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Thread: Who made the First Epoxy River Table?

  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Pratt View Post
    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.

  2. #17
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    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

  3. #18
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    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.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by John TenEyck View Post
    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.

  5. #20
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    Oct 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Coers View Post
    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.

  6. #21
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    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.

  7. #22
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    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.

  8. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by William Hodge View Post
    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)

  9. #24
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    I'm looking forward to your book, The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director to River Tables. LOL

  10. #25
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    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.
    Rick Potter

    DIY journeyman,
    FWW wannabe.
    AKA Village Idiot.

  11. Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    must have been alcohol involved
    And mescaline.

  12. #27
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    A working theory...

    There's a working theory...

    i-dont-know-maybe-satan.jpg

  13. #28
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    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.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  14. #29
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    Oct 2018
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    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
    Ask a woodworker to "make your bed" and he/she makes a bed.

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Corcoran, MN
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edward Weber View Post
    Couldn't agree more, it's a hate crime against wood.
    Well-phrased. These epoxy rivers should flow through a MDF landscape.

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