Building a walnut/epoxy river table - TexasBowhunter.com Community Discussion Forums

ctom87 · 05-11-2022, 08:03 PM

My wife doesn't know it yet but I'm going to be building her a Walnut/Expoxy river table. I have been building walnut live edge floating shelves that I cut from a slab I bought about a month ago. They're in their melamine forms now and I'll be pouring epoxy soon.

After I cut the forms for them, I saw I had just enough to make another form 49" long and 19" wide with a height of just shy of 1". The height is perfect for the wood that I will resaw on my bandsaw... and the leftover melamine is the exact perfect size as the current table I'll be making the new top for...

More to come...gotta run...

Pstraw · 05-11-2022, 08:20 PM

Need pics!

Solo7 · 05-11-2022, 11:56 PM

Cool. Interested in seeing this project.

ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 12:49 AM

Ok got another chance to update, but the GF (general foreman) is laying next to me. Hope she don't look over

Here is the piece of crap in its current state. And I mean this table is ugly. She found it about 6 years ago (prior to being married) on Craigslist, talked me into driving an hour to Hillsboro to pick it up, then loved the "matching" end table and bought them both for $150. My jaw dropped. I tried like hell to talk her out of it. Weren't married and it was her house so I couldn't veto. She wanted "ran ch house," "country chic," and "rustic," and somehow these terds ended up coming home barely fitting in the trunk of a camry. Yes, that was us going up 35 with the TWO tables in the open trunk and bungee cords.

With 0 searching in the dark, here are some imperfections that stuck out.

Bad paint, scratches, gouges, unstained wood filler, some kind of latch system that was painted over rather than removed. Oh and I completely forgot that on one side the trim piece is missing and flush with the side of the table. It was PURCHASED like this. Honestly this feels like a purchase from the school of the blind charity auction.

The least I can do as a kind, caring, compassionate husband is fix my wife's mistakes, right?

Or at the very least replace them with the mistakes of my own.

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Kingfisher789 · 05-12-2022, 12:52 AM

Yea that’s cobble up ugly

ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 12:54 AM

Forgot to mention I only have scraps left. Scrap melamine, and just enough, which is what inspired me. All walnut is scrap from the slap. It won't have a true river feel, more like a lake, with islands

anything is better than what is in the living room now.

breadman · 05-12-2022, 05:20 AM

following

oneisnone · 05-12-2022, 11:15 AM

Following. I've got the space finally to start on projects like this, and I've always wanted to do an epoxy table top.

ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 11:23 AM

It'll be my first! Who knows what wood is underneath all that nasty thick paint. My guess it's a mash up of a bunch of different species...the lady who "made it" and sold it for an astronomical amount would take old junked-up pieces, put them together and "refurbish" them.

ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 10:20 PM

Removing bark from one of the last pieces of live edge. Already made a mistake lol. Made the wrong cut on a bigger piece, ripping it in half when I meant to just square up one end. Oh well. I will title this piece The River Lake of Mistakes. Fitting.

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ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 10:23 PM

The form and the rest of the melamine.

PRO TIP: I have been getting a lot of things from home depot for 25% to 50% off by simply seeing deformities. I got the melamine for 1/2 off because of the gouge you see here, but I knew I wouldn't need that much and could work around it.

Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

ctom87 · 05-12-2022, 10:29 PM

Adding tyvek tape now. FYI I forgot the mold release on the floating shelves. Another project but a good opportunity to remind myself to apply mold release.

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ctom87 · 05-13-2022, 08:43 PM

Going to try to resaw the wood pieces I have left tonight... Mayyyyybe pour. Doubt I can get around to it. I haven't even left work yet. We will see. Wife works tomorrow so it'll be me and the boy, which limits my work time.

Jcjohnson · 05-13-2022, 08:58 PM

Following. The wife and I plan to do this together in the near future

Texas Grown · 05-14-2022, 11:42 AM

Following!

ctom87 · 05-14-2022, 12:48 PM

I got distracted by the Stars last night

ctom87 · 05-14-2022, 04:00 PM

Just a regular old board, or so I thought...

