Thanks for all your comments, likes and subs - we really appreciate them! To clarify, this tutorial is aimed at DIY'ers and makers that have been put off attempting river table projects due to the cost of materials and not to cut costs in professional production without customers being aware of the core. Additionally the technique is only suitable for solid colour and metallic river tables. 🙂
It might have been that the resin layers weren't poured at the 'B' stage, if this was the case and you hadn't keyed the surface in preparation, the resin may not have had a very good bond. If the wood wasn't fully dry and continued to move then this may explain the separation.
What the ever loving frig (not the word I really said). People buy these tables and make these tables because they're a premium item that you can own that is a high quality thing that hopefully lasts your entire life. Mentioning plywood and one of these tables only means one thing. YOU are a hack. You're a low class scumbag for making people consider creating their tables with pieces of crap. I hope you catch hepatitus C for the (C)orruption of WOODWORKING (which is the point). If the author has the balls to keep this post alive, I hope you see this and realize that he's telling you things you shouldn't be doing. You're SUPPOSED to be making these tables out of the designs and top notch quality materials. Beside the fact they last longer because you make or buy a table that's been made properly, Have PRIDE in your work or ownership of something. Do you really want to look at your expensive table a couple months down the road and realize that you stuffed it full of junk? I would consider this point, very seriously. Well done, Glasscastresn. Way to make POS Ikea tables out of what should be top dollar show pieces!
As the other guy pointed out, it's incredibly noble showing off how to use less. You're absolutely correct about it helping people in a budget get into the craft, and I've never wanted to buy a company's product more if I'm being honest. I'm bookmarking the video for later this week, I'm hoping my stepdad wouldn't mind doing a project like this with me.
“it’s incredibly noble” Jfc How are people this naive? It’s called marketing. This vvideo came from the question: How can we get more people to buy our product?
@@cwg73160 I'm absolutely aware its marketing. However, they could alternatively show you how to make a cool table using the regular amount of resin, then advertise their product. I'm aware that they're selling me something but at least they're showing me how to be efficient with what I buy, and not spend double the money. Thanks.
@@cwg73160, for years, I would share my finish formulas and techniques with customers, sometimes going into detail on how to avoid having to hire me. It got me a lot of repeat customers, because others, jealously, guarded their secrets, rather than educating their customers. In the end, only a rare few would apply what they learned from me to do it themselves, and I could only serve so many customers anyway, so the loss of a few sales didn't hurt me.
Hi Ben, indeed, this only works for opaque resin so there’s lots of situations where this can’t be used but where it can, we feel it makes a lot of sense.
I reduced the amount of resin, by using small gardening rocks to imitate rocks/rapids in the "river". Used a similar technique as shown and I figured I reduced the resin required by half. This also allowed a more transparent resin pour.
Excellent, a company showing you how to save money by using less of their product is very very noble, and in my opinion speaks volumes. Thanks for a well presented video. I plan on trying some epoxy projects and glass cast will be my first call.
The cost of resin can be quite off putting for a lot of people so this revised method may make resin river tables more accessible to people for whom a typical table with a lot of resin may be out of reach budget wise.
@@tubester4567 Good point but personally I would suggest that it depends on the table frame/skirt which supports the table along four sides or across each end. Remember that the table is not "load bearing" unless you stand on it and nobody is going to try and bend it in the middle.
@@Sly_Wolf_1 Maybe but Its common for people to sit on tables, or stand on them to reach high places. With the high cost of timber slabs I dont think I would risk it personally.
@@tubester4567 and with the correct frame/skirt under the table you will spread any load. But each to their own. I know I could build this and have someone sit or stand on it without issue.
Another option for river tables, especially clear pours, use varying sizes of gravel to simulate stones/boulders in the finished product. You could also use sand under the gravel to reduce the volume further.
@@glasscastresin Out of curiousity, applying the same method as seen in the video - do you think using an acrylic filler in replacement of plywood match the refractive index *enough* when poured with uncolored/transparent resin to go unseen? Of course cut edges of the acrylic would need to be polished.
@@Raraoolala You would really need to test this out to see how well your acrylic was matched to the resin once cured. The edges of the acrylic where it stops short of the wood may pose the biggest visual problem.
@@Raraoolala Even if you'd get it "close enough", you'd still see it from certain angles or light conditions, really you're just asking for trouble. With the plywood core in the video it's very likely there were still some tiny air pockets trapped between, but it doesn't matter because you can't see them. With clear epoxy and acrylic you simply don't have the luxury of hiding tiny imperfections.
Helpful hint. If you can, put part B in the cup first and add Part A. I've found that as part B is thinner, it doesnt stick to the sides of the mixing pot as easily as part A. Less likely to leave unmixed resin on the sides of your mixing bowl. used about 20 litres from Glasscast now. Great product and great customer service/tech support.
That was the exact intention, we doe hear that some people are put off large projects like this by the cost of resin, unfortunately it is an expensive product. Hopefully this method makes it more accessible to those who still want to create their own river table.
Amen... my scrap pieces get used like this, and if not big enough I slice it into strips and laminate them all together. Quick run through the planer, seal , pour and honestly some of my favorite pieces!
