I have seen lots of examples of resin pour furniture on social media recently and that has made me want to have a go at making my own. I like to learn by doing and experience mistakes so I can learn from them. This is my first experience of making some resin pour furniture.
I started by picking out some thin planks of timber from my wood store. The on I picked had a nice natural edge so I cut it in half and turned the natural edge in on itself.
I planed the and sanded the surfaces and then added a draft edge to enhance the shape of the top surface. This was a mistake at such an early stage as it made the resin pour leak of-very the edge. I should have added the draft after pouring the resin. This was the main lesson I learned.
The next stage was to pour the resin. In order to do this I had to build a frame to hold the timber in place and set the gap for the resin. The timber had to be clamped in the frame and then I mixed the resin ready to pour.
There is part A resin and part B and when mixed there is a catalytic reaction that makes the resin harden. I mixed some blue pigments of different shades into the resin so I could create an ocean water effect. The resin generates heat as it reacts so I poured it in 3 stages so as to avoid problems from too much heat.
Using a heat gun enabled me to mix the resin shades nicely and achieve a gradient effect.
In the next photo you can see where I made the mistake of planing the edge of the timber before pouring the resin which made a sharp edge. I then had to re-plane the resin edge and sand the resin a lot. You can also see that i overfilled the resin on the top surface of the table and because of this I had to sand down the resin and then work hard to regain the polished appearance of the resin.
Here is the completed table top:
I had originally wanted to manufacture my own table legs but my limited knowledge of welding and desire to complete the table stopped me and I settled for buying some standard, off the peg table legs.
I was really pleased with the outcome of my side table. Most importantly, I learned many lessons about working with resin for future projects.
This looks really good. The surface of the wood and resin came out amazing. Must be great having all that equipment on hand to make something like this. Definitely something I would try
The wood and resin did come out well in the end although it was a shame that I had to loose the shiny finish of the resin in the first place. Mistakes are valuable lessons though.
I do realise I am very luck having access to amazing equipment to test out projects. I hope to post some more very soon.