Epoxy Resin River Table - How to build

Hi everyone, I made 3 different epoxy river tables in this video an fully explain how I did it!
Like mentioned in this video, you can watch my first video on following link

First of all big thanks to Brent Neve from "Ikke" helping me out with the wood part of this tutorial. Down below I go through each step in more detail:

Step 1: Prepping the wood
- Planing the wood till fully flat on the bottom, the top side can still have some curved shapes as it will be casted with epoxy resin creating small 'Islands' in the top part of the table.
- Grinding of the bark is very important to create a strong bond between the wood and the resin, if you don't remove the bark, you might face some problems with the resin breaking of the rest of the wood as it isn't a strong bond.
- If needed fill knots and cracks with resin before sanding it flat.
- Sanding everything flat and smooth with grid p180.
- Clean your wood with degreaser or acetone to remove any oil residues or natural residues from the wood that might cause some problems with the epoxy.
- Blow of the wood with compressed air to remove any wood dust left that might get trapped in the resin later on.

Step 2: Creating the mould box
- The mould box is made from melamine to have a smooth surface and make it easier to release the casted table top from the mould.
- Chemical release agent is used to have a good release! this is a very important step, if you don’t do this, your slab might get stuck forever on your mould.
- Edges are being sealed with some hot melt, Silicone and caulking might work as well but make sure to test this in advance.
- Screws are added to the sides for good fixture of the sides.

Step 3: Casting the river
- To cast the river in between the wood I’m using Glasscast from Easy Composites. You might try it with other brands but make sure your able to cast big volumes with that epoxy resin. Regular epoxy resin won’t allow you to cast thicker pours, due to an exothermal reaction. Glasscast 50 was specially developed for these kind of processes.
- I'm using the 2-cup system to make sure everything is mixed well. You mix in the first cup, then transfer everything to a second cup and mix again! this is the best way to make sure all resin is properly mixed.
- Add desired pigment in desired density.
- Pour a first thin layer and lay down the wood.
- Seal the wood with resin (otherwise you might get some bubbles)
- Let the first layer cure to a semi-state, that way the next layers will still chemically bond.
- Fill the entire river with resin in a couple of pours (max 1,5cm in hight per pour) for the full table around 7kg of resin was used per table

Step 4: The flattening
- Flattened the entire plate on one side, resin will shrink or expand sometimes, that's why it is important to flatten it all out.
- Used a self made router jig to flatten it all out, took me quite some time but at least the table is flat, which is important, I think! A Dewalt DW625 was used with a flattening bit with a diameter of 30mm.
- After flattening from one side, repeat for the other side.

Step 5:

- Coat the table top with PU clear coat or Glasscast 3 on the entire table top. This can still be rough as it will be sanded flat again later on. The important thing is just to seal to wood so it will not soak any more clear once you use the spraygun.
- The clear will hide the scratchmarks of the 400p grit sandingpaper and seal the wood of the entire table.
- Glasscast 3 was used here, without pigment on the walnut table.
- Now we can sand everything starting with 320 till 600.
- Use your spraygun for finishing coat, I used a matte finish on the olive wood tables. 3 coats were applied to achieve this finish. When sprayed it looks glossy but over time it will go dull in a satin matte finish.

Step 6:

- A friend lasman, welded the frames for me.
- The frame was sanded and finished with a black powder coat.
powder coating should be more resistant against scratches.

Step 7:

- Final assembly mounting the frame on the table top!
- Grab a beer and enjoy your table!

For more information and technical data sheets I suggest you to visit the Easy Composites Website:

For more of my projects
Make sure to follow me on:
twitter: @matthieutje65

[amirfathirad]

nice job as always, you are the best instructor I've ever seen also this is the best youtube channel only I wished there were more videos

[HappyPappynKatyTX]

Wow. Amazing. I've been watching your vids for years. You have gone a long ways. Continue Living well my friend!

[jimh]

Nice work Matthieu! I appreciate you sharing your work.

[CaffeinatedAwoo]

I think for a more elegant look, the polished is nice. But for a modern workspace or room, the matt finish is nice.

[JolienBrebels]

Great video Matthieu! I loved the woodworking part. Beautiful tables!

[mockatu]

If I pour at 60 degrees farenheit and it stays that temp during cure, is that going to leave soft epoxy?

[domthemom]

could you explain the curing at lower/higher temps? As long as you mix, pour, and cure epoxy at the specified temperatures, I wouldn't think it would cause a problem. You mix and pour concrete in cooler temperatures than they will be in.

[GeeDeeZO]

Erg mooi. Ik ben onder de indruk :-) hoeveel werkuren zitten er in 1 tafel?

[gwilasean]

Na het sealen van de zijkanten enal hoelang wacht je voor je de rest gier

[ZayPKMN]

Khoor aan je Engels accent daj ook een West Vlaming bent? :p