Tables

A table has to take dinner, laptops, and someone leaning on the edge while they talk. Pretty is required. Pretty alone is not enough.

I came up through boards. Tables are the same materials at a scale where mistakes show. A board can hide a little hollow. A dining top can't. Flattening has to be true across feet, not inches. A deep pour that kicks off too hot will ruin a week of work. The base has to carry real weight without racking when someone sits down hard.

The slab decides a lot

I look for wood with a face: live edge, voids, figure, a gap that already wants resin in it. Black walnut. Spalted maple when the pattern is strong. Stock from yards that dry lumber properly, including Berkshire Products in Massachusetts. Wet wood moves after the epoxy has already set. Then you own a curved sculpture that was supposed to be a table.

I pick the piece for the job. Coffee height is not dining height. A desk wants a different edge and a different finish than a table that will see red wine.

What "river table" actually means here

Sometimes two live edges face each other and the gap becomes the river. Sometimes I cut a channel on purpose. Sometimes there's no river at all, just epoxy in cracks and knots so the top is usable and the character stays.

Color is a real choice. Opaque black sits back and lets the grain lead. Translucent blues and greens read wet in the light. Mica can glitter or look muddy depending on how you mix and pour. I sample against the actual wood under shop light and under warmer indoor light, because resin color shifts as it cures.

Bases

A heavy top on a weak base is a bad table. Wood legs, metal, trestle: each changes the weight and the shipping plan. I think about that before the pour, not after.

Working with you

You bring room size, how you'll use it, and any strong opinions on color or wood. I bring what the slab will allow and how long chemistry actually takes. No two tops match, and I don't try to make them.

If you want the shop sequence (seal, form, pour, flatten again, sand forever), it's on The Process.