Northern Ridge Designs is a small woodworking business with a RU-vid channel that focuses on education and inspiration. Subscribe to our channel for tips and tricks for woodworking and epoxy.
One time I tried using the cheaper epoxy you can get at a big box store and I feel like it just doesn’t cure as hard as other products. With that said, I’ve never had a batch not cure, thankfully. I’m really careful to measure accurately and use quality mixing cups only once. Thanks for watching!
A 2K polyurethane over the epoxy will prevent UV degradation, if this thing is placed near a window. It will also make the top harder to scratch. Best coating for wood boats. I did this for a couple of exterior redwood benches and three years later they look great.
Newbie question. How do you avoid torch flare-ups when when you point the flame down. Maybe I have a cheap torch, a Bernzomatic w blue tank. It says to only hold it upright, but I see you have no problems. I get flares.
I’m guessing it’s from the style torch you have. I know in the past I’ve had trouble with cheaper torch heads as they tend to not work correctly at different angles. The one I now is is kind of expensive, but works in all the angles I need. I have a link to it in the video description. Thanks for watching!
I typically wait at least 24 hours between pours. That works well with my schedule and I like to be able to sand the bubbles out from the previous seal coat. Thanks for watching!
I’m doing a cherry bar top and I did my first seal coat and a lot of the material was soaked into the wood. I watched your video over and over again. Is this a common thing on the first seal coat? I mixed the right amount and the right ratio but when I poured it lack of better terms disappeared that’s how fast it soaked into the wood. I planned on just doing 3 seal coats but with this one being so soaked in. Would you consider doing more than 3 seal coats before the flood coat? Thanks, your videos are amazing
This is absolutely normal…some types of wood will soak up more than others. That’s the great thing about epoxy, is that it penetrates the wood and doesn’t just sit on top. Your next seal coat(s) and flood coat will bond to it creating a very tough finish. I have done more than three seal coats before, but found that I can usually get away with targeting real tough smaller areas between seal coats. Best of luck!
This video was exactly what I needed. Been looking for info cause I knew I needed to do a second seal coat but wasn't sure if it was going to help my situation or not. And this video reassured me that I was going in the correct direction. Thank you so very much! You're Awesome!
You can do either…I usually just end up waiting until it’s set up because it works well with my schedule. Also, I feel like I can make sure I sand out bubbles to allow the epoxy to penetrate and make sure the bubbles aren’t visible.
@@northernridgedesigns thank you for the quick reply and help. I very much do appreciate it. I'm in the middle of putting epoxy on a dovetailed guitar case made of western red cedar that I made for a client. This is my first time doing an epoxy resin pour. I've only used adhesive epoxies. So I'm taking it as a learning experience. Lol Thanks a bunch for your help.
It would probably be best to send it through after it has just cured into its solid state. Most epoxies get harder as time goes on and reach their max strength after a few weeks or even a month. To be honest, I try not to send fully cured epoxy through my planer anymore because it is really hard on the blades. I bought a larger sander to accomplish the same task. Thanks for watching!
When the second seal coat is drying should I be worried about not being able to get all the bubbles out with the torch? You only showed what it looked like after the additional seal coats had dried.
I would torch quite a few times, but it’s been my experience that I’ll probably be doing 3 seal coats on most types of wood. So, with that said, you will still have bubbles in your second seal coat, but it should be much better than the first. Thanks for watching!
@northernridgedesigns thanks for the help and the video! I'm going to sand slightly more aggressively this time with the 220. The first time I basically just ran the sander over the piece with no pressure at all. The bubbles are better than the first one but not drastically better.
Also, if the bubbles are real bad on just a small area, I’ve seal coated just that area with a thin layer…it doesn’t affect the next layer at all and can save some expensive epoxy.
You know what would be real cool, if you made a River wall panels. With moving small watt light behind the River and some how have the lights moving like it w ater fall.
Thank you for pointing that out…I’ll try to get it added later today. In the meantime, I used Alumilite Dye Liquid Color…and I believe it was the Ocean Blue color. Thanks for watching!