Brilliant. Great to see a company showing you how to save money using their product. It builds credibility and consumer confidence. I'll be using them for my next project. 👍
As a retired toolmaker/machinist with MANY years under my belt. I have helped manufacture many molds over the years. This is very common what you have done here. For these of you whom don't understand molds, This is how a mold makes a plastic cup, for a simple example. Metal is engineered to make the inside part of the cup, which is turn will make the wall thickness of the cup. Or when manufacturing an engine block, a core made a sand to make the holes for all the cylinders. The molten metal will flow around the sand/core to produce a hole where it is needed. Good way to save $ on materials and machining time. You actually explained this very nicely! 👍
Yep, I've avoided this due to the immense cost and volume most people encourage. Legit keen to do this since you've shown how to make it economical and environmentally friendly. Strong integrity, very impressed!
Great video. I've known a lot of people who wanted to try out a resin project, including myself, that get put off by the cost of it once they work out what they may need. Even saving a little bit helps.
I did something similar to this on a lake table I was asked to build, the video is on my channel. The slab was over 5 cm thick and I had a limited budget to build the table on, so I just put a plywood platform in the center and sealed the edges, only casting about 1/5 cm worth of resin, turned out beautifully, so i can vouch for the fact that resin saving techniques work and they worm very well!
If I ever get around to building one for myself (wont do it til i live in a house big enough for it), i'll use this technique and add a bit of flair to the river (make it look like a river with a sandy bottom and little additions in the middle). The plywood is a great idea to save on space, and if i have a bit of fun with the middle, it should look great, even with transparent resin
We're in effect the same company; we broke off the GlassCast brand to keep the two areas of the business separate from a tutorial and website perspective but the tutorials are filmed in the same studio with the same team :)
You could even have the plywood core be a piece of art of it's own that is put in with transparent pigment. That could look really cool also: a disconnected table, or wooden fish, or a photo glued onto the plywood of stars or anything. There are lots of options that could look cool and cut down on the resin without being too complicated.
To add a little bit more to what you were saying...you could also glue a matching wood veneer to the top and sides of your plywood core or just the top and angle the sides a bit so they're not noticeable. Shape it like an added piece and save some epoxy that way while adding a cool little "island" part to the whole piece.
Man this is great quality. Like top quality filming, great editing. Great sound. Pleasant yet spicy. Professional yet educational. Long enough but to the point. This is a sience. Proficiat
this idea makes me think of possibilities with a decorated core and transparent resin, there seems to be a more “intentionally designed” space this could go into that’s a little outside the mainstream with most of these wood/resin projects nowadays, I think the gaming table chaps have some good ideas to pull from into more simple, general purpose tables.
Great video! I’m definitely considering using this technique when I build my own table however, I wonder if this would compromise the strength of the table at all?
Great video overall. One thing that did strike me is that while this is most obviously of use for opaque and metallic resins, it seems like you could do a transparent effect finish quite easily too. Maybe reduce the plywood thickness by another 5mm and use that depth to add and progressively more transparent layers to the top to create the illusion of a deeper pour (much like how people do those fishes swimming in water illusion paintings on resin).
I do use "chipboard" (i don't know if this is the good term), the cheap version of plywood. Essentially saved from waste disposal (Ikea and stuff). Also, i use wood shavings , that i like the render within epoxy ! This way, i save barely 80% of epoxy. And the weight is barely the same.
11:07 Are those chips caused by the router or air bubbles trapped within the resin? They look more like air pockets to me that were opened up by the router. If so they could be reduced/eliminated using vacuum to pull the air out.
Definitely by the router in the case - generally trying to route too quickly and not having a big enough overlap between the passes causes chipping out.
I feel that this is all well and good, up to a point. When you factor in the cost of resin only poor compared to the cost of: 1. Resin base pour - Cost of mixing small batch, clean-up and cost of time waiting for cure. 2. Cost of a plywood insert and the cost of man hours cutting, shaping and finishing so you don't have unexpected wood fiber floaters. 3. Cost of time mixing up a second batch of resin, pouring and clean-up and waiting time for cure. I think that from an accounting standpoint, it really may be less expensive to make one resin pour and be done with it. Especially if there is paid labor involved. Even a business owners time has financial value.
Considering most people considering this are DIY/hobby users, time is generally not a financial cost. You could do the math for a business to determine if it is viable.
Good idea. One other key way to save money when making river tables is not buying the release spray. I did some work making aerospace and autoracing carbon fibre parts and we used basic car wax.
Something to try (whether or not you are using a Filler material) - Put a Mirror on top of the filler material and under Translucent Epoxy. For the best look, use a Front surface mirror. They are more expensive but they're worth it for a real River / Lake look.
For those who don't feel like watching a 15-minute video about something that can be summed up in 30 seconds. The idea here is as follows. 1 - Set up your slabs like you normally do in the mold. 2 - Pour a thin layer of resin on the bottom (1/4"-1/2" - the darker the tint, the thinner this layer can be). 3 - Take a piece of wood or something else solid (almost anything will work) that is slightly shorter than the overall length of your table and place it in the middle, on top of your first, partially cured (but still tacky) layer, leaving approximately an inch or so on each end. This "filler" piece can be cut with a jigsaw to the contours of your slabs in order to take up as much volume in the middle as possible this maximizing your resin savings. 4 - Pour the top layer of resin so that the filler piece is completely encased in resin on all visible sides. 5 - Finish the table like you would any other epoxy resin river table.
