Building Live-Edge River Table Desks

Woodshop
#1

Good Evening Makers,

Long time no chat. The wife and I are considering building our own live-edge epoxy “river” type desks and I have a few logistical questions about building them up at makers. The last time I was there, we had just gotten the new space and I helped move some stuff over to the other side, but I never got to see what the final layout was.

Would there be enough space for us to leave a 32" x 60" desktop up there overnight if we did the epoxy pour up there? It would of course have to remain flat and we would have to put a dust cover on it somehow I imagine.

I have seen a few posts on folks building river tables and talking about using epoxy up there, so I believe that pouring a high quality low fume epoxy up there shouldn’t be a problem, but I was not sure where folks were leaving their projects while they cured.

I guess that was the only real question for now. We will have to go through the woodshop course to learn how to safely and respectably use the wood working machines for routing/planing/sanding our live-edge pieces once we source them.

Thanks.

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#2

I just completed a Table up at DMS… I cleared it with logistics before starting the project… I recommend you do the same… the epoxy I used took 7 days to cure… I had issues with the with the table top pour so it was up there for a minute…

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#3

That was yours?! I was adoring it while it was there. :grin:

#4

Aww thanks
Plan on it being there awhile epoxy is/can be finicky

#5

Let me know if you’re looking for live edge material. I offer a 15% discount to DMS members.

planomill.com

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#6

and you were able to leave it up there for an entire week? That’s great to hear. Thank you.

I will clear our project with logistic before we get underway. We have a lot to learn before we get to that point. :slight_smile:

#7

and your table looks great!

#8

When you buy live edge wood is it already jointed and planed or would we need to do those steps ourselves?

I was just wondering how we would manage jointing the first side when the jointer at makers is only 12" and our desks will be 36" deep. I’m assuming that our live edge halves will be larger than 12" in certain sections.

Thanks,
Chris

#9

Was your live edge wood already jointed and planed when you bought it or did you have to do that yourself? Our desks will be 36" deep and I am not sure how we would joint the wood even if we cut it down the middle first. I’m assuming that the 2 halves will be wider than the 12" jointer in sections.

Thanks,
Chris

#10

My list prices are for rough cut. If you need them planed/jointed I can give you a quote - did you have any specific pieces in mind?

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#11

No Sir, you buy rough cut slabs and you have de-bark The river edge, flatten the slabs with planner or slab flattening jig or a CNC if you have one… prep the mold… they are a ton of of work, the bigger the table the more work…
I have to pour another table soon… maybe I’ll make it a class, it would be a multi week class…and a up too a 3 to 6 hour commitment each class…

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#12

-1) Rough slabs up to 22" max width (including lived edge/wain) can be effectively face jointed on our planer using a sled approach:

-2) Hardwood Lumber Company (https://www.hlcdallas.com/) offers mill work for jointing/planing/drum sanding slabs. Or at least they used to…

-3) If this is first attempt at something like this, I highly recommend practice on a few smaller pieces/projects. For most basic learning experience, I’d suggest Rockler’s " River Style Charcuterie Board" class (scroll to bottom of page):

https://www.rockler.com/retail/stores/tx/frisco-store

Or someone here at DMS did/posted this :

If someone can’t comfortably reproduce these intro or 1st level projects, then a larger resin/river table project as a first foray has a very low chance of success, IMO.

Whatever happens, best of luck!

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Milling wide board
#13

Epoxy/river tables/ art is something I have spent probably tens of thousands trying to perfect. If anyone has questions on resin, resin and wood, resin and real flower preservation , I am more than happy to try and help.

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#14

Nice work!!

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#15

Thank you!

#16

Ooooh, I love that wall piece. I hope our tables come out half that nice. :slight_smile:

And we might just hit you up for some epoxy advice when we get started.

Thanks.

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#17

Thanks for the advice. I like the jig method. 20" (or slightly less) should be enough for us to plane each half of the live edge wood after we cut it in half. It would be nice to be able to joint and plane the whole piece, but we can make it work.

I like the idea of doing a small project first. We have been watching river coaster and river cutting board videos and will most definitely start with something small first.

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#18

Thanks! And please do reach out if you have questions!

#19

Have you considered teaching a river edge cutting board class or the like? I recall someone mentioning that they were considering teaching one, but I don’t recall who it was.