Hi Kyle here and welcome to another GlassCast Resin tutorial.
There is no denying that resin river tables have been one of the hottest items of bespoke furniture for a number of years now,
and there's another look that's really making waves and capturing the imagination of creators and that it forged carbon.
What we're going to do today is bring these two forces together,
so that's the sleek glamorous, high--tech world of carbon fibre
meets the natural beautify of live edge timber to create the unimaginably cool forged carbon river table.
During this tutorial I'll show you step by step the whole process.
We'll start off by selecting and preparing your wood.
Then we'll move on to setting up the barriers.
I'll show you how to estimate the amount of resin and carbon fibre you'll need for the project
and then how to combine and layer them to get the best results.
I'll show you how to fix any pinholes or voids should they occur,
and finally how to flat and polish the table to a professional standard.
First off, wood selection.
Now there are a few things to consider and obviously aesthetics is very important,
so I selected this sycamore because I wanted the pale appearance and the fine grain
to really contrast against the detail and the complexity of the dark carbon fibre.
Whatever wood you choose make sure it's well seasoned and it has a low moisture count.
We all know that wood likes to expand and contract in various humidities
so starting of with a well seasoned piece of timber will just minimise the amount of shrinkage and distortion when your piece is finished.
Also you want to make sure that your timber is as flat as possible
and this is just going to prevent you from having to do any excessive machining later on in the process.
So let's get this sycamore over to the saw room.
I'll start by cutting my wood straight down the middle.
Don't worry if you haven't got access to a saw like this,
it's very likely that the timber merchant you get your wood from will be able to do this for you.
The two planks can now be flipped so that the live edges face each other, giving us that river shape.
As my planks are still a bit twisted I'm going to give them a few passes through the thicknesser.
Although it's not absolutely essential at this point,
it will reduce the amount of flatting you have to do later in the process.
Back from the saw room and we just need to do a final bit of prep on this live edge here.
Now normally with a resin river table you'd be pre-sealing this live edge
and that would just prevent any air from being drawn out and being visible in the resin,
however, as we're going to be putting a lot of carbon fibre in there,
these bubbles won't be visible so we can skip that stage.
Instead all we need to do is remove any of the loose material
and give it a good key so that the resin bonds well to it.
So that's all of the preparation on the wood complete and we can now move on to building the barriers.
Building up from a firm, flat surface I'll stick a sheet of polypropylene down using some double sided sticky tape.
Polypropylene is particularly good in this application as the resin won't stick to it
and it's going to give us a lovely smooth, clean surface to the resin face.
To create the barriers around the perimeter I'm just going to use some wood baton and some tape.
The tape I'm using is flash release tape but honestly normal parcel tape will work just as fine in this application.
You just need to leave an overhang on the baton to seal down to the base sheet.
To seal the corners I find a simple cut and 45° fold on a small piece of tape works really well to make a corner piece.
That's the barriers all set and the planks are in position.
To prevent these from floating around when we add the resin I'm going to clamp them down by bridging timber and some small blocks.
I'll cover the small blocks in tape so they don't stick to the resin,
and as you can see clamping at this point takes out some of the gentle curvature that's still in the planks.
Okay we're all set up, let's work out how much resin and carbon fibre we're going to need.
First we need to calculate the area of the river section.
I have a slab of 133cm but with wany edge slabs measuring the width of this section can be quite tricky,
so generally I'll just take an estimate of the average width in this case about 16cm.
Converting these cm to metres giving us an area of 1.33m by 0.16m equals 0.213sqm.
The depth of our wood here is 25mm so a simple cheat way to work out the volume of the river
is to simply multiply the 0.213sqm by 25mm and we get 5.33l.
In rough terms we can think of a litre of resin being a kilo of resin.
So to fill this river we're going to need a shade over 5kg.
But we also know that we want to add some of this amazing carbon fibre chopped tow to the resin.
Having done lots of tests I've found out that adding about 20% carbon fibre seems to deliver the best results,
and that's enough carbon to give you that real solid carbon fibre look without the mix becoming to gloopy and hard to work with.