@@OU81TWO Congrats! Most of us probably got it from the thumbnail. However, some people probably did not quite get it as well, so I figured I would summarize. Not sure how this guy thought a 15 minute video was necessary though.
Don't forget: 1) the tip to tint one of the parts of the resin so you can get multiple pours of the same colour; 2) the sealing of the live wood edges to minimise the generation of bubbles from the pores; 3) the Danish oil sealing of the wood prior to polishing the epoxy so the polishing compounds don't get embedded in the wood and discolour it. Just to name a few things one does not get from the thumbnail...
I had never considered adding the dye to the resin before mixing the 2 parts. You can dye just the resin part, then store it for later, and only mix in the hardener as you need? I always thought you had to mix the parts, then add the dye. Always wondered how you do a partial pour, then add the core, then add more resin to top it off, while keeping the color the same for all the mixes.
if you use clear resin you could allso lay down a bottom in resin fill most of the space with fancy sand or pebbles than fill it to the top with more clear and finish it off , should save up to about 2/3ths of the resin used ans looks a little different than a solid colour
Glad you found it useful. We know how easy it is to make mistakes and always try to be open with our content, it also means we can show how to fix the problem.
Beautiful piece and great intent behind using less of your product to make it more accessible and affordable to your customers. The possibilities of using the filler material as an effect when using transparent resin is exciting.
This is a great idea! Congratulations on the project, this is definitely going to help a lot of newcomers to get into the resin world and not spending a lot of money/ product, including myself. Thank you for the idea, keep up the great work!
To get a more accurate pour measurement, take a photograph of your layout, import it into software like sketchup, scale the image to your known length and width, draw along the live edge, to create an area.
Fair play for putting this out there. Considering you are essentially doing yourselves out of sales. Brilliant way to make extra money on commissions from a creator perspective.
The cost of resin can be quite off putting for a lot of people so this revised method may make resin river tables more accessible to people for whom a typical table with a lot of resin may be out of reach budget wise.
I have done this before with scrap wood to fill the cavity but my one recommendation is to weigh all of it down. As I have had it shift and float to the edge.
The brush applied sealing coat of resin is great for preventing this from happening as it secures everything in place, as well as sealing off the surface to help reduce bubbles from escaping.
You can use a solvent like acetone before the resin has cured. Our buckets are made from PP so alternatively wait until the resin has cured and peel out the cured resin.
The use of resin - for me, the amount of resin featured - is a very personal view. I wouldn’t want a table where the resin seemingly overwhelms the timber but, then, I’m a woodworker. The useful thing - the very green reason - to use resin is that it takes boards which would otherwise be scrapped or cut up with a lot of waste, and make them into objects that can be used. I’ve made many tables that have resin in them but the resin is just used to fill checks and faults in the slab. It’s a far cry from a 40% resin river table. However, there is no denying that river tables are sought after and, whilst I though the fashion would be short lived, it continues. In fact, buying a waney edge slab now costs more (per cubic metre) than processed square edged material. Such is the law of supply and demand plus the opportunistic timber seller. I think that all the tips that I have learned (the hard way) have been noted by Glass Cast. I do use a degassing chamber connected to a vacuum pump for smaller pours (quite often moulds for items such as clock numbers) but it’s impractical for large volumes. So, I do go for coating the edges of the timber the day before if it’s a deeper void but always go for very slow cure (for which you can buy an additive) and regularly a hair dryer passed over the surfaces to release bubbles. If you want to see someone make resin tables very well, and for a living, look up the Manor Wood channel.
This is a great trick for non-clear resin. Once you go even somewhat transparent - you will quickly reach the point where plywood shows. I personally don't see any point in opaque river tables. If you make that table - it's much better to see some depth in both the live edge and the resin
Besides that these method needs some extra time, that creates extra costs (if you’re not making this desk for yourself) it’s worth to think about this. BTw, it reminds me about the way waterbeds are made with a core using less water, means weight and heat up time.
This would mainly be orientated towards individuals or low volume makers where the cost of the resin can be a significant issue when making these kind of projects.
Generally as long as you work in the right conditions it is not a problem. Tricks like using a heat gun over the surface, work well to remove and lift out any stubborn bubbles that do not self degas.
You can also simply use a router to mill out the river to half of the depth or maybe slightly less if you want to add sand or pebbles as a base. You can rout all the way thru on the ends to match the width of the river to create a all the way thru illusion. There is no need for a plywood core to save epoxy..
This technique is really only really suited to projects with a pigmented opaque resin that hides the filler material. If you were going for a semi translucent then it you may be able to get away with using clear filler material but its not something that we have tried.
not to mention it's also a superior product... Modustrial Maker made a massive door with a boatload of resin about a month after this came out and I still think about it...
Our main river table tutorial uses a tinted blue resin. If you wanted a completely clear 'river' then you could skip adding the pigment. www.glasscastresin.com/river-table-tutorial
GlassCast is very good at releasing trapped air naturally by itself. If you do notice some trapped air bubbles as the resin cures than you can use a hair dryer or heat gun on a low setting to help get rid of them. Too much direct heat can burn the resin so a direct flame is not advised.
That's a great way to save money! But i have a question, wouldn't this method affect the strength on a bigger size table? I'll be afraid of snapping the epoxy with the weight of a bigger slab.
