Working with epoxy resin products is an art form. It can create absolute masterpieces, and when you are working on a large project like a resin table from a mold, or a river table, or any kind of epoxy for wood, it is so important to feel confident in the resin you choose to use.

Let's face it - choosing a high quality resin that is appropriate for the project will save time and save money.

Most epoxy resin for wood can be expensive and it also takes a lot of dedicated time for your projects, and you want to be happy with your results the first time.

 

What To Consider When Choosing Resin For Wood Projects

There is a lot to consider when it comes to epoxy resin for wood; whether you are making a resin table with a mold, a river table, a cutting board, or even a wood countertop you want a water resistant coating on.

When looking for an epoxy resin for wood, you should consider:

• Is the resin UV resistant?
• Is the resin food safe once cured?
• Is the resin easy to work with?
• Does the epoxy yellow over time?
• Is the resin heat resistant?
• Will the cured resin scratch easily?
• How much odor does the resin have when working with it?
• Is the resin VOC-free?
• Am I choosing the hardest epoxy resin for wood, or for a table?

 

Which epoxy resin is best?

There are hundreds of brands of epoxy resin for wood out there, and there are so many that are really fantastic products (and there are some that we wouldn't recommend as well).

But it all depends on the project you are planning on creating, as well as your own personal preferences in regards to curing time, odor and pouring depth.

Are you making an epoxy table top for an indoor kitchen or for an outdoor bar top? Or maybe you are looking for the best epoxy for charcuterie boards, or perhaps an epoxy resin end table?

There are endless projects you could need resin for and it is not all formulated the same.

You can easily epoxy wood slabs for any project, but with the right research it will last longer if you get the proper epoxy coating for your specific need.

Each resin brand and produce is specially formulated to do certain things (which explains that variation in pricing when purchasing resin).

So what do these formulations mean?

 

 

What do each of the resin formulations mean?

We talked about resin being resistant to yellowing and UV rays, scratch resistance and other things, but what does each term mean? Let's look at them.

 

UV Resistant Resin

All epoxy resins will yellow over time. It is the nature of the chemical composition, and any resin that says it will not yellow is lying. There are resin brands out there though that add UV protection to their formula, and what this will do is slow down the yellowing process.

You can also help this by either adding a colorant to your resin (especially a cool colored colorant such as blue or purple if your piece will be displayed outside). You can also keep you piece inside and out of direct sunlight.

 

Scratch Resistant Resin

This rating will be tied to how soft or hard a resin cures. Some resins are made for deep pours and cure hard. These resins will likely have a scratch resistance rating, such as 15,000 psi.

PSI refers to how many pounds of force per square inch something can take before it breaks/bends/scratches or it is affected by that weight. Many resins will tell you how resistant to scratching it is by sharing its PSI rating.

So if you are constructing a dining room table that will hold many plates, centerpieces or anything like that, you may want to take a resin's PSI for scratch resistance rating into consideration.

 

Cured Resin Temperature Rating

Another factor, especially when choosing the best resin for a table, is the temperature rating is is approved for once cured. This is something many tumbler artists learn about since they are making epoxy resin tumblers for hot drinks.

How hot of an object can you place on your table/ river table/ coffee table/ cutting board without it warping? Well, you will have to research the temperature rating for that epoxy brand.

Many resins will say that they have "heat resistance" and others will tell you the actual temperature rating of how resistant they are to heat. Something to consider!

 

Self Levelling Epoxy Resin for Wood

Most resins are in fact self levelling, so you can get a perfectly smooth coating epoxy resin and not have to worry about it levelling out. You can check for self levelling on any manufacturer's label though and also ensure you are working on a level surface to begin with.

Again, it is assumed that most resins are self levelling, but always check.

 

Food Safe Epoxy Resin for Wood

Another one that many resins artists will consider if their cured piece will come into direct contact with food, like tumblers, countertops or cutting boards.

With tables, unless you will have your food served directly on the table, this is up to you if it is an important factor to consider.

It can be difficult to find the food safe rating of a resin brand sometimes, but many will say something like "food safe for incidental contact once fully cured".

 

Resin Odor

This is more of a reference for you and where you will be working with your epoxy. Once a resin has fully cured, it should not release any further odor or off-gassing.

But during the time you are working with the resin (mixing epoxy resin, stirring it, pouring it, curing it) it will have an odor.

There really is no resin that is odor-free, but you can find ones with low odor. If you don't want to be breathing those odors in, you should be wearing the proper respirator for resin.

We ALWAYS wear and recommend wearing a proper mask when working with resin, no matter what size the project is.

 

VOC Free

VOC's are volatile organic compounds, and it is what needs to be taken into consideration when looking for the filters that will properly protect you from resin fumes.

So many brands of resin claim to be "VOC-Free" and they may be in their unmixed form. But once you mix the resin with the hardener, it will release VOC's and you do need to wear the proper protection.