So at this stage we've worked out how much resin it would take to fill the river,
and obviously adding 20% carbon fibre would bulk up the volume quite a bit.
Now we could allow for this extra volume and adjust the resin accordingly,
but the way I like to think about it is it's better to have too much resin than too little,
so to save over complicating things I'll ignore the additional volume of the carbon fibre.
We are definitely safe though to round down the resin a little
So we'll call this 5kg which means we need an even 1kg carbon fibre to be at 20%.
To get the perfect forged carbon effect on this table I've found that the best method is to work everything upside down.
This means that the bottom of these planks and the bottom of this river as make it here will become the top face of our finished table,
so make sure that you've got your favourite side of these planks facing down on the board.
I've also learned that for the best results we really need to concentrate on that first visible layer.
So we'll start off with a small batch of resin and thoroughly work the carbon fibre into it.
Then we'll do a deeper pour with remaining resin and carbon fibre.
I'll explain more as I go along but, for now, let's mix up some resin.
For that first small batch I'm going to mix about a fifth of the total resin so in our case that's about 1kg.
Into which we'll add 200g carbon of the carbon chopped tow.
The easiest way to measure GlassCast 50 is by volume where the resin to hardener ratio is 2:1.
These calibrated ]cups are really handy to use because they already have the 2:1 scale written on them.
So we just fill the resin to line A and the hardener to B line.
When you add hardener to resin, you may notice that it loses clarity.
A good indicator to know when your epoxy is well mixed is when it turns back to completely clear.
As a belt and braces approach it's always best practise when mixing any epoxy to use a double potting technique.
So when you've mixed thoroughly in the first pot, transfer to a clean pot and mix again.
Doing this just ensures that no unmixed resin finds its way onto your project.
Put all of this resin into the river.
While we leave it to release any bubbles that may have been added during the mixing we'll weigh out the carbon fibre.
When handling the chopped, PPE is really important.
It's essential that you wear a respirator and I'm choosing to wear gloves and eye protection.
Spread out the carbon fibre evenly.
The aim here is to completely block out the surface below with a dense consistent layer.
Once all of the carbon fibre is down we'll use a combination of brush and bristle roller to wet out and consolidate it.
As I mentioned earlier adding the carbon fibre in this way helps to ensure that cosmetic side of the table is void free with little or no air entrapment.
It is also gentler on the carbon fibre and helps keep the individual tows separate which is key to that perfect forged carbon look.
If you spot any areas that need a little bit more carbon fibre just add it and wet it out.
Also you really want to consolidate the carbon down into the corners where the river meets the wood.
As this is the cosmetic face take the time to make sure that trapped air is forced out through the carbon fibre.
So when you think it looks done just roll over it few more times to make sure.
So that's the visible critical layer all in and I'm fully satisfied that the carbon fibre is wetted out.
So we can move on now to that final deeper pour.
The mixing process for this second batch of resin and hardener is exactly the same.
Because we're using all the remaining epoxy from this 5kg kit
and we accurately measured out what we needed for the first batch
we can safely just pour all the remaining resin and hardener into this bucket.
But if you're not finishing off on a full kit like this then you should accurately measure out that 2:1 ratio again.
Pour nearly all of the resin straight out so it fills up to about 5mm from the top of your wood saving a small amount to top up if we need it.
Now add the majority of the carbon fibre, again saving a small amount for tops ups,
then use a combination of the brush and roller to mix the tow into the resin.
Just a quick note here on resin and pour depths.
With the GlassCast 50 here I'm using the maximum thickness that can be cast into wood, in a single pour is 25mm.
Exceeding 25mm could leave to resin overheating during the cure and ruining the project.
We know that this project is bang on 25mm so for that reason it's vitally important that I keep the room temperature below 20°C
Also, I'll set a fan up at the end of the table which will help drive excess heat away from the curing resin.
Once the carbon fibre is fully wetted out, check the level that you're up to.
We want to be filled up right to the top of the wood.
If you are a bit short just add some of that remaining resin and carbon fibre then stipple gently with the brush or roller.
We're now ready to leave this to cure.