Doesn't it make the table weaker? With a slab of resin it's a solid shape tightly gripping wooden slabs on either side. With a "bulking" piece of wood in the middle the resin will look something like this (|), a doughnut of resin around the bulking piece. Will that make the resin weaker, especially the thinner you make it?
I absolutely love how you tinted one part of the expoxy to get a consistent colour through multiple pours. Great tip!! Plus yes using a fill method to save epoxy I’ve done before just not in that scale. Well done! You have inspired me to try now
Absolutely, we have seen people make some pretty large tables with this method. On big tables the ability to reduce the quantity of resin can be even more of a bonus.
ive tried this once before, and the wood inside the pour "ghosted" through, so you could see the very slight divets when looking across the piece. That was some time ago though, so maybe casting resin is getting better about shrinkage? I have not tried this recently, and this would help out a ton on saving me money on resin!
There's no reason why you couldn't use a tabletop like this as a countertop. You wouldn't want to cut directly onto the surface, as is pretty much the case with all worktops and you would have to be mindful not to place hot items on the resin area.
I've never used resin when making a table so just a quick question, what is heavier, the wood blank or the resin? I'm sure cost wise the wood blank is a great way to save money and haven't seen any content creator use this technique (unless they do it in the cutaway) So it's good to see someone using their brain out here
Thanks for all your comments, likes and subs - we really appreciate them!
To clarify, this tutorial is aimed at DIY'ers and makers that have been put off attempting river table projects due to the cost of materials and not to cut costs in professional production without customers being aware of the core. Additionally the technique is only suitable for solid colour and metallic river tables. 🙂
It might have been that the resin layers weren't poured at the 'B' stage, if this was the case and you hadn't keyed the surface in preparation, the resin may not have had a very good bond. If the wood wasn't fully dry and continued to move then this may explain the separation.
Oh no Blacktailstudio would have make even more profits only selling overpiced wood slabs over and over again...
What the ever loving frig (not the word I really said).
People buy these tables and make these tables because they're a premium item that you can own that is a high quality thing that hopefully lasts your entire life.
Mentioning plywood and one of these tables only means one thing. YOU are a hack. You're a low class scumbag for making people consider creating their tables with pieces of crap.
I hope you catch hepatitus C for the (C)orruption of WOODWORKING (which is the point).
If the author has the balls to keep this post alive, I hope you see this and realize that he's telling you things you shouldn't be doing. You're SUPPOSED to be making these tables out of the designs and top notch quality materials. Beside the fact they last longer because you make or buy a table that's been made properly, Have PRIDE in your work or ownership of something. Do you really want to look at your expensive table a couple months down the road and realize that you stuffed it full of junk? I would consider this point, very seriously.
Well done, Glasscastresn. Way to make POS Ikea tables out of what should be top dollar show pieces!
As the other guy pointed out, it's incredibly noble showing off how to use less. You're absolutely correct about it helping people in a budget get into the craft, and I've never wanted to buy a company's product more if I'm being honest. I'm bookmarking the video for later this week, I'm hoping my stepdad wouldn't mind doing a project like this with me.
That was exactly the aim for this video to help people reduce cost.
U
“it’s incredibly noble”
Jfc How are people this naive? It’s called marketing. This vvideo came from the question: How can we get more people to buy our product?
@@cwg73160 I'm absolutely aware its marketing. However, they could alternatively show you how to make a cool table using the regular amount of resin, then advertise their product. I'm aware that they're selling me something but at least they're showing me how to be efficient with what I buy, and not spend double the money. Thanks.
@@cwg73160, for years, I would share my finish formulas and techniques with customers, sometimes going into detail on how to avoid having to hire me. It got me a lot of repeat customers, because others, jealously, guarded their secrets, rather than educating their customers.
In the end, only a rare few would apply what they learned from me to do it themselves, and I could only serve so many customers anyway, so the loss of a few sales didn't hurt me.
This is great if you're making an opaque resin. To me a massive part of the reason to use resin is for the transparency.
Hi Ben, indeed, this only works for opaque resin so there’s lots of situations where this can’t be used but where it can, we feel it makes a lot of sense.
@@glasscastresin sure. I just vastly prefer the resin to remain transparent
@@benorchard78you can make the plywood look like a river bed and still use clear resin. Unless you wanna see the floor through your table
@@minhdaubu2363 maybe he's got gorgeous floors that just need a slightly colored viewport 🤷♂️
I reduced the amount of resin, by using small gardening rocks to imitate rocks/rapids in the "river". Used a similar technique as shown and I figured I reduced the resin required by half. This also allowed a more transparent resin pour.
Excellent, a company showing you how to save money by using less of their product is very very noble, and in my opinion speaks volumes.
Thanks for a well presented video. I plan on trying some epoxy projects and glass cast will be my first call.
The cost of resin can be quite off putting for a lot of people so this revised method may make resin river tables more accessible to people for whom a typical table with a lot of resin may be out of reach budget wise.
Doesnt it weaken the strength of the table? Now you only have 5mm of resin (x2). If you want to use less resin just make your gap smaller.
@@tubester4567 Good point but personally I would suggest that it depends on the table frame/skirt which supports the table along four sides or across each end. Remember that the table is not "load bearing" unless you stand on it and nobody is going to try and bend it in the middle.
@@Sly_Wolf_1 Maybe but Its common for people to sit on tables, or stand on them to reach high places. With the high cost of timber slabs I dont think I would risk it personally.