Again, we share the respirator we personally use and have done a ton of research on as well at the bottom of this article, or you can see it here:

Check out the proper respirator for resin here

Yes, there is a lot to consider when researching which resin is best for your wood projects like resin tables and cutting boards.

We narrowed it down to 7 brilliant choices of woodworking, high quality epoxy resin choices that are popular among wood artists and resin artists alike.

Let's talk about the best epoxy for wood work and wooden surfaces.

 

Best Epoxy Resin For Wood

Most epoxy resins and different resin companies have epoxy compositions that focus on special priorities, so you will have to determine which is the top priority for your specific resin project.

 

Look For High Gloss/UV Resistant/Scratch Resistant, Clear Epoxy Resin

When working with wood, you will likely want a high gloss, clear epoxy resin as well as having UV and scratch resistance in the resin formula so it won't yellow or get dented over time.

Also look for one that won't be full of air bubbles once you are finished, (although you should go over your finished project with a heat gun or torch after your pour no matter what).

Read about the best heat gun for epoxy resin

Also, depending on how deep you want to pour, for example if you are planning on a river table or a river rock table top, you may need a resin that does deep casting as well, and we always recommend a resin that is self levelling.

 

Deep Cast Epoxy Resin for Wood

A woodworking epoxy resin, or a deep casting resin will also tend to be quite hard once it has gone through the curing process, so this is important if you are doing wood work. Then you can go over it with an epoxy coating or seal coat and be good to go.

 

Epoxy Resin for Wood | Molds

If you choose the proper mold for your cast that is perfectly level, it should remove nicely, but you can always have a rubber mallet on hand to help demold it from corners

Never use a hammer, and always be careful with your rubber mallet if you need to use one.

But like we said before, it helps choosing a high quality resin for the project, and we are going to share some of the best two part epoxy resins with you today.

 

Here are the top choices of epoxy resin for wood:

 

1. PROMISE TABLE TOP EPOXY RESIN

Check price here

A long time favorite of many resin artists for wood projects, ProMarine (now Promise Epoxy) is a high quality wood epoxy resin company that has been around for a long time.

Promise Crystal Clear Table Top System is a high-performance two-component super clear epoxy resin system. It is specifically designed for epoxy table tops, bars, wood finishes, see-through encapsulations, artwork, and other applications requiring a clear, strong, plastic coating and the epoxy resin dries to a high gloss.

The material has an easy to use 1-to-1 by volume mixing ratio, it maintains its integrity over sharp corners, it has excellent air release qualities and a relatively fast setting time for an epoxy table coating.

 

This Promise epoxy is:

• Water resistant
• UV resistant
• Cures in 24 hours
• Scratch-resistant after it has fully hardened after three days
• Self levelling
• Best for table tops, bars and wood finishes
• Has a maximum pour depth of 1/8" but you can pour several layers to achieve your desired depth of pour
• Best for indoor furniture use

Check out the Promise Epoxy store on Amazon here to see all of their resin supplies

Table Top Epoxy Resin from Promise features self leveling properties for resin art. It cures to a strong crystal-clear finish and would make a gorgeous cutting board or bar top.

This would also be a good choice of epoxy resin for a live edge wood table.

 

2. PROMARINE PRO POUR EPOXY RESIN

Check price here

From the same makers of our first choice, ProMarine offers another type of epoxy resin that is also easy to use, is UV resistant, self leveling and cures in 72 hours.

This product, however, has a deeper pouring depth of 2" at a time, making it the best epoxy resin choice for resin river tables or in table molds.

 

 

This epoxy resin is great on the following surfaces:

• wood
• laminate
• formica
• cork
• butcher block
• bamboo
• reclaimed wood
• plywood
• and more

We think this is particularly a great choice for a resin kitchen table, epoxy bar or really any resin topped table you need a crystal clear coating for.

 

3. LET'S RESIN EPOXY RESIN KIT

Check price here

Let's Resin makes a tabletop epoxy for coating, casting, bar tops, river tables and more. It is a multi-use, 2 part epoxy resin for wood that is highly gloss and is made of premium materials.

 

 

This high gloss epoxy resin is self levelling, is BPA and VOC-free and is considered a low odor resin. This being said, and this goes for all resin work, be sure to have a proper respirator for resin on whenever working with epoxy.

You can watch several videos of Let's Resin in use on their product listing here

This resin has a fast cure time of only 8 hours and is yellowing resistant. It has a Vickers pyramid number (HV) of 90, and this scale is made to measure hardness. Read more about the Vickers hardness test here and check out their hardness calculator. 

 

4. ECOPOXY FLOWCAST FOR WOOD WORKING

Check price here

EcoPoxy FlowCast is a resin that has been long trusted in the woodworking community for river tables, resin table casts and counters.

