I won’t be able to finish my crazy coffee table story this week. I’m still in a drying phase between coats of epoxy resin. I can pause to say that it this stuff is cool. You should play with it. It’s pour-on glass that you can drape over a lot of materials. It embeds, protects, and displays anything you place underneath it. Some make resin tables out of coins, bottle caps, marbles, playing cards, old keys, whatever. My table’s knotholes are under the sea shells and pebbles.
I may not be finished, but I’ve learned a few valuable tips at this midpoint worth sharing for anyone who is reading this series and thinking, “Hm, epoxy resin. I think I’ll try it.”
The three most important things I learned are to have enough epoxy resin mixed to do the job right, make certain no dust particles or flecks of debris mix onto your wet surface, and be patient while watching bubbles form until they’re all done before you pop them with a heat gun, or you’ll be running that heat gun over your project too often. All that happened to me yesterday when I poured my first cover coat.
Many who create epoxy resin surfaces do it in one major pour that flows over all the edges without a lot of nudging with sponge brushes. It’s supposed to seek its own level. However, the stuff is pricy, and once mixed, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
Other research suggests doing two layers. Apply a thin surface coat to draw out any air bubbles in the wood. Spread it around with brushes or a piece of cardboard. When it dries, you can sand it down, rubbing out any imperfections before applying the final coat. I liked that suggestion. It allowed me to make a practice pour. I could better gauge how much resin to mix for the second coat.
For my first pour coat, I didn’t mix enough resin. I thought I did, but the bare wood drank it up. I spread and spread with my sponge brush, pulling resin frantically to the far corners. I had to pull the resin over the edges onto the bark, and when my brush contacted bark, in picked up some flecks that got deposited on my table top and had to be fished out with toothpicks.
Directions say wait 15 minutes before tackling air bubbles. I didn’t listen. Several air bubbles appeared after a few minutes and I fired up my Looftlighter and popped them. I put it away. More bubbles appeared. I fired it up again, popped the bubbles, and put it away. More bubbles appeared. “OK, I get it,” I said to the dejected direction sheet. All that fuss and agitation left me the next day with a few bumps and some missed spots.
I’ve learned my lessons. For the final pour, I will mix up all my remaining epoxy resin, about 30 ounces, over three times what I used for the surface pour. I’ve got stacks of cardboard under my sawhorses to absorb the intentional spillage. I will use separate brushes for bark. I will not be intimidated by air bubbles that pop up in my finished surface like frogs in a pond. I will be patient, and catch them all at once.
My wife Susan has been observing the table making process, popping into the garage from time to time to give encouragement or burst my bubble. She helped design one of the under-sea knotholes, and she’s thrilled with how nice it looks under an inch of transparent resin. She’s enjoying this resin play so much, she stopped in at Adobe Second Hand store the other day and bought an unfinished pine shelf. She wants me to pour resin on it. I have it set up nearby over its own protective cardboard. If I have leftovers, I’ll pour it on Susan’s shelf.
The craziest thing is that I’m getting three columns out of building a coffee table.
Susan and I drove with our son Adam and his son River to Cool Patch Pumpkins last Sunday and walked the world’s largest corn maze. This is our second visit to the corn maze in as many years. Our first trip through, we were a mess. We were lost in there all afternoon and emerged in pieces. This year we shaved a lot of time off our record and got out in two hours.
The trick is to hold your map dear, keep your finger on exactly where you are at all times, and watch for coordinates on popsicle sticks. You can also buy pumpkins. Cool Patch maze is open all month, fun for all ages.
Susan and I attended the Martinez Blues Festival with friends the week before. The sun moved across the hot, blue sky in a direct line with Main Street like a laser on a DVD. Our number one goal was to hear Alvon Johnson perform, but we stayed all day, shade jumping and eating ribs.
I call those various excursions “drying times” while I work on my table.

Steve Gibbs is a retired Benicia High School teacher who has written a column for The Herald since 1985.

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