@@tubester4567 and with the correct frame/skirt under the table you will spread any load. But each to their own. I know I could build this and have someone sit or stand on it without issue.
Another option for river tables, especially clear pours, use varying sizes of gravel to simulate stones/boulders in the finished product. You could also use sand under the gravel to reduce the volume further.
Yes encapsulations are a great way to reduce resin usage where they can be made into a feature.
@@glasscastresin Out of curiousity, applying the same method as seen in the video - do you think using an acrylic filler in replacement of plywood match the refractive index *enough* when poured with uncolored/transparent resin to go unseen? Of course cut edges of the acrylic would need to be polished.
@@Raraoolala You would really need to test this out to see how well your acrylic was matched to the resin once cured. The edges of the acrylic where it stops short of the wood may pose the biggest visual problem.
@@Raraoolala Even if you'd get it "close enough", you'd still see it from certain angles or light conditions, really you're just asking for trouble. With the plywood core in the video it's very likely there were still some tiny air pockets trapped between, but it doesn't matter because you can't see them. With clear epoxy and acrylic you simply don't have the luxury of hiding tiny imperfections.
Helpful hint. If you can, put part B in the cup first and add Part A.
I've found that as part B is thinner, it doesnt stick to the sides of the mixing pot as easily as part A.
Less likely to leave unmixed resin on the sides of your mixing bowl.
used about 20 litres from Glasscast now. Great product and great customer service/tech support.
I think i appreciate this so much more because it’s a resin company telling you “hey, you might not actually need to buy as much product!”
That was the exact intention, we doe hear that some people are put off large projects like this by the cost of resin, unfortunately it is an expensive product. Hopefully this method makes it more accessible to those who still want to create their own river table.
I do this already. I use up my scrap lumber. Be sure to seal the filler boards to reduce bubbles.
Yes, totally agree on sealing the filler boards. Hopefully that came across clearly in this video.
Amen... my scrap pieces get used like this, and if not big enough I slice it into strips and laminate them all together. Quick run through the planer, seal , pour and honestly some of my favorite pieces!
I was amaze when i saw ur comapny showing ideas to save epoxy shows really you guys care about us
Brilliant. Great to see a company showing you how to save money using their product. It builds credibility and consumer confidence. I'll be using them for my next project. 👍
As a retired toolmaker/machinist with MANY years under my belt. I have helped manufacture many molds over the years.
This is very common what you have done here. For these of you whom don't understand molds,
This is how a mold makes a plastic cup, for a simple example. Metal is engineered to make the inside part of the cup, which is turn
will make the wall thickness of the cup.
Or when manufacturing an engine block, a core made a sand to make the holes for all the cylinders. The molten metal will flow around
the sand/core to produce a hole where it is needed.
Good way to save $ on materials and machining time.
You actually explained this very nicely! 👍
immediately like this guy better than everybody else lol. seems more like a real person and not some hack! cheers from across the pond
Yep, I've avoided this due to the immense cost and volume most people encourage. Legit keen to do this since you've shown how to make it economical and environmentally friendly. Strong integrity, very impressed!
I have been using glasscast 10/50 many times and it has never disappointed me. Brilliant stuff 🥇
Thank you, that’s great to hear 😀
Now this is marketing that is made for the real audience, with noble gesture of showing how it is done with less budget.
Great video. I've known a lot of people who wanted to try out a resin project, including myself, that get put off by the cost of it once they work out what they may need. Even saving a little bit helps.
Exactly what we aimed to do with this video.
Just used this technique on a 40 liter pour. Saved me $300 in epoxy. Turned out awesome !! Thanks
Gad you found it useful and offered a good saving!
Great idea. So refreshing to have your calculations in metric.
I did something similar to this on a lake table I was asked to build, the video is on my channel. The slab was over 5 cm thick and I had a limited budget to build the table on, so I just put a plywood platform in the center and sealed the edges, only casting about 1/5 cm worth of resin, turned out beautifully, so i can vouch for the fact that resin saving techniques work and they worm very well!
If I ever get around to building one for myself (wont do it til i live in a house big enough for it), i'll use this technique and add a bit of flair to the river (make it look like a river with a sandy bottom and little additions in the middle). The plywood is a great idea to save on space, and if i have a bit of fun with the middle, it should look great, even with transparent resin
OUTSTANDING OUTSTANDING OUTSTANDING video!!! Thank you soooooo much for the concept and ideas!!
Thank you for your fantastic feedback! 🙂
The style of presentation resembles easy composites channel. And that is a compliment.
We're in effect the same company; we broke off the GlassCast brand to keep the two areas of the business separate from a tutorial and website perspective but the tutorials are filmed in the same studio with the same team :)
You could even have the plywood core be a piece of art of it's own that is put in with transparent pigment. That could look really cool also: a disconnected table, or wooden fish, or a photo glued onto the plywood of stars or anything. There are lots of options that could look cool and cut down on the resin without being too complicated.
Indeed you could make a feature of it if you so wished.
To add a little bit more to what you were saying...you could also glue a matching wood veneer to the top and sides of your plywood core or just the top and angle the sides a bit so they're not noticeable. Shape it like an added piece and save some epoxy that way while adding a cool little "island" part to the whole piece.
much appreciated for the time you have put in to show the process of doing the table, amazing job
Finally someone who uses the metric system... makes this so much more easy to follow
This 1 tip has just saved me 150 quid on my first attempt at a river table. Gotta love finding gem vids like this before you order anything :D
Great to hear this technique worked for you. It really does help to cut down the amount of resin required.