It comes in many different sizes from 750ml to 60L so you can figure out exactly what you need and not have to buy several smaller sizes to create your project.

This is a handy chart from EcoPoxy to determine exactly how much resin you need for your wood furniture project:

 

 

When you are applying epoxy resin to your resin art of choice, you can rest assure that this brand is self levelling and dries crystal-clear with water-like transparency that looks like liquid glass. It is a great epoxy resin for wood and it is an eco-friendly option with a high bio content and low odor.

 

 

You can pour this epoxy 1/2" deep up to 1.5" deep at a time, and if you need a deeper pour then that, you can re-pour between coats.

EcoPoxy has this to say about this particular resin: 

FlowCast has excellent air release and a low exothermic heat buildup producing a crystal-clear, solid finish that resists stress cracking. [...] EcoPoxy's casting epoxies are perfect for deep pours and known for their durability and their extremely strong bond to the objects they cure to. Perfect for large projects including river tables, furniture, and other works of art.

 

In terms of environmental considerations, EcoPoxy Inc. "is committed to creating, manufacturing, and distributing bio-based epoxies made from annually renewable resources and offer the world an alternative to traditional epoxy resins made from fossil fuels. Not only do we want to lower our carbon footprint, but it is our goal to use bio-based ingredients that are currently considered waste."

 

5. DIY EPOXY COUNTERTOP EPOXY

Check price here

Self leveling, self-degassing and made in the USA, this resin is hard and durable and would be an excellent epoxy resin for wood. DIY Epoxy boasts: Ensuring a crystal clear epoxy table top finish with high resistance to any chemical, heat, and water, making it the most versatile epoxy clear coating formula.

This epoxy resin by DIY Epoxy

• Is VOC-free
• Has no BPA's
• Is fume-free
• Is non-flammable
• Is UV resistant
• Is certified as safe for incidental food contact

Here is a chart to help you determine just how much resin you will need for your project:

 

 

DIY Epoxy Clear Coating Countertop is specially designed for countertop, tabletop & bar top epoxy resin pours.

 

6. MAGIC RESIN DEEP POUR EPOXY RESIN

Check price here

This epoxy resin is great if you are making a river table or you want to cast your resin table from a mold. This is a resin that will pour nice and deep, up to 4" at a time, which is perfect for anyone looking for a bit of a deeper pour to fill cracks in the wood, or if you need resin for a river table. 

 

This resin is a low odor resin and has low VOC's. It is also made in the USA and is food grade, has optimal air bubble release, has UV and scratch formula resistance and is water resistant.

 

7. STONECOAT EPOXY

Check price here

This resin is durable and is a great choice for river tables as it is made for filling large voids up to 2" thick.

 

 

Stone Coat epoxy resin is made in the USA and is VOC-free. Important to note that this resin is formulated with hindered amine light stabilizers (HALS ingredients) for maximum UV resistance.

You will love the scratch resistance this durable epoxy provides. It is also heat resistant and is safe for food contact as well.

 

 

The company has this to say about their resin: Our epoxy is compatible with Metallic Powder, Mica Powder, Glitter Powder, Alumilite Liquid Dye, and other epoxy color additives!

We hope you found this article listing the best epoxy resin choices for molds, tables, river tables and tabletops helpful.

It can be overwhelming when looking at the hundreds, if not thousands of resin brands out there and trying to decide on which is the best epoxy resin for your table, or for whatever project you are working on. You can do your research and decide which sounds the best to you, and try it.

Once you find a resin that you love working with for your epoxy projects, then stick with it. It is so great when you find a brand that you love working with.

 

Here are some other epoxy resin resources for you: 

 

Resin & Wood

Best Resin Table Legs

Resin Table Molds

 

Resin How To's

How To Make Resin Jewelry

How To Write On Resin

How To Seal Paper For Resin

 

Resin Supplies & Purchasing Advice

Best Colorants For Resin

Resin Supplies For Beginners

Best Glitters For Resin

 

Best Resin For Your Project

Best Resin For A River Table

Best Resin For Jewelry

Best Resin For Coasters

Best Resin For Wood Surfaces

 

USE RESIN SAFELY

No matter what type of resin you decide to use, always use personal protective equipment (PPE). Take time to carefully go over safety data sheets before making anything with resin, and make sure you have the proper gloves on (not latex) and the right respirator for resin protection.

Here are the exact gloves we always use

This is the respirator we use and recommend for resin work

Read more about resin safety here

And please remember, even if your epoxy resin of choice is "VOC-free, odor free" and/or "non toxic", please always wear the proper respirator for epoxy resin, even if you are using your epoxy resin outdoors.

Here is the BEST respirator mask for epoxy resin: this Full Face Organic Vapor Respirator checks off all of the boxes for resin safety, and comes with

• free 30 day returns
• a 1 year factory warranty
• free US shipping and free shipping on international orders

Here it is:

 

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