Epoxy resin and table - build a river table or ocean table yourself - instructions

River Table, or Ocean Table usually consist of a hybrid structure made of wood and epoxy resin. The use of epoxy resin is usually based on the fact that epoxy resin, unlike polyester resin, has several advantages for the manufacture of a table.

On the one hand, epoxy casting resin offers better adhesion to wood than polyester casting resin. Another advantage of epoxy resin in combination with wood is the low shrinkage of epoxy resin. When casting epoxy resin between two pieces of wood, epoxy resin shrinks less than polyester resin.

Instructions – River Table / Ocean Table

The production of a river table consists of two steps:

Sealing the wood with epoxy topcoat
Pouring the table with epoxy casting resin
The first step is to coat the resin with a crystal clear epoxy top coat. The coating prevents later outgassing of the wood when it is poured with epoxy casting resin. The casting resin should only be filled into the mold after the epoxy top coat has cured. 24 hours are usually required for full hardening.

Ideally, to ensure uniformity without layer cracks, both the epoxy top coat and the epoxy casting resin have the same refractive index. The coating resin should be highly viscous and have increased reactivity. These properties ensure that the epoxy coating resin flows as little as possible, even on vertical surfaces, and absorbs quickly without penetrating too deeply into the wood, in order to ensure low consumption of the epoxy topcoat.

In the second step, the formworked table is poured. The casting resin based on epoxy resin that can be used here should be crystal clear, low-viscosity, very well deaerating and have a low reactivity. The low reactivity guarantees a low exothermic reaction even with larger casting quantities. Due to the long open time, the casting resin can vent well. This prevents air bubbles in the casting.

In order to prevent the casting resin from flowing out during the hardening phase, the pieces of wood are encased in the desired shape of the later table. The crystal-clear cast resin can simply be poured on after cutting the formwork. The formwork can, for example, consist of rigid foam boards. These could be separated with a separating spray. The maximum pouring quantity and the maximum pouring height differ from resin to resin. In order to prevent later visible jump layers in the cast body, it is advisable to choose a casting resin that can be cast in one operation.