Man this is great quality.
Like top quality filming, great editing. Great sound.
Pleasant yet spicy.
Professional yet educational.
Long enough but to the point.
This is a sience. Proficiat
Glad you enjoyed it. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, but we think it's worth it.
Pretty smart to conserve resin wherever possible by filling the volume with more economic materials. I never thought about that.
this idea makes me think of possibilities with a decorated core and transparent resin, there seems to be a more “intentionally designed” space this could go into that’s a little outside the mainstream with most of these wood/resin projects nowadays, I think the gaming table chaps have some good ideas to pull from into more simple, general purpose tables.
Sounds like a good idea, encapsulating visual items could make for a really interesting piece of furniture.
Ive done this on smaller projects, its definitely a resin saver for sure!
I'll be starting a table build later this year and I will absolutely be using this method. Should save me hundreds of dollars. Thanks.
This is a great tutorial, so clear, great pace, I don't think I've seen better
Hi Karen, thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. We appreciate the feedback it's great to hear that we're getting it right.
Great video! I’m definitely considering using this technique when I build my own table however, I wonder if this would compromise the strength of the table at all?
Certainly no more so than with any river table in general. The wood has its own inherent strength and its all bonded together by the resin.
Clear and concise, a pleasure to watch.
Excellent idea! Less cost means more profit!
Great video overall. One thing that did strike me is that while this is most obviously of use for opaque and metallic resins, it seems like you could do a transparent effect finish quite easily too. Maybe reduce the plywood thickness by another 5mm and use that depth to add and progressively more transparent layers to the top to create the illusion of a deeper pour (much like how people do those fishes swimming in water illusion paintings on resin).
Yes you could certainly do that and make it into an effect.
I do use "chipboard" (i don't know if this is the good term), the cheap version of plywood. Essentially saved from waste disposal (Ikea and stuff). Also, i use wood shavings , that i like the render within epoxy ! This way, i save barely 80% of epoxy. And the weight is barely the same.
11:07 Are those chips caused by the router or air bubbles trapped within the resin? They look more like air pockets to me that were opened up by the router. If so they could be reduced/eliminated using vacuum to pull the air out.
Definitely by the router in the case - generally trying to route too quickly and not having a big enough overlap between the passes causes chipping out.
Fabulous video! Great idea using the wood insert !
I really cant fathom why people wouldn't do this with opaque pigments, but semi transparent river tables are my favourites
I feel that this is all well and good, up to a point. When you factor in the cost of resin only poor compared to the cost of:
1. Resin base pour - Cost of mixing small batch, clean-up and cost of time waiting for cure.
2. Cost of a plywood insert and the cost of man hours cutting, shaping and finishing so you don't have unexpected wood fiber floaters.
3. Cost of time mixing up a second batch of resin, pouring and clean-up and waiting time for cure.
I think that from an accounting standpoint, it really may be less expensive to make one resin pour and be done with it. Especially if there is paid labor involved. Even a business owners time has financial value.
Considering most people considering this are DIY/hobby users, time is generally not a financial cost. You could do the math for a business to determine if it is viable.
Good idea. One other key way to save money when making river tables is not buying the release spray. I did some work making aerospace and autoracing carbon fibre parts and we used basic car wax.
I looked at the thumbnail and I was blown away like god damn dude u are really smart I never thought of that
Something to try (whether or not you are using a Filler material) - Put a Mirror on top of the filler material and under Translucent Epoxy. For the best look, use a Front surface mirror. They are more expensive but they're worth it for a real River / Lake look.
Would certainly give a different look and maybe more depth.
For those who don't feel like watching a 15-minute video about something that can be summed up in 30 seconds. The idea here is as follows.
1 - Set up your slabs like you normally do in the mold.
2 - Pour a thin layer of resin on the bottom (1/4"-1/2" - the darker the tint, the thinner this layer can be).
3 - Take a piece of wood or something else solid (almost anything will work) that is slightly shorter than the overall length of your table and place it in the middle, on top of your first, partially cured (but still tacky) layer, leaving approximately an inch or so on each end. This "filler" piece can be cut with a jigsaw to the contours of your slabs in order to take up as much volume in the middle as possible this maximizing your resin savings.
4 - Pour the top layer of resin so that the filler piece is completely encased in resin on all visible sides.
5 - Finish the table like you would any other epoxy resin river table.
I got all the just by looking at the thumbail.
And “stop wasting the video” with the hand gestures (its like a contagious disease of stupidity)
@@OU81TWO Congrats! Most of us probably got it from the thumbnail. However, some people probably did not quite get it as well, so I figured I would summarize. Not sure how this guy thought a 15 minute video was necessary though.
@@TheRealJohnHamp He's making content. Needs watch time to generate more $$$.
Don't forget: 1) the tip to tint one of the parts of the resin so you can get multiple pours of the same colour; 2) the sealing of the live wood edges to minimise the generation of bubbles from the pores; 3) the Danish oil sealing of the wood prior to polishing the epoxy so the polishing compounds don't get embedded in the wood and discolour it.
Just to name a few things one does not get from the thumbnail...
