The idea of a river table came from the United States and not it is popular all over the world. The river table is made from resin and two or more pieces of wooden planks. These tables look elegant, luxurious, modern, and eye-catchy and you can get them in different styles and designs with natural-looking scenes.
If you have the basic woodworking tools and knows how to work on wood, you can make a resin river table yourself. In this article, I will guide you on how you can make a simple, yet amazing river table yourself.
Materials You Need
Here are the basic tools and materials that you need to make a DIY river table:
- Well dried wooden planks
- Deep Pour Epoxy Resin
- Epoxy Resin Dye
- Table Top Finish Wood Oil
- Circular Saw
- Plunge Router
- Mixing Bucket
- Caulk & Caulking Gun
Make DIY Resin River Table
To make your DIY resin river table, first of all, you need to select the wood for your project. Remember, you should buy high-quality wooden planks so that you can make a long-lasting river table. Try to get the planks from your nearest store and make sure that they are at least 1.5 inches thick.
Also, make sure that planks are completely dried before you start your project. Cut both the planks into exactly the same length and make sure that size edges are also the same. You can use the circular saw to make them even or you can get help from a professional carpenter to do this for you.
You need to make your river table as clean as possible so make sure to remove all the hard, soft, or rotted wood from your wooden planks. You can sand the edges manually by using sandpaper. To remove the softwood and to keep the hardwood you should use a stainless wire wheel. Remove all the dust from the wood after grinding and sanding.
Now it’s time to prepare your epoxy resin. You need to buy the best epoxy resin, I would recommend you to buy deep pour epoxy resin for your project which is one of the best products that is available in the US. You should know the mixing ratio and the ideal temperature as well.
If you prepare the epoxy resin at a hot temperature, it will cure faster while at cold temperature, small bubbles will be made into the mixture which will be difficult to remove. Humidity level also plays an important role along with a dust-free environment in preparing the resin mixture.
You should consider all these factors and should ask the manufacturer as well. You should also know the working time which is 6 hours in the case of deep pour epoxy resin which is a self-leveling and high gloss product. You can also use epoxy resin dye to get the colors of your choice. You can use the mica powder with a mixture of deep pour epoxy to get amazing colors.
Now, you have to create the container in which you will keep your wooden planks and pour the epoxy resin mixture. You can use polypropylene around the wood to create the container as this material won’t stick to the epoxy resin. You can get more information on creating the container on YouTube.
After creating your container, you need to adjust the wood in that container. After adjusting, it is advised to pour the epoxy mixture into layers. First, create the base layer without the woods in the container and then put the wooden planks and adjust them at the correct position.
When working in layers, you need to wait for some time so that the layer can stick to the second layer. You can check the base layer with your finger wearing the gloves. Slightly touch the layer, if it leaves a mark but doesn’t stick to the glove then you are good to go to create the next layer.
Pur the deep pour epoxy resin mixture again to fill the river. Try to add a bit of extra mixture in the river channel so that it can completely fill the channel and there is no part left. Now leave it to fully cure.
Now you need to use a router to finish the table. If you are good at operating the wood router and sander, then do it yourself, otherwise, get help from a professional so that there are no scratches left and you get an even and flat surface river table. Polish the table as well to get a professional and modern river table.
Check These River Table Design Ideas
