Hey fellow crafters,
You waited three days for that pour to cure. You demolded it, and it looked promising. Then you grabbed the sander - and twenty minutes later, the surface looks worse than when you started. Cloudy patches, swirl marks, maybe a spot where the epoxy went soft from heat.
I've been there. Sanding used to be the part I dreaded most: time-consuming, nerve-wracking, and honestly kind of miserable. But here's what I've learned: with the right tools and the right materials, it doesn't have to be. It's still work, but it becomes manageable. Maybe even close to fun. That's what this issue is about - getting the processing stage right so it stops ruining your projects and your mood.
Today's Lineup:
1. This Week's Insight:
Epoxy Processing Done Right
Article summary:
Most people focus on the pour and treat everything after demolding as an afterthought. But processing is where a rough casting becomes a finished piece - or where days of work go sideways from one wrong move. Continue reading below - here's the short version for now:
Key takeaways:
Flatten first, sand second. Use a router flattening jig or CNC for larger pieces (river tables, trays). Belt sander works for small inlays and crack fills. Skipping this step means fighting alignment issues the entire way through.
Heat is your enemy. Epoxy gets tacky and changes color when it overheats from friction. Move the sander constantly - never park it in one spot. If the dust turns stringy instead of powdery, you're too hot.
Use sandpaper designed for epoxy resin. Standard wood sanding discs clog almost instantly on cured resin. Epoxy-rated abrasives last significantly longer and actually cut the surface instead of just sliding over it.
Follow the grit sequence without skipping. Start coarse, work your way up to fine. Jumping grits - say from 120 straight to 400 - leaves scratches you can't polish out later.
Do you really need a high-gloss finish? A satin finish looks great on most projects and saves hours of sanding and polishing. High gloss shows every scratch, fingerprint, and speck of dust in daily use - worth it for display pieces, but not practical for furniture that actually gets touched. Decide before you start.
My take:
I used to dread the sanding stage. What changed it for me was getting the right sander and committing to the full grit sequence - no shortcuts. The moment I stopped skipping grits, my pieces started looking like they came from a professional shop. It's boring work. But it's where the craft actually lives
2. Project Inspiration:
Black Resin River Table
If you've spent any time watching woodworking content online, you've probably come across Blacktail Studio. Cam Anderson builds some of the most refined resin river tables out there, working with epoxy in ways that go way beyond the standard "two slabs with resin in the middle" approach. Notice his slab selection and huge focus on detail and quality - that's what separates a river table from a great river table.
I've picked one of my favorite videos of his for you - it covers the full river table build from start to finish, including the parts most creators cut out: cleaning up the epoxy, processing the surface, and even fixing a broken corner mid-build. That's the kind of real, unfiltered workflow you can actually learn from:
What makes his work stand out isn't just the materials - it's the restraint. His signature tables use a single oversized slab with natural voids and cracks filled with black resin, so the epoxy highlights the wood grain instead of overpowering it. That's a design decision most makers get backwards.
Specs to consider for your own river table:
Detail | Notes |
|---|---|
Wood | Live-edge hardwood (walnut, oak, ash) |
Resin | Deep pour casting epoxy, colored or clear |
Depth | 30–50mm typical for river channels |
Finish | Full grit sequence + hard wax oil or flood coat |
Key challenge | Flattening a large surface evenly after cure |
Designer's perspective:
A black resin river on dark walnut reads completely differently depending on lighting. Overhead downlights will make the resin almost invisible - the table looks like solid wood with natural voids. But side lighting or low window light catches the resin's depth and reflection. Factor this into placement. Cam's work on his YouTube channel is worth studying if you're designing around these pieces.
3. Materials & Tools Spotlight:
Elliptical Sanders for Epoxy
An orbital sander is, without question, the must-have tool for working with epoxy. If you watch the pros, you'll see mostly Festools and Mirkas - and they're great machines. But it doesn't need to be that expensive to get solid results.
My setup:
For smaller pieces, I still use a 125mm Makita. Nothing fancy - it's one of the cheaper models, but it's lightweight, reliable, and I've never felt the need to upgrade it. For smaller surfaces and detail work, that's all you need.
Where it gets interesting is larger surfaces. For that, I went with the Bosch GET 75-150 - a 150mm sander with a directly driven turbo mode. And that turbo mode is where this tool really shines. On rough grits, it tears through material with a level of control I didn't have before. The extra pad size covers more surface per pass, which matters when you're processing a river table or a large tray.
What to look for in general:
Variable speed control is essential - low RPM for fine grits on epoxy to avoid heat, higher speed for rough passes. Good dust extraction is non-negotiable; epoxy dust is harmful and clogs discs fast. And if you work on anything bigger than coasters, the jump from 125mm to 150mm saves real time.
One more thing:
Even the best sander is nothing without proper sanding discs. A Festool with cheap, clogged-up discs will give you worse results than a budget sander with quality epoxy-rated abrasives. Invest in the discs - that's where the actual cutting happens.
Bottom line: You don't need the most expensive sander for every job. A reliable 125mm handles most smaller projects. But once you're working on larger epoxy surfaces, a 150mm with turbo mode is a serious upgrade.
4. Quick Win of the Week:
Vacuum Degassing Your Epoxy Before Pouring.
The real fix for bubble-free castings is a vacuum chamber - even a small desktop unit removes 99% of bubbles in under 10 minutes.
If you don't have one yet, here's what helps: after mixing, let the resin rest for 10–15 minutes - a surprising number of bubbles will rise and pop on their own. You can also warm the resin slightly to reduce viscosity, which makes it even easier for trapped air to escape. Not perfect, but it gets you most of the way. The vacuum chamber is the real investment - and it pays for itself after the first pour you don't have to sand bubbles out of.
P.S. Just don't undo all that degassing work by pouring fast into the mold - slow and steady keeps the bubbles out.
5. Shape the Guild:
Your poll results are coming in. From 140 recent responses, 50% of you pointed to the same three issues:
Bubble prevention and removal
Choosing the right resin
Surface imperfections.
I've gone through all of them - including your personal comments - and the pattern is clear. These are the most common struggles across the Guild right now.
Here's the thing: resin selection comes before everything else. Pick the wrong resin for your project, and you're already set up for bubble problems and surface issues down the line. That's why next week we're starting there.
Your turn - help me shape next issue:
What's your #1 frustration with resin right now?
Next week:
How to choose the right epoxy for your project. Different pours need different resins, and picking wrong costs you time and materials. We're breaking it down.
Petr from Resin Craft Guild
www.resincraftguild.com