Who made the First Epoxy River Table?

[William Hodge]

Where did this all begin? I did some looking, this is what I came up with. This is from August, 2004 By Oliver Beckert.
465886
http://funfurde.blogspot.com/2004/08/travelland-river-table.html

[Matt Day]

Hopefully someone will soon be the last, lol. I’m kind of over this fad.

[Tom M King]

Not me.........

[Patrick Kane]

I believe that trend started with a guy making the "river" portion out of custom fabricated glass. Even back then i remember thinking, "cool technique and skill to fit the glass into such an organic shape, but this is not that attractive". Fast forward two decades, and people are killing it with these projects. The prices of these tables are routinely $10,000-20,000, and the guys must be selling them, because i see plenty of photos across the board. Either they sell, or these folks have a warehouse full of epoxy tables.

I dont like the look, and ive heard the epoxy surface ages horribly because of the micro scratches, but its allowing some guys to make a living while woodworking and thats a plus.

[Edward Weber]

Hopefully someone will soon be the last, lol. I’m kind of over this fad.


Couldn't agree more, it's a hate crime against wood.

[Mike Cutler]

The first "epoxy river table" I ever saw was in 1970, though I don't think it was an intentional design. A couple slabs of nasty California walnut and epoxy.
It was the neighbors table for "the kids", so they wouldn't damage the nice table. I'm certain that it hit the dump after we were grown up.

[Ed Mitchell]

A random surfer in the 60's.

He had a balsa board which snapped in half, fixed it with a huge river of resin, and when it snapped again, he said "Screw it" and turned it into a coffee table.

Later repairs taught us to use more fiberglass and less resin, but furniture makers, sadly, have gone the other way.....

[Mark Gibney]

I nabbed this from an instagram account memesofwoodworking
We might need to take to the streets.

465904

[Andrei Telitsyn]

Always wanted to know how those things look after 10-20-... years.
After all, dimensional stability of wood is very different from that of resin. How does this thing survive humidity swings?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Hopefully someone will soon be the last, lol. I’m kind of over this fad.

Agree!!!!!

[Warren Lake]

must have been alcohol involved

[Mark Bolton]

My first experience with this concept was perhaps in my single digit years when encapsulating "things" in epoxy was a craft/home hobby trend. This would have been in the early/mid 70's. Everyone at the time were buying "as seen on tv" kits to encapsulate bottle caps, knick knacks, etc in clear cast acrylic. It was around the time of the graduate and "one word.. plastics". We also did a ton of the faux "stained glass" deals where you purchased pot metal cast frames of various shapes and filled each cavity with granulated low temp plastic, and cooked it off in your oven to be blessed with melted plastic window and tree hanging ornaments.

Same with live edge, my dad passed when I was 5 years old (1971) and we had live edge coffee table till the end of time. The wood "cookie" clock slobbered in thick clear resin, on and on.

Likely the first maker of an epoxy table will be hoping to never be remembered because their table likely failed over time as will most any of the others made. The main issue is how well can you absolve yourself as the maker of the liability/insurance/customer refund request when it eventually happens.

Sadly its just more plastic puked onto the planet. Hopefully the bulk of these land in lined landfills and not ground up in the ocean or burned in peoples back yards.

[johnny means]

Silver lining, in ten years, when all this junk hits the curb, it'll be easy to reclaim the material.

[Frank Pratt]

Hopefully someone will soon be the last, lol. I’m kind of over this fad.

I agree. The real shame is that some beautiful wood is being used up on these monstrosities & tons of epoxy that could otherwise go to good use is being wasted. Ever had a look at a river table that is a couple of years old? Even with careful use the epoxy looks just horrible.

[Andrew Hughes]

I remember sitting at a epoxy table at a H salt fish and chips in the 70s. It had neat stuff to read and the coat was really thick and yellow.

[Mark Bolton]

Ever had a look at a river table that is a couple of years old? Even with careful use the epoxy looks just horrible.

A couple years or a few months? lol. Any of these with even remote use will require the most ginger of care. They are more scratch and haze prone than the hood of a corvette. Then you add in the delam, internal clouding that happens when the ineveitable moisture starts to wreak its havoc and it gets worse and worse. The bonus is they can be buffed out and re-coated but I doubt thats a course of action most who spend the money had in mind at the onset.

[John TenEyck]

I'm happy to sell slabs of otherwise almost unusable wood to some of the folks making these things. The more "character" the better. They don't want clear wood which is fine with me; I keep that for making things where you actually need to cut and fit joints. There are a few "pros" who buy rough slabs but many of the people I deal with have few tools/machines and fewer skills. I flatten the slabs for them. I can sell these otherwise unusable to me pieces of wood much easier than clear lumber and for more money. Go figure. So I hope the trend lasts a few more years.

John

[Richard Coers]

Add me to the hope it ends soon. Also add me to the lightly torched pine called shou sufi ban. I did that in 1970 and it needed to stay in that decade.

[Mark Bolton]

I'm happy to sell slabs of otherwise almost unusable wood to some of the folks making these things. The more "character" the better. They don't want clear wood which is fine with me; I keep that for making things where you actually need to cut and fit joints. There are a few "pros" who buy rough slabs but many of the people I deal with have few tools/machines and fewer skills. I flatten the slabs for them. I can sell these otherwise unusable to me pieces of wood much easier than clear lumber and for more money. Go figure. So I hope the trend lasts a few more years.

John

I couldnt agree more. If I were selling slabs or had access to rotten/dead stuff that wasnt worth sawing on the open market.. or was selling epoxy, packing tape, etc.. I'd be rooting on the epoxy table craze for the bank account.