Resawn and has an awesome inclusion inside. Trying to figure out what color i want the epoxy to be. Black would be pretty timeless...

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ctom87 · 05-15-2022, 12:39 AM

Looks more like the guy from Operation. Water on the knee?

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Rubberdown · 05-15-2022, 09:13 AM

Man I would make a side table out of that one end and leave it. The rectangular pieces on the other end really detract. Square ends in the middle of the table would look super weird. Just my 2 cents which is worth what you are paying for it.

ctom87 · 05-15-2022, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubberdown

Man I would make a side table out of that one end and leave it. The rectangular pieces on the other end really detract. Square ends in the middle of the table would look super weird. Just my 2 cents which is worth what you are paying for it.

I agree with your assessment. Using scraps is going to make this difficult... I am playing around with some different angles...I have a few more scrap pieces... I am also planning on getting rid of the square edges and kinda making it look "natural" by sanding the straight edges.

ctom87 · 05-15-2022, 02:03 PM

Found a solution and another problem.

Solution.....played around with a ton of different designs. Since it's all scrap, this is tough to find one that "works". The good news is that I found a design that everyone will like.

The newest problem...tried to get a rough estimate of how much epoxy I need, and I way undershot it. Looking like at minimum 2 gallons just for the table. About to pour the floating shelves (the original project that this project is a spin-off of) and will see how much epoxy I need to buy....

It's not cheap!

ctom87 · 05-15-2022, 02:06 PM

Decided to go with a life sized bull redfish out of walnut. LOL. I'm sure he wife will love it. I'll figure out how to do the spot.

It's important to remember that ANYTHING is better than the unpolished te-rd I have right now.

Dusty Britches · 05-17-2022, 12:11 PM

How cool is this?? I'm definitely following along!

ctom87 · 05-17-2022, 02:43 PM

Picked up 3 gallons of epoxy. Set me back 300. Cried a little. Going to sneak this one in the checkbook somehow.

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mmoses · 05-17-2022, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctom87

Picked up 3 gallons of epoxy. Set me back 300. Cried a little. Going to sneak this one in the checkbook somehow.

Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

good luck. What epoxy did you go with?

ctom87 · 05-17-2022, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmoses

good luck. What epoxy did you go with?

Aluminite Deep Pour.

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Pstraw · 05-17-2022, 05:48 PM

I'm sure you have done your research on this, but just wanted to ask about your plan for keeping bubbles out after pouring.

kevin nicholls · 05-17-2022, 07:37 PM

The redfish idea is pretty cool. I can't wait to see this.

ctom87 · 05-17-2022, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pstraw

I'm sure you have done your research on this, but just wanted to ask about your plan for keeping bubbles out after pouring.

Yes, I have a blow torch that I am going to use when I am ready to pour. Heat gun should work also.

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ctom87 · 05-18-2022, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin nicholls

The redfish idea is pretty cool. I can't wait to see this.

I just hope other people can see it, lol.

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ctom87 · 05-26-2022, 12:33 AM

Ok I think yall are going to like this one. Went from some kind of god awful walnut diving flag, to something that has much more thought put into it.

I was thinking about what I could do when it hit me. If I thought I was trying to make a fish, make a dad gum fish. And where would a redfish live? In the ocean! And what is on the bottom of an ocean? Sand, and things from Hobby Lobby!

And what does ocean water look like? If I was a guessing man, I woulda guessed Ocean Blue.

So I went to home depot, got me a 5 gallon bucket, and went to work.

This is a slow setting deep pour epoxy. I took a torch and knocked out the bubbles. This is only the first pour. I am going to go back over it with a second layer...thinking I might just do clear. Not quite sure.

I had thought I about screwed myself because I dropped the spoonful of pigment in the epoxy, when it only needed a dash. I ended up doing 1 gallon of clear mixed with the half gallon of really, really blue mistake epoxy and it equalled out as far as I am concerned.

