Epoxy River Coffee Table


There are lots of people out there making some amazing epoxy river tables that sell for thousands of dollars. They generally use live edge slabs of specialty wood that can cost $1000+ alone, not to mention the tables sometimes contain $500+ of epoxy as well.

I wanted to try to make a low-cost version of one of these amazing tables. I spent:
  • $16.00  (2) 2" x 6" x 96" fir construction lumber
  • $28  (2) 1/8" x 2" x 72" flat steel
  • ~$17.50  32oz of a one-gallon kit 2-part epoxy
  • ~$15  finish, paint, screws, etc.
That brings me out to a total of roughly $76.

First I used a biscuit joiner to align and glue (4) 4-foot lengths of the construction lumber together to form the table top. 



I let the glue dry for a few days before taking it out of the clamps, and filling any remaining gaps with clear epoxy. I put some parchment paper down between the center support to prevent the epoxy from sticking. The center support board is to prevent the table from curving over time in those monster Bessey pipe clamps.



After a few more days of waiting, I got to take the table out of the clamps, and get to work on the tabletop. Once I got it leveled out, I drew up a few different "river" layouts that I would later use a router to cut out of the top.



Lots of sanding on this one :-P


I ended up going with a more simple river design. I made several different passes with the router, at different depths. Originally, I was planning to use a transparent blue epoxy pigment, and I thought the varying depths would look cool through the epoxy. After getting the river routered out, I wasn't very happy with how the bottom looked, so I opted for solid blue and green pigments.



Then I waited again...
After about 48 hours, I sanded the top level with the epoxy.



I didn't take any pictures of making the legs, but I bent and welded each of them from one long piece of 1/8" x 2" flat steel. I painted them with a semi-gloss black paint.

Here's the final product!




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