Flippin' Junk

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 ta...

I often find myself with scrap pieces of particle board left over from broken book shelves or end tables, and I never really know what to do with it because I certainly don't want to build anything with it! I decided to use some of it to play around with epoxy art. The epoxy makes the surface far more durable, and this was a really easy way to turn a piece of junk particle board shelf into something great to look at. This is an awesome way to add a color theme, and give a custom art feel to your home. I'm making this one for a military friend and it will probably end up in his glass blowing shop, but you really can't go wrong with playing with colors and designs. The supplies I used for this were: Particle board from broken bathroom shelf 1/4" x 1-1/8" moulding  from Home Depot Wood glue  from Home Depot Pro Marine Supply 2 Part Epoxy  (~24oz, 12oz per coat) Black, white, and red color pigments from  Just Pigments  and ...

I started with an Ikea table from work that someone sat on and accidentally broke one of the legs. The table was likely going to get thrown out, but I rescued it, fixed the leg, and totally transformed the boring beige coffee table. I believe it was this table in tan from Ikea:   Above, you can see the underside of the table with the legs removed. The top right corner is where the leg folded and broke the particle board. I put the piece back in place with some wood glue and left it clamped overnight. Next I added some wooden trim around the entire base to make it more sturdy. The legs have screws that protrude out of the top, and the whole leg is rotated to screw it on to the table. In order to screw the legs back in, I needed to drill holes through the trim that lined up with the existing holes in the table. When I epoxy a table top, I round the edges of the table top so that the epoxy can run over the sides. I couldn't sand the ...