I did not use a ratio…just added until it looked thick enough. If you weren’t to add color, I believe it would discolor the epoxy some….making it a bit cloudy. Thanks for watching!
I use Stone Coat Countertop Epoxy the most…great product. There is a link to the product in the description below the video or you can just go to their online store. Thanks!
Great explanation on this. I'm at this step now. My question is about the bottom - do we need to treat the bottom with anything? Will there be a chance for warping without anything on the bottom?
For me, I decide whether or not to treat the bottom depending on how the top will be attached to the base. If it will be attached well to a stout base, I wouldn’t worry about the bottom side. Thanks for watching!
The materials list is in the video description. If you’re watching on a cell phone, you’ll need click the “more” under the video to bring up the description. Thanks for watching!
Second time watching this through and ready to flood pour my desktop. One difference is it has a damn but the irregular surface is what brought me back to watch again. One question- I sealed already with oil based poly so should I do the epoxy seal coats too?
If you seal coated with poly on wood, I would suggest you do at least one seal coat to see if you have any bubbles before you flood. In this video the irregular surface helped the epoxy bond, but if you don’t have that it might be good to lightly sand the poly to make sure the epoxy has something to mechanically bond to. Epoxy on straight flat wood might not allow a mechanical bond without the light sanding. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for the quick reply! Really love what you did and keeping that in my back pocket for future use. My desktop is made from pine project board with many various sizes squares and rectangles. And the surface is not flat but more due to the knots and wood variations. I stained with four different wood stain colors masking each and using gel stain to keep borders crisp. Figured I’d seal with oil based poly and then epoxy. I’ve reached that epoxy step and am gearing up for the pour(s). Never having done it I’m a bit nervous but thanks to your opinion I will follow that and proceed! Rough up the poly and probably use total boat sealing epoxy because I choose their bartop product to get near 1/4 inch total thickness with a dam so I can attach a border I made. Thanks again!
It might be good to test out the poly and then sand it on a scrap piece to see how it will look with epoxy over it. It should make the scratches from the sand paper invisible, but might be good to test. Best of luck!
I’m glad you found it informative! If it’s wood and you don’t want any bubbles in your finish, I would say you’ll need at least 2 seal coats. But if it’s an outdoor bar top you’ll want to use special epoxy for outdoor use. I don’t have any experience with such a product, so it could be different. Best of luck!
Thank you for the video. In a few months, I’m about to embark on a dining room table made from heart cedar with live edge. I’ve done counter tops and a floor with epoxy but never done a table in clear. Do you sealed the bottom also? Thank you again.
For me it depends on what I am attaching the piece to. It’s been my experience that it’s not necessary to coat the bottom side if I’m firmly attaching it to a solid base. If I do seal the bottom side, I usually do two seal coats with the same products at the top. Thanks for watching!
For this particular top, because it was being securely fastened to a very solid base, it was not necessary to treat the bottom side in my experience. When I do treat the bottom side of projects, I usually do a couple seal coats with the same product. Thanks for watching!
Hello, it depends on the base you’re attaching it to and the type of wood. If you’re going to be firmly attaching it to a strong base, I personally wouldn’t even worry about sealing the bottom…but one coat could probably help. I just did a very porous piece of oak that had some soft spots and it got two seal coats. If you take your time and really move it around a lot and pop bubbles throughout…I would think you could get by with 1 seal coat, but 2 is best…you can really see the difference. I hope this helps…good luck!
how long did the bark edges last? im getting ready to epoxy a table top with the same bark edges and they all keep telling me i need to remove it if i want it to last
Great question…epoxy is basically really strong glue and it penetrates the wood. The bark on this piece was quite solid to begin with. So, the epoxy has permanently bonded the bark to the rest of the piece. There is over an 1/8” of epoxy on both sides of the bark…it will never come off. I would not try it if the bark was easily falling off, because it could cause problems during the epoxy process. I also wouldn’t leave the bark off for other finishes such as poly or oil, because yes, the bark will more than likely fall off some day. Thanks for watching!
