HI FRIENDS, I AM TONY, THE CO-FOUNDER OF POURLA EPOXY. IN THIS BLOG, I WILL SHARE THE WHOLE PROCESS OF TURNING A WALNUT SLAB INTO A COFFEE TABLE USING THE POURLA DEEP POUR EPOXY
This slab is the same walnut slab used in Blog: Woodworking with Epoxy Guide: Making the Black Epoxy Walnut Side Table, which was used to create a round sofa side table. If you are interested, check out Blog.
Step 1: Clean the wood
Clean the wood with chisels and wire brushes, making sure the bark and dust debris are all removed.
Step 2: Mixing POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy
Since this piece is 1.5 inch thick, I will be using POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy, which is capable of pouring up to 4 inches at once.
POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy has a 2:1 mix ratio. After mixing 2A to 1B, I added metallic gray ash pigment to the epoxy. To make the final result more shining, I also added a small amount of white metallic pigment.
After mixing POURLA epoxy resin for 5 minutes, I let it sit for a couple of minutes which will allow the POURLA epoxy to degas by itself. Before you pour epoxy, make sure the mold is properly sealed with silicon and the wood piece is clamped down to avoid it floating up.
Step 3: POUR!
I recommend mixing more than what you think you need. This way you can pour the excess epoxy on the wood piece too to seal all the big and small cracks at once. This way, you can save a lot of time.
When pouring such a large quantity of epoxy, it is normal for some bubbles to form. To eliminate them, simply use a heat torch.
Step 4: Demold and Cut to Size
After 4 days, the POURLA Deep Pour Epoxy is fully cured and can be demolded.
Since this is a large piece, I went to a friend’s cabinet shop to use his wide belt sander. This cut down the sanding time by hours. If you are doing something like this, I highly recommend calling local cabinet shops to see if they can do it for you.
After the 2 faces are sanded flat, it is time to cut the slabs to final size. To do that, I used my track saw.
Personally, I like the look of a large under bevel on table tops. So I set my table saw blade to 30 degrees and gave this epoxy table a large bevel cut. This is a rather sophisticated table saw technique, if you are a beginner, I would not recommend it. You can use a chamfer bit and a router to achieve similar results.
Step 5: Sanding and Finishing
After sanding from 80 to 600 grit, finish can be applied. For this high use coffee table, I chose spray lacquer, which is a highly durable finish.
Done & Results
FINALLY
My team and I are more than happy to answer any questions you may have about this project or our epoxy resin. Feel free to reach out to us anytime at [email protected]—we're here to help!