I had never considered adding the dye to the resin before mixing the 2 parts. You can dye just the resin part, then store it for later, and only mix in the hardener as you need? I always thought you had to mix the parts, then add the dye. Always wondered how you do a partial pour, then add the core, then add more resin to top it off, while keeping the color the same for all the mixes.
if you use clear resin you could allso lay down a bottom in resin fill most of the space with fancy sand or pebbles than fill it to the top with more clear and finish it off , should save up to about 2/3ths of the resin used ans looks a little different than a solid colour
Amazing! Most definitely adding this to the bag of tricks. 🙂
Thanks for posting this. Clear, concise and very informative.
Great video. Super informative. Love that you also covered the mistake with the router 👏
Glad you found it useful. We know how easy it is to make mistakes and always try to be open with our content, it also means we can show how to fix the problem.
Beautiful piece and great intent behind using less of your product to make it more accessible and affordable to your customers. The possibilities of using the filler material as an effect when using transparent resin is exciting.
Very informative and entertaining. Quite excellent at showing how it is done without making it seem as if it should be simple.
This is a great idea! Congratulations on the project, this is definitely going to help a lot of newcomers to get into the resin world and not spending a lot of money/ product, including myself. Thank you for the idea, keep up the great work!
To get a more accurate pour measurement, take a photograph of your layout, import it into software like sketchup, scale the image to your known length and width, draw along the live edge, to create an area.
You could go as far as drawing it in CAD if you have the skills. Although probably a bit overkill for most people!
Fair play for putting this out there. Considering you are essentially doing yourselves out of sales. Brilliant way to make extra money on commissions from a creator perspective.
The cost of resin can be quite off putting for a lot of people so this revised method may make resin river tables more accessible to people for whom a typical table with a lot of resin may be out of reach budget wise.
Now all we need is for blacktail studios to make a glowing core inside the resin
please add the videos you reference such as in 11:55 in the video description so I can watch them
You'll be looking for our sanding tutorial ua-cam.com/video/9-WYOK90KNo/v-deo.html
The fact you're using metric is enough to leave a thumbs up!
I'm not a potential customer, but I like watching this sort of thing.
Never heard of hackberry in the U.K. but nice colour and grain to it . Looks similar to ash
Great idea 💡 this idea is good for environment. Most of river tables are filled with black resin.
For opaque ; can we replace cardboard with glass?
I have done this before with scrap wood to fill the cavity but my one recommendation is to weigh all of it down. As I have had it shift and float to the edge.
The brush applied sealing coat of resin is great for preventing this from happening as it secures everything in place, as well as sealing off the surface to help reduce bubbles from escaping.
Fascinating! How do you clean up your tools and buckets when working with resin?
You can use a solvent like acetone before the resin has cured. Our buckets are made from PP so alternatively wait until the resin has cured and peel out the cured resin.
What a great tutorial, and super to see you in the comments throwing ideas about with viewers. Great interaction 👍
Thanks Joe, we do like to hear back from our customers and followers. It helps us to understand what projects to work on next!
haven't even watched this but the idea of making a core is very interesting, especially if its not transparent.
Excellent video. Good work sir
This was an excellent video and particularly informative. Thank you.
You're welcome 🙂
The use of resin - for me, the amount of resin featured - is a very personal view. I wouldn’t want a table where the resin seemingly overwhelms the timber but, then, I’m a woodworker. The useful thing - the very green reason - to use resin is that it takes boards which would otherwise be scrapped or cut up with a lot of waste, and make them into objects that can be used. I’ve made many tables that have resin in them but the resin is just used to fill checks and faults in the slab. It’s a far cry from a 40% resin river table.
However, there is no denying that river tables are sought after and, whilst I though the fashion would be short lived, it continues. In fact, buying a waney edge slab now costs more (per cubic metre) than processed square edged material. Such is the law of supply and demand plus the opportunistic timber seller.
I think that all the tips that I have learned (the hard way) have been noted by Glass Cast. I do use a degassing chamber connected to a vacuum pump for smaller pours (quite often moulds for items such as clock numbers) but it’s impractical for large volumes. So, I do go for coating the edges of the timber the day before if it’s a deeper void but always go for very slow cure (for which you can buy an additive) and regularly a hair dryer passed over the surfaces to release bubbles. If you want to see someone make resin tables very well, and for a living, look up the Manor Wood channel.
Less weight & cheaper, very pragmatic, I like it!
This is a great trick for non-clear resin. Once you go even somewhat transparent - you will quickly reach the point where plywood shows.
I personally don't see any point in opaque river tables. If you make that table - it's much better to see some depth in both the live edge and the resin
A great video, really clear and informative and making me want to try it myself.
Besides that these method needs some extra time, that creates extra costs (if you’re not making this desk for yourself) it’s worth to think about this. BTw, it reminds me about the way waterbeds are made with a core using less water, means weight and heat up time.
This would mainly be orientated towards individuals or low volume makers where the cost of the resin can be a significant issue when making these kind of projects.
This tutorial was really made with the DIY'er in mind who isn't paying for time and may otherwise have been put off by the cost of resin.
What could one sell a table like that. Or what is the ruff estimate of a table like that?
great idea, reminds me of putting backing of cheaper line on a fishing reel!
That is how you should create a proper advert! Really impressed. I was just wondering, what about the bubbles? Isn't it a concern with your epoxy?
