Clear Table Top Epoxy Resin Coating for Wood Tabletop - 1 Gallon Kit

READ INSTRUCTIONS... like at least 3 times. This product has a website with instructional videos- I would highly recommend finding those. They gave me directions I wasn’t expecting right at the last minute and they really saved me. The pictures show the plywood desk I built and coated with colored epoxy (this is a clear product you can color).This product is great! But this is NOT for someone who has never done any kind of project before and thinks they can just throw it together and BOOM magic table. For ease of use- this is not an easy task, but I don’t believe any epoxy is ‘easy’. It takes a lot of time and effort to get it right and make sure it is in the right environment to cure correctly. I am not an experienced epoxy pourer but an avid carpenter and residential contractor and build a lot of furniture- the two pours alone took me about 8 hoursFor the basics- yes, it’s a 1:1 ratio so hard to mess that up. If you are just wanting a clear coat on something simple and don’t care about edges... this is actually fairly simple.My complications came from making two separate pieces at the same time (for a desk) and also wanting to color my epoxy.I did this simply with acrylic paint, but where it really got hairy was in trying to divide proportions between my two colors and the two tops- so I had 4 different mixes I needed to account for, plus the seal coat, plus just a little extra for error. TOUGH. Just make sure you enlist all your greatest mathematicians and chemists to help you out with this.. my team of 3 (architect, accountant, and surgeon) took hours to come up with our final numbers... haha so good luck!If anyone is curious, I used a 1:10 ratio of paint to final mix and it worked amazingly. There is a very slight amount of transparency where the warmth of the plywood can be seen through my white epoxy, and I think if you wanted it more opaque a slightly higher ratio of paint would still be acceptable, just keep in mind if you make it too thick it will be very difficult to pour.The other pain point- the edges. If you want your table/desk to look the same on the edges as you do the top... good luck. I would say that if I tried this again, I would allow less time between my seal coat and my pour coat so that the edges were still very tacky, allowing the pour to bond better on the edge. I spent HOURS between my two pieces painting that crap on the edges over and over and over and over again. Overall- I am happy with the result and learned to love that I could see the ‘stripes’ from the layers of plywood and actually think it looks awesome- but definitely not what I intended. I would also recommend that if you don’t want any transparency, paint would have solved this issue. Had I just put a white base coat down before the epoxy (thought about it, decided not to) it would not have mattered as much how clear the pour was bc you would have just seen the white below. I might try paint next time.Cure time: this is so important. The temperature of your space needs to be WARM. I hooked up my spot with a space heater and heated the room to 75-80 degrees for 3 whole days. That’s a long time to sanction a space (in my case the dining room/home office at my parents place) filled with fumes and heat. Yikes. But it was winter and my garage/workshop was impossible to get to that temperature.I would definitely use this product for future projects but this is by no means simple!Anyway- hope all of that helps!

The media could not be loaded.  Update: tons of bubbles but it did help to place the hardener and resin separately in warm water for a few minutes and work in a warm room. Still don’t have 45 minutes to work with but more than 20. You need to be prepared with all your colors before mixing. My coasters did come out good so I will try again. Not impressed with the amount of bubbles but using a heat gun as you work vs at the end helps a bit. And check them once finished every few minutes to catch a few that came to the top before it’s too hard. The price is great just seems finicky.Original:Got hard extremely fast. TONS of bubbles even when gently stirred and super hard to get out. With my other resin I pour the extra into another mold like keychains or something small yet this resin was thick by the time I finished pouring my set of coasters maybe 20 mins. You better have exact measurements otherwise you will waste resin. I always keep some extra clear in case I need it to finish my coasters but can’t to that with this one. Not happy at all with this one. Won’t be buying again. Bought because it was cheaper but I can see I’ll be wasting resin with this one because of how fast it hardens. Also got really hot. My other one was only slightly warm. Actually waiting for it to cool down before trashing the cups. 40 mins later and they are still hot. Hopefully the coasters are decent. They look ok minus the ripple I’ll have to cover tomorrow from trying to pop some bubbles on one of the coasters. I said it already but omg sooooo many bubbles. And some rise when it’s too late to pop them.

Sets up great if temp is just right, not a winter project.

So overall I would say this product is okay, but for what I was doing and the colors I was using I think it was not ideal. I have used this epoxy before on another project and I used darker colors and it was 100% okay. The working time is about 25 minutes when mixed, which for me wasn’t a problem. It’s just that I was making a white epoxy and then wanted to clear coat it with this product.In hindsight, I guess I could’ve used this with a white dye additive to do my color coat but it’s not at all ideal for the clear sealing coat because it is very yellow. It’s definitely on the thicker side of epoxies and I even had it in a heated room at a temperature of 76F, so I don’t think that was the cause. I used both a blow dryer and a torch to help with the bubbles and that definitely helped, but there was a lot. It’s not something that’s visible to the naked eye though so I’m not really worried about that.I followed this tutorial on YouTube to make shower panels, it was just a DIY project I wanted to try, I am a person who enjoys DIYs, and it’s my guest bathroom so it’s up to my discretion. I don’t really care for anyone’s take or opinion, just showing my results and thoughts.Personally, I’d buy the product again because it came quickly and I had no issues with it hardening nor mixing, it’s just that it’s not idea for over white bases and I assume not ideal for something that will be greatly exposed to sunlight.

We are first timers so it's been super fun for the family! We are building a 72inch long, 21inch wide and 1 inch deep desk and small night stand out of black walnut and epoxy the end pieces are the scrap end pieces. If you follow the directions it's super easy! I've made a few mistakes along the way and was able to correct them. It had some bubbles that just would go away! I am guessing it's from over heating an area? When using this particular epoxy you have to pour thin 1/8 layers but the directions tell you that. I'm a newbie. So I dont know other epoxies. This has been an awesome adventure! And I sincerely plan to make many more tables! I might try a deep pour next time but that scares me because I really hate bubbles and the deeper the epoxy the harder it is to get bubbles out. So, mix well scrapingthe edges, mix slow for at least 3-5 minutes, when you first start mixing it turns a little cloudy. Mix it up until its crystal clear and pour. Use a heat gun for faster sealing or a hair dryer on low will work too, to get the bubbles out. The epoxy gets warm. And needs a warm environment to cure faster. Also on instructions. What's not on the instructions is what to do if you screw up. So a little advice... have a metal cutting tool, a grinder, and a wide variety of sand papers. For the crystal effect after you just mutilated the epoxy do a super fine 1000+ grit wet sand and repour. Then start your polishing. Lol Good luck!