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ramrod · 05-26-2022, 09:37 AM

What is your game plan for the bottom? I assume if you pull it out of the mold the sand will crumble out, unless you keep the bottom on.

ctom87 · 05-26-2022, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramrod

What is your game plan for the bottom? I assume if you pull it out of the mold the sand will crumble out, unless you keep the bottom on.

Great question. It will take 5 to 7 days to fully cure, and it'll be tacky until about 72 hours after the pour. My guess is since it is so thin and runny, about the same as water, it'll get down and make it to the bottom. I believe that it will hold.

If that's not the case, then what I'll do is take the base of the table and trace out an outline on an acrylic sheet. If I can get that sheet in there and set the top on top of that, it'll keep sand from falling into all my 2010 Texas Rangers DVDs

Dusty Britches · 05-26-2022, 11:44 AM

This is going to look awesome!

ctom87 · 05-26-2022, 01:39 PM

At the 11 hour mark I was able to take a stick and swirl the colors around. Hopefully they don't settle. I would say it was a "goopy" consistency. I would say no bubbles were introduced since it was so thick. However, if they were, its the ocean, and there are bubbles in the ocean.

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Pstraw · 05-26-2022, 01:55 PM

Look with your eyes. Don't touch.
This is what we used to tell the kids when their patience was short.
All in fun.

Philip-TX · 05-26-2022, 01:56 PM

Pretty cool.

my thoughts, (being late to the party)
Gold Spoon....

Good scene for flounder.
(Maybe on the next one)

ctom87 · 05-27-2022, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philip-TX

Pretty cool.

my thoughts, (being late to the party)

Gold Spoon....

Good scene for flounder.

(Maybe on the next one)

I think I would have to agree with you!

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Quackerbox · 05-27-2022, 12:30 AM

Her favorite beer or wine as the tail spot?

Like bottle cap or band

Ftr I did an epoxy table (thread here somewhere). I used clear and bubbles went a huge issue. I do have one dog hair and a piece of glass in it.
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Jon B · 05-27-2022, 07:24 AM

Following

ctom87 · 06-04-2022, 07:13 PM

SCORE!!!!!

Craigslist find. Life just got easy. Sanding just got fun.

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ctom87 · 06-04-2022, 10:36 PM

Is this a termite?

There are tons of these crawling around the garage.

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ctom87 · 06-04-2022, 10:53 PM

Answered my own question. Definitely ants. Not sure why there were so many small ants and a couple big ones all over my project.

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Texas Grown · 06-05-2022, 03:07 PM

Sounds like live panfish bait.

ctom87 · 06-18-2022, 07:37 PM

Hadn't forgot about this, just busy with other projects.

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05-11-2022, 08:03 PM	#1
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Building a walnut/epoxy river table My wife doesn't know it yet but I'm going to be building her a Walnut/Expoxy river table. I have been building walnut live edge floating shelves that I cut from a slab I bought about a month ago. They're in their melamine forms now and I'll be pouring epoxy soon. After I cut the forms for them, I saw I had just enough to make another form 49" long and 19" wide with a height of just shy of 1". The height is perfect for the wood that I will resaw on my bandsaw... and the leftover melamine is the exact perfect size as the current table I'll be making the new top for... More to come...gotta run...

05-15-2022, 02:06 PM	#22
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Decided to go with a life sized bull redfish out of walnut. LOL. I'm sure he wife will love it. I'll figure out how to do the spot. It's important to remember that ANYTHING is better than the unpolished te-rd I have right now. Attached Images

