River table (resin table)

[SEBSPEED]

I've been wanting to make one of these for a while, and I'm actually getting paid to build a big one with a fancy moto-inspired base, so I figured I should build a small one as a test. Glad I did, got a few good lessons out of it.

I started the tester with some free 120yr old pine barn boards (background). I pulled nails then sanded, torched, resanded and retorched to get the look I wanted.







Once I had those looking how I wanted, I waxed one of the bench tops and set the boards up



Lesson 1: old wood sucks up expensive resin like a hobo at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Coat it with something cheaper like Polycrylic, no oil based stuff.



Lesson 2: If you want to tint your resin with mica powder, don't buy a lot. It stretches more than a hobo's belt at an all-you-can-eat buffet... I used maybe a teaspoon to tint a cup of resin for this one pour. Didn't need to buy 2 containers of the stuff, even though it was pretty cheap.








Lesson 3: If you want to cast hollow items in your pour, don't. Fill them with resin or something ahead of time, so they don't start floating and releasing air bubbles in your pour.

I used spent brass and steel cases, I stuck them in the blue layer before it was fully cured to help hold them at random angles. Super glue would have been a better idea.





You can see an ominous trail of bubbles here if you look close...



And here's a 45acp shell acting as a buoy



It looked fine for a little while



Until Lesson 4: Don't exceed the recommended pour thickness. If it says 1/4", don't go more than a 1/4", even if you think you can go deeper... that's what she said

Lesson #4 was a happy accident for me... the heat caused by pouring 1/2" vs 1/4" caused the trapped air to bubble out from the shells and become trapped in the resin instead, as if under ice, which thankfully kinda made it look like the shells were smoking, rather than totally ruining the piece.







In the narrower section there was less heat, but the tiny residual bubbles were trapped during the fast cure, vs being allowed to rise and pop, leaving a clear pour.



Plodding on I filled the "river" and got a coating across the tops of the boards



Lesson 5: Plug holes, knots from the bottom before beginning the pour, or you'll wonder where all your resin is going. It doesn't cure fast enough to fill holes by itself.

In keeping with the ammo theme, I filled the offending holes with lead shot, 22lr brass, and airgun pellets. By this time the initial sequence of pours had cured, so I had to scuff the top to prep for the final flood coat.



Lesson 6: Masking tape adhesive bonds give way to resin, don't rely on tape alone to form a resin dam. Luckily I had some modeling clay at hand and stuffed chunks of that in the corners over the tape to seal the leaks.



Stuff is mesmerizing when it's wet. Which leads us to...

Lesson 7: Insects suck. I had no issues with any of the previous pours, but of course, on the last flood coat a mosquito decided to die happy in the edge of my flood coat! Lesson learned, have a cover ready for the pour. After babysitting the bubbles to pop them all, cover the pour to cure overnight.





Side note; make sure you buy more supplies than you think you'll need. More mixing cups, more stirring sticks, and definitely extra resin.

[SEBSPEED]

Thanks to my pal the mosquito, I had to sand the entire top. I did not have enough resin left in the 1 gallon kit I bought to pour another flood coat, so, I ran it up to my friends shop where I do my paint work, and shot a bunch of clear on it. Another note, resin sucks up paint like a camel at a watering hole... buy extra. I ended up shooting 9 coats!

Some might notice the corner of pine that was sanded off - I don't have a planer so I had to deal with the board not being flat. I had planned to bury it in resin, but that didn't work out, so I sanded it down and sealed it prior to clearcoat.



We left it in the bug-free booth over the weekend and I grabbed it this morning. Seems like it turned out ok. Time to make some legs!

[shinyribs]

Pictures don't work for me, but I'm in a bad spot. Helped a buddy build a couple of these things for a bar last summer. He was the brains, I was just dumb muscle. Anyway, keep a small torch handy for the problem bubbles. You can heat that area to allow them to lift out. Good luck, man.

[Mattson]

bloody hell that is cool

[Smoker]

Nice work.

Love the colors.

[titan]

That's is awesome mate. Always fancied doing one my self

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[SEBSPEED]

I've started pouring the big one, I'll post it when done. Can see myself making more if $ budget allows for resin.

[shinyribs]

Was thinking about this some more. I bet you could drill holes and inject resin in to those bubbles if you wanted them gone. Just a syringe and some patience.

[beezwiz]

[QUOTE=SEBSPEED;3132556]Thanks to my pal the mosquito, I had to sand the entire top. I did not have enough resin left in the 1 gallon kit I bought to pour another flood coat, so, I ran it up to my friends shop where I do my paint work, and shot a bunch of clear on it. Another note, resin sucks up paint like a camel at a watering hole... buy extra. I ended up shooting 9 coats!

Sebastian! Excellent work for the test table... bubbles coming out of shells is an awesome effect I would play upon. If ya could get the bubbles maybe "Blood Red" even better!

Beez.

[Casper]

Looks awesome!