I've got my fan running which is taking heat away from the curing resin.
I've checked the room temperature and we're at 18°C.
We're not next to any windows or radiators so we're all good there.
Let's leave this now and we'll come back in 48 hours.
Before you begin to strip down your barriers make sure that you're resin is fully cured.
It should be rock solid and if you firmly press a fingernail you shouldn't leave an impression.
If you do find that it's still a little soft just leave it another day or so,
but as I'm totally satisfied that this is fully cured we can go ahead and start stripping it down.
You can see now how easily the epoxy release from the polypropylene
and wow, just look at how amazing this finish is straight from the mould.
Taking a closer look, we've got this smooth surface to work from.
There a few pinholes but I'll show you how to fix these shortly.
So at this stage we do have a couple of options on how to finish this table.
If you wanted that ultra-smooth, hi-gloss, glass like finish you could knock back some
of these high spots, give it a good key and then apply a coat of the GlassCast 3 Surface Resin.
And I'll show you exactly how to do in a future tutorial
so be sure to subscribe to see that video when it's released,
however, I really want to accentuate
that stunning combination between the timber and the carbon fibre,
so I'm going to remove the excess resin here and take it back to natural wood.
The router and sled make light work of removing the excess resin and flatting the whole surface.
It does take a few passes but is certainly faster and more consistent than sanding.
I find it's by far the best way to get the job done without needing to invest in large expensive tools.
To get rid of the fine lines removed by the router I'll sand with 120 grit abrasive.
Before we move on to that final sand and polish now is the time to fix any pinholes or voids that you might have in your river.
So we'll start by cleaning them out of any dust and then simply filling them in with a bit more resin.
Because of the nature of chopped tow carbon fibre it is highly likely that some pinholes will occur.
To ensure the resin bonds inside them use a combination of brush and vacuum cleaner
to reach right inside the pinholes to loosen up and remove any trapped dust.
To prevent any excess resin getting onto the wood I'll put some flash release tape down.
You want to get it as close to the river as possible just to save you having loads of resin to sand off in the next stage.
To fill the pinholes I'm using GlassCast 50 so if you have any leftover from your main pour then it's good to use here.
If you want a faster cure you can also use GlassCast 10 or GlassCast 3.
Simply pour the resin over the river and spread it out with a spreader or brush.
The brush is great tool at breaking surface tension and getting the resin to flow into the voids.
Scrape off any excess resin, then a final spot check with the brush.
So that's the pinholes and voids all filled, we'll come back to this once the resin has fully cured.
I've left the table to cure for two days now and the resin is rock solid ready for that final sand and polish.
So we'll start by trimming the edges, then we'll sand with 120 grit to flat
the resin back level to the wood, before working through the grits right up to 1200.
Working through the grits it really doesn't take longto expose the incredible detail of the carbon fibre.
At this point it is already looking amazing and we're yet to apply the final finish.
For the final finish we'll apply a couple of coats of Danish oil which is really
going to make all of the detail in the wood and the carbon fibre pop.
Then we'll attach some legs and we'll have one awesome table.
And here it is, the finished forged carbon river table.
I've got to say personally this is one of my favourite projects.
For me the contrast between natural and hi-tech, the pale sycamore against the dark carbon fibre, I just love it.
I just think that it takes that classic river table concept
but by turning the colours right down and incorporating this genuine carbon fibre
it just changes the looks completely, to one of subtle sophistication.
Yet again the GlassCast 50 was a solid choice for this project.
It's super tough, it's machined and polished beautifully and we know its UV stability will
keep the mesmerising carbon fibre looking as it should for many years to come.
I really hope that you've enjoyed following along with me on this
project and that some of you feel inspired to make your own forged carbon river table.
If you do please send us some pictures, we'd love to add them to the GlassCast Gallery
along with thousands of other successful customer projects.
The amazing GlassCast resin along with all the other ancillaries we used on this project,
including the chopped tow are available to buy online at glasscastresin.com
If you have enjoyed this video those likes and comments are always appreciated and don't forget
so subscribe for more professional resin tutorials just like this one and I'll see you next time.