[Pat]

My daughter wanted a river table, so we did a couple of tests and went for the real thing. The river is 1.5″ deep, 8″ wide and 60″ long using deep cast resin designed for one pour up to 2″, with a blue metalic dye added. The just over 3 gallons was very, very well mixed with bucket sides scraped often. The wood was held down so it would not float.

For the end goal, she would like the wood to be stained (darker) with a satin finish over the entire table (and resin). FYI, I’m a long time hobby woodworker and have a fair bit of skill, and more so all the toys needed in a wood shop 🙂

I should mention that as we wish to stain (the now raw wood), that any resin that runs on to the top of the table will seep down in to the pours of the wood thus causing issues for staining the wood. So I would like to stop resin from getting on the raw wood.

Problem one:
After 12 plus hours of popping bubbles it was time for bed,the resin was dead flat and glossy smooth with strong head that was expected. When we woke up and the entire resin top had rippled (waves) that interestingly seemed to match the waves of various colours. Why did this happen? (how to fix it question further down)

Problem two:
For what ever reason(s) the height of the river fell a 1/4″ in one area (end) but less in other areas. And to flatten the table to the lowest point will make the top too thin.

My course of action, I need feed back on please:
To bring the river surface back up, so I can use a router jig to smooth out the whole table, I plan on sanding the river top and applying a top coat of clear resin. Before I do this I will apply tuct tape on to the wood, use a razor blade to cut along the river bank, and then run a bead of silicone caulking to act as a “dam” for any resin over flow. Let harden for a week, then use my router/jig to smooth off the entire table top, sand, stain then a SPAR varithane to finish.

Thoughts please?
Thanks, Pat

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Pat,

What resin did you use?

[Pat]

I used Simiron, I contacted their tech support people about the waves, but no reply.

My other thought to repair, I’d appreciate your feed back on, is the last 12″ or so of the river is where it dips down (last minute leak is the only thought, and yes I levelled the table). It goes from about a 1/4″ down up to zero (over 12″), can I sand the resin (what grit, 400?) and then simple fill in this void with clear and then router the table flat and move on?

I guess I have to ask, how thin can this layer of clear be before I have issues when using the router to flatten the table?

Thanks, Pat

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