Generally as long as you work in the right conditions it is not a problem. Tricks like using a heat gun over the surface, work well to remove and lift out any stubborn bubbles that do not self degas.
You can also simply use a router to mill out the river to half of the depth or maybe slightly less if you want to add sand or pebbles as a base. You can rout all the way thru on the ends to match the width of the river to create a all the way thru illusion. There is no need for a plywood core to save epoxy..
DId you even watch the video?
Hi there! I saw this it's amazing - THANK YOU!! What about using Perspex for a clearer pour? will it bond and still be strong?
This technique is really only really suited to projects with a pigmented opaque resin that hides the filler material. If you were going for a semi translucent then it you may be able to get away with using clear filler material but its not something that we have tried.
I don't like often, but when I do, they're great videos like this one.
great idea for solid pours, I haven't done a table yet but I have practice with some charcuterie boards, this makes me want to try a table
Thanks, you know where we are if you decide to give it a go.
Fabulous job love all your products
not to mention it's also a superior product... Modustrial Maker made a massive door with a boatload of resin about a month after this came out and I still think about it...
Do you have a video on how to perfect or make a clear see through epoxy river table ?
Our main river table tutorial uses a tinted blue resin. If you wanted a completely clear 'river' then you could skip adding the pigment. www.glasscastresin.com/river-table-tutorial
Do you ever have to worry about thermal expansion of the core you use?
what do you do to remove bubbles in the resin ? some are say a flame torch
GlassCast is very good at releasing trapped air naturally by itself. If you do notice some trapped air bubbles as the resin cures than you can use a hair dryer or heat gun on a low setting to help get rid of them. Too much direct heat can burn the resin so a direct flame is not advised.
How the hell do you only have 12k subs? This is amazing content.
That's a great way to save money! But i have a question, wouldn't this method affect the strength on a bigger size table? I'll be afraid of snapping the epoxy with the weight of a bigger slab.
Remember the wood has its own strength and as long as proper preparation is done, the wood to epoxy bond will be good.
Excellent video thankyou. Please can you supply details of how you made your router sled and where you got the materials. Thank you again.
Doesn't it make the table weaker?
With a slab of resin it's a solid shape tightly gripping wooden slabs on either side.
With a "bulking" piece of wood in the middle the resin will look something like this (|), a doughnut of resin around the bulking piece.
Will that make the resin weaker, especially the thinner you make it?
Not really. The weakest point is where the resin grips onto the wood of the planks, not the resin itself.
Im doing that about 3 years now but it works only with non transparent resin colors
Yeah practically a scam themselves for not talking about that fact.
Why am I being recommended resin infomercials lmao
Hello bro Thankyou for the video is there any temperature for the epoxy work i mean what should the room temperature
18-20°C is the recommended working temperature for this resin, you can find out more info on the product data sheet
I absolutely love how you tinted one part of the expoxy to get a consistent colour through multiple pours. Great tip!! Plus yes using a fill method to save epoxy I’ve done before just not in that scale. Well done! You have inspired me to try now
Yes pigmenting the resin in one go means that you don't need to worry about colour matching, or ending up with patchy colours.
@@glasscastresin I have a very small utube channel. I do resin art. I’d love to share this knowledge if that’s ok with you?
@@MissKikiDee4Me Yes, that would be fine :)
@@glasscastresin thank you so much xx
you can also use pieces of scrap wood , just cut them up in small blocks and fill in the gap.
Yes you can make use of offcuts this way. Just be sure to fix them in place so that the wooden pieces don't float in the resin.
I wonder how well a clear or tinted plastic core with the same refraction index as the cured resin would work.
Assuming it was an exact match, it may well blend into the resin and not be visible.
Looks GREAT BUT doesnt really work to scale up to a full size dining room table does it OR can it?
Absolutely, we have seen people make some pretty large tables with this method. On big tables the ability to reduce the quantity of resin can be even more of a bonus.
Great video !! Really clear with steps. Thank you
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the feedback.
You should use like a wire wheel to cleanup live edge. A sander flattens the edge.
If only taking off a small amount of material then a sander works well and most people will have/need one for other aspects of the process.
ive tried this once before, and the wood inside the pour "ghosted" through, so you could see the very slight divets when looking across the piece. That was some time ago though, so maybe casting resin is getting better about shrinkage? I have not tried this recently, and this would help out a ton on saving me money on resin!
Shrinkage on some types of resin can be significant. Epoxies in general, and especially the GlassCast range are exceptionally low shrinkage.
Could you do the same thing making a countertop? Will it holdup over time?
There's no reason why you couldn't use a tabletop like this as a countertop. You wouldn't want to cut directly onto the surface, as is pretty much the case with all worktops and you would have to be mindful not to place hot items on the resin area.
Fantastic title, so good that I don't have to watch the video. But I thought I would at least post a comment and a like. Be seeing ya.
Great tips.Is that true if you use pearl metalic dye you will not see the what is sunk in resin?
If you use either powdered metallic pigment or solid liquid pigment in high enough quantities, the colour will become completely opaque.
I've never used resin when making a table so just a quick question, what is heavier, the wood blank or the resin? I'm sure cost wise the wood blank is a great way to save money and haven't seen any content creator use this technique (unless they do it in the cutaway) So it's good to see someone using their brain out here
Resin is much denser than wood, including hardwoods.
Remember that woods are porous, while resin purposefully made without air bubbles are just very solid object