My Experience with Epoxy Finishing

[atgcpaul]

That looks great.  The color change works but that is pretty drastic.

What do the edges look after everything is dry?  Does any epoxy remain there or is it all on the top and stalactites on the bottom?

[badwhiskey]

That looks great.  The color change works but that is pretty drastic.

What do the edges look after everything is dry?  Does any epoxy remain there or is it all on the top and stalactites on the bottom?

I was greatly relieved that the epoxy flowed smoothly over the edge and they look really good.  Here's a close up:



I sanded the bottom smooth, so it feels pretty good.  I got a little anxious about sanding through the finish and hitting the wood, that it is a bit wavy in parts.  But the edges are the same glassy smooth as the top.  If it wasn't radius edge, I'm not sure it would have flowed as well.

[mike4244]

I posted awhile back about epoxy finishes for a dining room table.  I thought I'd post the results of my efforts and a few lessons learned.

Based on Dave Diaman's recommendation, I selected this finish: US Composites Kleer Koat Table Top

This finish comes with excellent, detailed instructions which should be followed RELIGIOUSLY.  Do not try and scrape the last bits out of the mixing bowl.  It won't dry properly.  Don't watch YouTube videos and mix and match applications instructions.  Also, epoxy finishes make an unholy mess.  I thought I was prepared for this, but it really is something.  It went through the tarp I laid down.  I ruined a pair of sneakers having to walk in the messy run off.  You've been warned!

Epoxy finishes go on like nothing else.  You basically pour on what seems to be much more finish than you need, and roughly smear it over the piece.  It will then flow and settle into a glass like finish.  This was my second mistake, trying to skimp with the amount.  You need to go all in and follow the quantities recommended in the instructions.  Yes, its "wasteful", but better than having to order more like I did!

You'll need to "pop" air bubbles either with a heat gun or torch.  I found that I could let the bubble form for 10 minutes or so, pop them, walk away for 10 minutes, pop some more, take another break, for about 3 or 4 rounds until the epoxy sets up.

In my application, the epoxy flowed over the top and dripped off the underside making major stalactites underneath.  These I was able to belt sand off.

So here is the distressed chestnut top as I purchased it:



You can see the deep cracks and flaws that make me leery of just using poly.  The whole thing was splintery as well.  I selected the epoxy to fully stabilize the piece.  I put a seal coat on the underside and used masking table to keep the epoxy for pour through the many flaws.

And here is the final product:



Note, I did not use any stain.  I don't know why the table darkened so much.  (I didn't make the chairs)

You can avoid bubbles by heating the finish room to 80° or so and then apply epoxy after turning off the heat. Epoxy won't form bubbles on falling temperatures. If the piece was smaller heated with a heat gun first would work too.
mike

[MattP]

Thanks all.

I'm not really a fan of high gloss either, but it seemed like the only solution to save the top.  And yes, the Mrs. is super happy.  This table was promised over a year ago, so I was glad to get it off my to do list.

No stain.  Not sure why it changed color so much, but I'm very happy with the result.

Hopefully its durable.  It's designed for bar tops.  We'll find out.  Big downside is there is no fixing it if it gets damaged.  Its kind of an all or nothing finish.

You can repair an epoxy finish if it gets damaged. I've been experimenting with epoxy and sort of accidentally learned how. My first pour came out with waves in it. The problem there was I hit it with the heat gun while it was too viscous to flow out any more. So I took my random orbit sander with 120 grit and leveled it out until I had a uniform scratch pattern. Then rinse and repeat with 220, then switched to hand sanding to go up from 320 to 5000 grit (just because I don't have sanding discs any finer than 220), then Meguiar's #9 on a polisher with a terry cloth bonnet, then another hand polish to take out the swirls from the terry cloth bonnet and it was glass again and dead flat. I was doing a 2' x 1' MDF test piece and the whole process took maybe an hour. I wouldn't envy you the job of doing a complete refinish on that table, but it could be done.

For small scratches that will develop over time from the bottoms of plates and coffee mugs, I would have complete confidence just using the polisher and the Meguiar's #9.