05-26-2022, 12:33 AM	#31
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Ok I think yall are going to like this one. Went from some kind of god awful walnut diving flag, to something that has much more thought put into it. I was thinking about what I could do when it hit me. If I thought I was trying to make a fish, make a dad gum fish. And where would a redfish live? In the ocean! And what is on the bottom of an ocean? Sand, and things from Hobby Lobby! And what does ocean water look like? If I was a guessing man, I woulda guessed Ocean Blue. So I went to home depot, got me a 5 gallon bucket, and went to work. This is a slow setting deep pour epoxy. I took a torch and knocked out the bubbles. This is only the first pour. I am going to go back over it with a second layer...thinking I might just do clear. Not quite sure. I had thought I about screwed myself because I dropped the spoonful of pigment in the epoxy, when it only needed a dash. I ended up doing 1 gallon of clear mixed with the half gallon of really, really blue mistake epoxy and it equalled out as far as I am concerned. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk Last edited by ctom87; 05-26-2022 at 12:38 AM.

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05-11-2022, 08:20 PM	#2
Pstraw Pope & Young Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Henderson Hunt In: Front yard or back yard	Need pics!

05-11-2022, 11:56 PM	#3
Solo7 Four Point Join Date: Aug 2021	Cool. Interested in seeing this project.

05-12-2022, 12:49 AM	#4
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Ok got another chance to update, but the GF (general foreman) is laying next to me. Hope she don't look over Here is the piece of crap in its current state. And I mean this table is ugly. She found it about 6 years ago (prior to being married) on Craigslist, talked me into driving an hour to Hillsboro to pick it up, then loved the "matching" end table and bought them both for $150. My jaw dropped. I tried like hell to talk her out of it. Weren't married and it was her house so I couldn't veto. She wanted "ran ch house," "country chic," and "rustic," and somehow these terds ended up coming home barely fitting in the trunk of a camry. Yes, that was us going up 35 with the TWO tables in the open trunk and bungee cords. With 0 searching in the dark, here are some imperfections that stuck out. Bad paint, scratches, gouges, unstained wood filler, some kind of latch system that was painted over rather than removed. Oh and I completely forgot that on one side the trim piece is missing and flush with the side of the table. It was PURCHASED like this. Honestly this feels like a purchase from the school of the blind charity auction. The least I can do as a kind, caring, compassionate husband is fix my wife's mistakes, right? Or at the very least replace them with the mistakes of my own. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-12-2022, 12:52 AM	#5
Kingfisher789 Ten Point Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Austin. Jim Ned Creek Hunt In: Tivydale. Nix. Brownwood	Yea that’s cobble up ugly

05-12-2022, 12:54 AM	#6
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Forgot to mention I only have scraps left. Scrap melamine, and just enough, which is what inspired me. All walnut is scrap from the slap. It won't have a true river feel, more like a lake, with islands anything is better than what is in the living room now.

05-12-2022, 05:20 AM	#7
breadman Ten Point Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: huntsville texas	following

05-12-2022, 11:15 AM	#8
oneisnone Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Tom Bean	Following. I've got the space finally to start on projects like this, and I've always wanted to do an epoxy table top.

05-12-2022, 11:23 AM	#9
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	It'll be my first! Who knows what wood is underneath all that nasty thick paint. My guess it's a mash up of a bunch of different species...the lady who "made it" and sold it for an astronomical amount would take old junked-up pieces, put them together and "refurbish" them.

05-12-2022, 10:20 PM	#10
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Removing bark from one of the last pieces of live edge. Already made a mistake lol. Made the wrong cut on a bigger piece, ripping it in half when I meant to just square up one end. Oh well. I will title this piece The River Lake of Mistakes. Fitting. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-12-2022, 10:23 PM	#11
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	The form and the rest of the melamine. PRO TIP: I have been getting a lot of things from home depot for 25% to 50% off by simply seeing deformities. I got the melamine for 1/2 off because of the gouge you see here, but I knew I wouldn't need that much and could work around it. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-12-2022, 10:29 PM	#12
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Adding tyvek tape now. FYI I forgot the mold release on the floating shelves. Another project but a good opportunity to remind myself to apply mold release. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-13-2022, 08:43 PM	#13
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Going to try to resaw the wood pieces I have left tonight... Mayyyyybe pour. Doubt I can get around to it. I haven't even left work yet. We will see. Wife works tomorrow so it'll be me and the boy, which limits my work time.

