American River Table

This a a desk table I made for my 8 year-old daughter. I give credit and inspiration to Mike Warren over at instructables.com for the idea, in which he created a table in the same fashion using pecky cypress with awesome results. I used quartersawn unstained white oak, lacquer, photo luminescent glow dye combined with a 2 part resin for the river, and an old iron Singer sewing machine for the base. I hand drew the river and then basically free-handed the router to cut it out. I found this to work really well as the river came out more naturally, imperfections and all. These photos do not do justice to the table and the river. It’s difficult to get the light correct to show off just how awesome the river looks in the dark, as it absolutely pops with the lights off. One of the photos is just after I poured the resin and it provides a really good image of how the river looks in its glowing state. The glow dye just needs time under a light and then glows for a good long time, and the process can be repeated over and over. The thing that makes me most proud is the fact that my daughter loves the table (and she provided a lot of much appreciated sanding!), and she makes everyone who visits come and take a look. I’m currently using the same technique for a 6’ hard Maple dining table with industrial plumbing pipe for the legs. Thanks for looking everyone.