Where did this all begin? I did some looking, this is what I came up with. This is from August, 2004 By Oliver Beckert.
river.jpg
http://funfurde.blogspot.com/2004/08...ver-table.html
[OP]
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Where did this all begin? I did some looking, this is what I came up with. This is from August, 2004 By Oliver Beckert.
river.jpg
http://funfurde.blogspot.com/2004/08...ver-table.html
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Hopefully someone will soon be the last, lol. I’m kind of over this fad.
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Not me.........
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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.
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Originally Posted by Matt Day
Couldn't agree more, it's a hate crime against wood.
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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.
"The first thing you need to know, will likely be the last thing you learn." (Unknown)
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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.....
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I nabbed this from an instagram account memesofwoodworking
We might need to take to the streets.
IMG_6775.jpg
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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?
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Agree!!!!!
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must have been alcohol involved
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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.
Last edited by Mark Bolton; 10-04-2021 at 1:58 PM.
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Silver lining, in ten years, when all this junk hits the curb, it'll be easy to reclaim the material.
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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.
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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.
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