05-13-2022, 08:58 PM	#14
Jcjohnson Ten Point Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Evans, GA Hunt In: Burke, Thompson, Lincolnton	Following. The wife and I plan to do this together in the near future

05-14-2022, 11:42 AM	#15
Texas Grown Pope & Young Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Burleson, Texas	Following!

05-14-2022, 12:48 PM	#16
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	I got distracted by the Stars last night

05-14-2022, 04:00 PM	#17
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Just a regular old board, or so I thought... Resawn and has an awesome inclusion inside. Trying to figure out what color i want the epoxy to be. Black would be pretty timeless... Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-15-2022, 12:39 AM	#18
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Looks more like the guy from Operation. Water on the knee? Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-15-2022, 09:13 AM	#19
Rubberdown Ten Point Join Date: May 2015 Location: Houston	Man I would make a side table out of that one end and leave it. The rectangular pieces on the other end really detract. Square ends in the middle of the table would look super weird. Just my 2 cents which is worth what you are paying for it.

05-15-2022, 02:03 PM	#21
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Found a solution and another problem. Solution.....played around with a ton of different designs. Since it's all scrap, this is tough to find one that "works". The good news is that I found a design that everyone will like. The newest problem...tried to get a rough estimate of how much epoxy I need, and I way undershot it. Looking like at minimum 2 gallons just for the table. About to pour the floating shelves (the original project that this project is a spin-off of) and will see how much epoxy I need to buy.... It's not cheap!

05-17-2022, 12:11 PM	#23
Dusty Britches Pope & Young Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Cameron & College Station	How cool is this?? I'm definitely following along!

05-17-2022, 02:43 PM	#24
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	Picked up 3 gallons of epoxy. Set me back 300. Cried a little. Going to sneak this one in the checkbook somehow. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-17-2022, 05:48 PM	#27
Pstraw Pope & Young Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Henderson Hunt In: Front yard or back yard	I'm sure you have done your research on this, but just wanted to ask about your plan for keeping bubbles out after pouring.

05-17-2022, 07:37 PM	#28
kevin nicholls Ten Point Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: pasadena tx Hunt In: Who knows	The redfish idea is pretty cool. I can't wait to see this.

05-26-2022, 09:37 AM	#32
ramrod Eight Point Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bastrop, Tx.	What is your game plan for the bottom? I assume if you pull it out of the mold the sand will crumble out, unless you keep the bottom on.

05-26-2022, 11:44 AM	#34
Dusty Britches Pope & Young Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Cameron & College Station	This is going to look awesome!

05-26-2022, 01:39 PM	#35
ctom87 Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Fort Worth Hunt In: Public	At the 11 hour mark I was able to take a stick and swirl the colors around. Hopefully they don't settle. I would say it was a "goopy" consistency. I would say no bubbles were introduced since it was so thick. However, if they were, its the ocean, and there are bubbles in the ocean. Sent from my SM-N9600 using Tapatalk

05-26-2022, 01:55 PM	#36
Pstraw Pope & Young Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Henderson Hunt In: Front yard or back yard	Look with your eyes. Don't touch. This is what we used to tell the kids when their patience was short. All in fun.

05-26-2022, 01:56 PM	#37
Philip-TX Ten Point Join Date: Oct 2006	Pretty cool. my thoughts, (being late to the party) Gold Spoon.... Good scene for flounder. (Maybe on the next one)

05-27-2022, 12:30 AM	#39
Quackerbox Pope & Young Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Magnolia Hunt In: The woods	Her favorite beer or wine as the tail spot? Like bottle cap or band Ftr I did an epoxy table (thread here somewhere). I used clear and bubbles went a huge issue. I do have one dog hair and a piece of glass in it. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

05-27-2022, 07:24 AM	#40
Jon B Pope & Young Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Central Tx. Hunt In: Central Tx and the Western States	Following