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Some building materials find use in other areas. So ordinary plaster turned into artistic or decorative. They even make panels from it now. Another such example is epoxy resin. They make very beautiful and non-standard furniture from it. In particular, tables, bar counters, chairs. That’s just the price tag is quite inhumane, but very beautiful. As it turned out, the technology is not so complicated, although there are many subtleties. But to make a table of epoxy resin and wood with your own hands is quite realistic.
Wood preparation
The choice of wood for epoxy countertops is a whole affair. The brighter the wood pattern appears, the more interesting the result will be. But the wood must be seasoned, dry. And saw cuts are needed of considerable thickness, with interesting edges. In fact, this is an unedged board, but expensive wood species. In order not to be confused with building material, such saw cuts are called slabs and they must be chamber dried.
Having received the wood, you need to figure out how to decompose it. The tabletop can be assembled from several boards with a “river” of epoxy between them. The edges can be resin or wood. The array can be located on one side, the second will be transparent. You can use round dies, which are obtained when sawing thick and not very trees. If there is no wood with a beautiful edge (or it is too expensive), the relief can be made manually – with a milling cutter. If the boards are narrow, we glue them, planting them on dowels. In general, there are many possibilities.
After we figured out how everything will look, we begin wood processing. It is necessary to remove the bark, remove defects. Defects – dry and crumbled knots, holes gnawed by insects, chips, cracks. If where there is rot or “blue”, we remove it with a milling cutter to a clean tree. In general, we clean everything, grind it, preserving the natural shape or adding relief to the best of our imagination and abilities. We also grind the plane of the board, exposing the wood pattern, emphasizing it if desired. You can use any means. The same stain, wood oil, can be burned with a lamp, then sanded using a wire brush, etc.
Before the main pouring, it is necessary to “prime” the wood with the epoxy resin that you will use in your work. We first fill in all the small cavities, holes that were found during stripping. We poured it and for two to three hours periodically warm up the flooded areas. Air comes out of the cavities and pores of the wood. If the resin is not heated, bubbles will remain in the thickness of the resin. If you want to achieve transparency, bubbles must be removed. Here we warm them up. After drying, we grind the flooded areas, leveling them in a plane with the board. Then we completely cover the board with a thin layer of resin – we stabilize it, simultaneously expelling air from the pores.
Create a fill shape
After the wood has been prepared, filled it with a thin layer of the composition, while it dries, we proceed to create the form. It will need to place a wooden blank in it. In terms of size, the form can be either end-to-end in length with the board, or more. In the second option, there will be strips of epoxy around the edges.
To create a form, any sheet material with a smooth surface is suitable. The smoother the shape, the less effort will require grinding. The form is assembled with sides that are several centimeters higher than the planned thickness of the countertop. After assembly, the joints are sealed with a sealant, which must be carefully aligned. We wrap the finger with cling film, moisten it in water and smooth it to perfect condition. But this must be done quickly. The sealing must be thorough, otherwise the resin will flow out of the mold. And it is far from cheap, and it is not easy to remove traces.
You can make a form from laminated chipboard, or you can make it from plywood, but it will definitely need to be covered with something. For example, wax, a special release agent. The easiest and cheapest option is to cover with a film, but it should lie smoothly, without any waves and bumps. Can be sealed with XNUMX layers of tape. Glue joint to joint, without overlaps. We glue the second row by sliding it so that the seams of the bottom row are covered with ribbons approximately in the middle of the length. Scotch tape should also go smoothly. It can be replaced with vinyl, but it will need to be heated in the corners to lay flat.
You can make a mold out of glass by putting the sides on the sealant. For easier separation, grease the glass with a layer of fat. Do not neglect lubrication – there will be much less problems. In general, making a table out of epoxy resin, even in the preparatory processes, you can turn on the fantasy. The technology is very flexible, there are many options.
What epoxy resin to use for countertops
There are a lot of epoxy resins and the range in prices is solid. Let’s just say that for a normal result, cheap will not work. We need a transparent one that does not become cloudy over time, does not change color, and these are expensive compounds, for example, 3D MG-EPOX-STRONG. Often they are separated into a separate category: epoxy resins for countertops. When choosing, you need to pay attention to the following parameters:
- Minimum layer.
- Max layer.
- Time to pour the second layer.
- Time to final dry.
The fact is that there are resins that can only be poured in a small layer at a time. Let’s say the maximum layer is 10 mm. And the next layer can be poured after 24 hours. If you need to make a table top 6-7 mm thick (4 cm wood, plus 1-1,5 mm each from the bottom and top), it will take a whole week. And that’s just to fill in layers. There are epoxy resins that can be poured with a layer of up to 6 cm or more.
If you are going to make a table of epoxy resin for the first time and have not dealt with this material before, it is better to choose those that are poured in a thin layer. With them it is easier to achieve the absence of bubbles. Although, you may like the “frozen soda” effect. If you want to tint the resin, you need to buy special dyes. When pouring in layers, the dye is diluted in one of the components before adding the hardener. So the color will be uniform.