Im not sure I'd feel too great about it with the puke on the planet but its likely a very small dent in the legacy for the grandkids.

[Patrick Varley]

Add me to the hope it ends soon. Also add me to the lightly torched pine called shou sufi ban. I did that in 1970 and it needed to stay in that decade.

I actually think shou sugi ban when used as intended (cypress cladding) looks cool when used appropriately, and also ends up being functional. The problem is people deciding that a $30 propane torch from harbor freight means they've magically turned into a Japanese master craftsman.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I sell slabs to people who say they are going to make river tables, but I wish they wouldn't make them. I've never seen one in real life, but I have never seen a picture of one that looked good to me. The people I have sold wood to who want to make river tables mostly have no clue about moisture content in wood, and usually when I try to tell them they will have to let the wood dry first they don't seem interested.

[William Hodge]

I didn't bring this up to just dump on epoxy river tables. I am interested in fads that have come and gone. I participated in some. I put up fake beams and barn boards in the 1970's. I built round topped windows over french doors in the 1970's. My brother wore platform shoes and bell bottom pants in the early 1970's. I built some small barn doors for a customer, and found out that people hang them in their houses. Who knew!

Now, when I find cedar shingle mansard roofs or aluminum storm doors with the first letter of the family's last name in the center, I feel nostalgic. In the midst of fad design stuff, it feels like everyone but me took acid. For example, shed roof cluster housing stained with dark brown stain. 1977. Looked bad then, aged poorly, looks bad and old now. I like it now, I hated it then.

I feel like it's time to document what we know about epoxy river tables before we successfully forget them. That's why I started looking into the history of epoxy river tables. I'm no academic historian or anything, or else I would give them an acronym like "ERT", and say stuff like "The advent of the ERT movement in the early 2000's reflected American's need for unity in the face of dialectical divisions caused by the expropriation of wage labor manufacturing by off shore comparative advantage opportunistic labor markets."

So, setting aside being sick of Epoxy River Tables, when did this take hold? The first robin's egg blue epoxy dump in a ratty old piece of wood interests me.

[Mark Bolton]

So, setting aside being sick of Epoxy River Tables, when did this take hold? The first robin's egg blue epoxy dump in a ratty old piece of wood interests me.


Youll never find a definitive answer. Maybe Ron Popiell (sp)

[Richard Coers]

I'm looking forward to your book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director to River Tables. LOL

[Rick Potter]

Well, according to Google, the fad was started by Greg Klassen, who studied at the College of the Redwoods (now the Krenov school).

It did not say what year, but the first one took forever to sell, and finally went viral in 2014.

By the way, a survey was done (100 sellers), showing that well made River Tables sell from $1500 to $20,000.

Plenty more info there.

[Joe Hendershott]

must have been alcohol involved
And mescaline.

[Jim Matthews]

There's a working theory...

465938

[Jim Becker]

Interesting how long ago this came into being, but not surprising, either. Prior to that, resin tech was more of a gleam in someone's eye; today, there are products specifically engineered for the purpose. I think that "in general" there's good reason to use resin in combination with wood, especially from an art standpoint, but sometimes for functional reasons.

And like anything, there are some folks who produce some pretty outstanding pieces and a lot of folks producing mediocre results.

Related but on a smaller scale, I collaborate with a guy who does a lot of charcuterie boards. He finds the "most interesting" material along the way in his travels and uses resin, both for personalization (what I help with via the CNC) and for making the surface usable with creative inlay. I'm talking really gnarly stuff sometimes...that's made useful in an artistic way.

[Gordon Stump]

My response is more linked to the live edge slab popularity. First of all, I sell lots of stuff online with my business. But frankly, I do not have the confidence to sell a $7000 live edge table. Without business insurance there is quite a liability when the customer is not happy or something happens. There are some really talented woodworkers who are making slab and river tables and I am happy for them.

What I am not happy about is the trickle down prices that sawmills and dryers are charging. I guess if a slab table is selling for $10,000 the mills feel justified charging up to $6 a board foot to cut and dry a slab. I think this is mostly the case in metro areas. I am being forced to go farther and farther into the Nederlands to find a mill that will cut and dry my logs for $.75 to $1 a board foot.

I do think the live edge/epoxy trend will go the way of shag carpet. Of course a truly artistic live edge piece will always be a high end piece of furniture.

My $.02

[Bruce Mack]

Couldn't agree more, it's a hate crime against wood.
Well-phrased. These epoxy rivers should flow through a MDF landscape.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't want to see them go out of style.

Where else could I put my lava lamp and pet rock and Mr. Microphone?

[Frank Pratt]

Next trend will be to river tables made of shou sugi ban slabs. Best of both worlds. :cool:

We need barf and poop emojis for threads like this.

[Edward Weber]

The big difference between river tables and Shou Sugi Ban is that one actually has a several hundred year documented history and purpose. Unfortunately, like many things, the process of Shou Sugi Ban has been adopted by western cultures for anything and everything where it does not belong.
Done properly, it's a very effective exterior treatment for wooden siding.
River tables done right are still atrocious.

[Frank Pratt]

The big difference between river tables and Shou Sugi Ban is that one actually has a several hundred year documented history and purpose. Unfortunately, like many things, the process of Shou Sugi Ban has been adopted by western cultures for anything and everything where it does not belong.
Done properly, it's a very effective exterior treatment for wooden siding.
River tables done right are still atrocious.

I couldn't agree more. There are countless abominations on YouTube where they're torching wood & calling it shou sugi ban. But really it's just plain ugly & not at all appropriate. I've seen it on building exteriors & it can be beautiful.