges with a silicone tube, but be careful not to overapply as it may affect the final product with regards to having nicely defined outer edges.

I advise everyone to take a look at some of their favorite models and have a specific style in mind before starting the project. My inspiration came from an elegant tabletop by SENTIENT furniture, which is also the simplest from their collection of epoxy river tables.

Make sure to mix the resin carefully, and to keep your working space ventilated. The smell, depending on what brand you will end up using, may overwhelm you within a close garage. Wear a mask if necessary, but don't rely on it so much as smell can easily penetrate unless you are wearing one of those double filter models with side attachments.

Mix until the resin clears, and then add the pigment as per the instructions, calculating exactly how much resin you are going to use, by doing a rough estimate of the volume planned for the middle. For this, measure the height of your tabletop, i.e. the height of the slabs once placed within the frame, and then the space between them in various spots along the length of the table. Calculate the average distance, and then multiply the length, by the average distance, by the height of the tabletop. You should prepare roughly 30% more resin, just in case.

Once the frame is ready and the slabs are put in place, pour the resin slowly, starting with one side and moving towards the other. Once you are in the second position, stop moving the bucket and allow a steady flow until the gap is filled. You can go over the surface, but never below the surface.

It's important to note that you should seal the edges with a heat treatment, or chemical agent, before pouring in the epoxy, as it may enter the wooden slabs and make curing harder to control. Different live edge slabs react differently to epoxy, and some manufacturers would specify the pigment in relation to different hardwoods, but unless you are using softwoods with great porosity, you'd be fine with almost all resin products. Walnut, maple and oak react very well to epoxy polymers, providing a strong bond that is difficult and next to impossible to break.

Once the epoxy settles and cures, use an orbital sander with a progressively finer paper. At the end, the tabletop should look as a sanded glass. The epoxy river table will then get it's final appearance once you apply a coating agent, usually water based polyurethane, which gives color depth and protection to the surface of the table. You can apply wax by preference, although I chose not to.