How much resin do you need
How much epoxy do you need for a table? It’s not easy to answer. The tabletop can be of different sizes, it can be small or large thickness. Maybe there will be only a small “river”, and perhaps most of it will be from epoxy. In principle, you can roughly calculate the volume of the countertop that you plan to make. Estimate how much wood will occupy in percentage terms, the rest is epoxy. So how much epoxy resin is needed for the table, we consider for our case ourselves. Some who make only a “river” will go 4-6 liters, others may need 20-30 liters or more.
Let’s look at an example. We will make a rectangular table top 100 * 60 cm in size, thickness – 7 cm. Wood will take up most of it – about 2/3. We translate the values into meters and multiply: 1,0 x 0,6 x 0,07 u0,042d 1000 m³. To translate this figure into liters, we multiply this figure by 42. We get 2 liters. That’s so many. But this is if the countertop is made entirely of epoxy resin. Approximately 3/1 of the volume will be occupied by wood. The share of epoxy will have only 3/3. That is, the resulting figure is divided by 14 and we get 100 liters. That is, for the manufacture of a table 60 * 14 cm, about 15-XNUMX liters of epoxy resin will be required.
The technology of pouring epoxy resin on the countertop
The wooden base of the table was laid out in the prepared form. They put a load on it so that the wood pressed tightly against the base. The less it flows between the piece of wood and the base, the less consumption will be.
Epoxy resin is a two-component composition. Consists of resin and hardener. If you want to make the epoxy colored, add a few drops of dye to the resin and mix until a uniform color. Pour into another container and repeat mixing. If this is not done, unpainted stripes will remain along the edges, at the bottom, which will be visible. Having finished mixing, pour the required amount of tinted resin into a separate container, add the hardener, mix for several minutes. Pour into the mold.
The first layer is the base. Part of it still flows under the wood. It should not be less than the minimum allowed. The resin is fluid and levels itself, but you should not pour it in one place. It is better to more or less evenly distribute over the entire surface. We wait the prescribed time before applying the next layer and repeat the operation. So until we get the desired thickness.
How to pour without bubbles
In principle, there is an epoxy resin that is little susceptible to the formation of bubbles – from the Art-Array series. But the bubbles appear from the wood. If you have not previously covered it with a thin layer of resin, there will be more of them. If processed – less. But be prepared for what they will be. Therefore, for the first time, we recommend applying the resin in thin layers. This makes it easier to avoid bubbles.
The whole trick is to warm up the resin for two to three hours after pouring. So the bubbles will come to the surface. You can use a building hair dryer for this purpose. Some use gas burners, but open flames and epoxy are a dangerous combination. Better yet, a hair dryer. So, after pouring each layer, we warm it up with a hair dryer.
Polishing and polishing
After the final hardening, the epoxy and wood table needs to be polished. The resin does not look transparent – this is normal, do not worry. If you poured a transparent compound, so it will be. But it needs careful polishing. To begin with, it is better to use a tape one – it captures more area, an eccentric one is more suitable for the finish. But you can also handle the grinder with speed control and the appropriate nozzle.
We take the grain first large, then smaller and smaller. If there are more or less significant differences, we start with 80 or 100, then we reduce the grain step by step. Finishing – already 1000, 1500 and 2000. Not all resins are equally well polished. If even after using 2000 skins the shine is not enough, try polishes for cars, headlights. You can make homemade polishing paste: goyi paste + grease. And rub first with a rag, and polish with a soft polishing nozzle.
Shine can be achieved not only by polishing. This does not mean that grinding is not necessary. Necessary. But if the gloss is not enough, and the surface is already smooth, you can cover the countertop with a glossy varnish and preferably water-based. And even better – yacht. Then the surface will not be afraid of moisture and hot. Lacquer as usual – in several layers. Intermediate grinding is hardly needed, except that they made puddles or debris got in. Sand the last layer to the desired degree of gloss.
Other filling options
A table made of epoxy and wood does not have to be made only from an expensive slab. You can perfectly adapt the radial saw cuts of trees. And the radius here is far from the main thing. You can make a frame out of wood, which you can install on a countertop – on plywood 10 mm or so. Lay saw cuts in this frame – according to the pattern or randomly. In this case, the countertop will not need to be removed from the base – this is the easiest option. For self-production for the first time – the easiest solution.
Please note that it is better to choose wood with flaws. In this case, these are not defects, but a highlight. Rotten so generally look exotic. Especially if you emphasize the difference in colors and textures using deep color.
A very interesting effect when using not only tinting, but also various additives. For example, glitter, powder, which gives a metallic effect, even broken colored glass or mirror fragments give a very interesting picture.
Stone can be used instead of wood. The weight of such a table will be solid, but the strength is also hoo. Layered rocks look great. It is desirable to have skills in working with stone. This is more difficult than sanding wood. When preparing, it is necessary to fill the voids well so that all the air comes out.
Use pebbles, natural or colored gravel. These stones can be laid out in a fairly thick layer – the resin will still flow into the gaps. Often found in combination with wood. By the way, if you “miss” with the amount of epoxy, you can add pebbles to the filled resin. So you can get the right level.
Human fantasy is limitless. They make furniture from epoxy, pouring different pieces of iron. Automobile parts, wrenches, bicycle or moped chains, etc.
By the same principle, you can make chairs or stools. You can cast in the same style legs-curbstones. Even LED garlands have already been poured into epoxy. Why not a night lamp or a leg with soft illumination. There are, incidentally, glow-in-the-dark epoxy resin additives.