The trowel lines are 1/4” deep, so they seem to hold their shape and don’t totally smooth out as the epoxy levels out. I think it has something to do with them being symmetrical that they stick out more. Anyways, the chopping breaks the surface tension and allows the epoxy to level out much better. Thanks for watching!
This is so intimidating to do. I have practiced on a cutting board. I am wanting to to a bar like this in our basement but just not brave enough yet. Scared I will screw it up. The problem I have had with the cutting board is the epoxy is separating from the wood after it is dry. Looks like cracks under the surfaces Have no idea why it did that. But it’s just a practice board…. Have any idea why it did that?
Is there anyway there could have been some moisture in the cutting board? My other guess would be that there was some sort of contaminant on the board like some oil perhaps? If you can post a picture, I could have a better idea. Thanks for watching!
Man I know this is a verry old technic since my grandma had it on her closet but man it does look good despite being a horror once you accidently drop something heavy leaving a spiderweb app on your closet and back then there was no fixing it, you just had to live with it.
I’ve tried heat guns, I personally like torches better…I don’t think they live as much air. The wavy look you see in the video is the reflection of the barn metal on the shop ceiling. Thanks for watching.
Here's another finishing tip: Make sure your clothes and hair are free of dust and debris. I messed up day's worth of work not once but twice because of this. First was dandruff and the second was a big ol' glob of dusty spiderweb that decided to fall off the overhead lights right onto my countertop. Great video!!
I am about to embark on such an adventure! Will start on a smaller scale, so as to get a feel for it, and at the same time, see the associated cost. You have made a gorgeous table top, and you walk through was excellent. Thank you
According to Rubio Monocoat’s website: “We are proud to confirm that our wood finish is food safe and compliant for charcuterie boards, butcher block countertops, tabletops, and other surfaces where food is involved.” So, as far as I’m concerned, it’s safe for use on surfaces that food will be on. Thanks for watching!
Oh how I wish I could get this kind of finish on the deck of the boat that I'm building! The deck, of course, slopes off heavily to the edges and makes flood coating and auto-leveling quite impossible. Dealing with dimples, fish eyes, orange peel, etc., on the deck and other curved surfaces coated with epoxy is an on-going source of frustration and grief (and expense), even after years of applying the product. I end up wet sanding heavily and polishing for hours to get a decent finish. Very irritating. But you did a great job on your bar top. You were very patient and it looks fantastic. We'll done, man!
good luck keeping alchohol off that. the epoxy goes wet again in contact with alchohol. its no good for a bar type surface. might have been a better option to inlay some panes of glass using the epoxy to fill any gaps between the wood and the glass. might need electrical grade epoxy as it doesnt expand with heat etc. which coukd shatter the glass.
Incorrect…alcohol does not affect epoxy. It’s been used for decades in the restaurant and bar industries. I’ve used it on my own bar top and spilled just about every type of alcohol there is on it…zero issues. I’ve made tops for other bars and even a brewery and zero issues years later.
They looked nice but I saw a few raised puddles on a couple of them where you didn’t sand them before you poured ,did you sand and polish these after ? Either way great old weathered look 👌
I have always used tyvec type tape, I’ve seen lots of instance where epoxy has somehow really stuck to bare melamine. I’m sure you could get away without the tyvec tape some, but I’ve never had a problem with a table when using tape, so I’ve stuck with it. Thanks for watching!
@@northernridgedesigns that's not what I'm asking. I don't want to have to go buy melamine if tyvek tape will do the same thing on MDF. Because I have a lot of MDF and won't need to buy any.
Ohhh I see…I have never used plain mdf with tyvec tape…I’ve just always had melamine, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work, since the tyvec tape is the actual barrier. Just make sure the seams overlap and when you make your sides, I’d cover them with tyvec tape before attaching them to the base of the mold. Anywhere there is bare mdf, the epoxy will soak in and you’ll have a big problem. Good luck!
