Nice! Is this for your personal use or to sell? I think a medium stain would appeal to more buyers. If you search Google images, there are very few versions of industrial coffee tables that are epoxy or tinted.

Industrial coffee tables

I think I would like to see the top on that distressed and darkened somewhat.

Seems manly to me. I would like a strong and bold color on it. How about this?

Or this, but maybe a bit darker still?

Such a nice piece, skipthe epoxy into my opinion, I would go with a contrasting stain something between the dark wood bottom and a light- so medium dark

Everything that I build is really stuff I like to have personally hence it tends to have that industrial / heavy duty look but alas I don't currently have the style of house to fit my tastes in furniture. These items don't mesh with my carpeted home I think they need the industrial or loft style setting to shine. I like the blue distressed look in the table suggested above but I'm also thinking that a thick clear epoxy resin will really make this coffee table stand out and be unique compared to the other Industrial style tables out there. I like building stuff that no one else has. I do list many of the things I build on my Etsy site as I don't have the space to keep collecting furniture at home.

The epoxy seems too uptown for an industrial style table. I was thinking a gray, weathered look, but that's hardly unexpected in the realm of industrial furniture.

Epoxy seems too modern. I'd like a more weathered look. I like the idea of a distressed color if you want it to stand out (rather than just a medium stain--the safest option--it'll look great, but is a little predictable).

I'd go for a medium stain followed by a product like poly matte and you'll have the hard finish with out the shine. I prefer it that way, maybe you will too.

d_gw I really like that table that you posted. I also get that it may look too "uptown" for some. Here is another cart that I built with the steel / wood/ epoxy combo and I love the way it stands out from the normal wood stains and finishes. I think the epoxy resin finish on the top surface really brings out the beauty in the wood compared to the polyurethane finish on the bottom shelf. I think that I may try to find the blue hue that Maria posted in her pic and add that dye to my epoxy mix. I'll try it on a test piece and see what it looks like before finishing the thick wood top.

David's ideas · More Info

I decided to take your advice and did not use the epoxy resin finish. Instead I applied a polyurethane to keep the natural wood qualities. I like how it turned out.

Thanks for all the input

Beautiful!!

It's lovely craftsmanship and very practical. We move our coffee table around quite a bit so it would be nice to have one on wheels.

My personal preference would have been to see midtone or darker stain applied, as is there is a certain "stumpy kitchen butcherblock" feel (as opposed to industrial coffe table) but maybe it's the bottles staging the top.

The final product is very nice but my personal preference would be a darker, more grayed-down look. It looks more sophisticated to me, but it's all personal opinion.

Pine will weather & gray nicely on its own esp if left outdoors (looks like it is?) There are these wipe on products too whichaccelerate the graying if op was impatient (but are not stain).

Thanks for sharing your handiwork with us. You received many suggestions about finish up thread and I am glad that you are happy with your choice and with the finished project. Will you be keeping the table or selling it?

Thank you for all the input. The consensus seems to be that the darker stain or more weathered look is more desired. The table will not be outdoors. I just took those pictures immediately after I finished building it. The table's style just doesn't fit my current home. It needs a more open/industrial or farmhouse style home with non carpeted floors in my opinion. I'm house shopping for my perfect home and I hope that at some point all the stuff I build will finally be able to fit in. For now I have such a collection of furniture that I've built that I'm going to try setting up a booth and selling some of them at a local flea market here in SoCal in October. I'm not sure what the interest level will be in my creations as I build everything to my personal liking and it typically includes wood, metal and epoxy resin :)

It's beautiful! My thirteen year-old son would likely drag it outside and ride it down the street, but other than that, I would love it in my home.

Thanks Cara. It'll definitely handle your son plus all his friends as they ride down the street :)

RedDogs, have you ever done any crushed stone inlay? you rout out a groove and fill w/crushed stone like turquoise, lapis, etc. (I get mine on etsy) and then fill w/a resin material or even a super glue. sand smooth and then coat. I've done it w/some wood shelves and such that i've made. I can't post any pics here because the site has been down for pics for a few days (unless you use your phone, which I don't!) I have it here on my blog,,scroll down to the 3rd pic. I think you could do something similar w/yours, depending on the type of wood you choose. I wouldn't do it w/pine. try Walnut. Go to Austins Lumber in Santa Ana.

http://makemeprettyagain.blogspot.com/p/in-works.html

Thanks Beth, you had shown me that table you built a few months ago when I built another Kitchen cart/ Bar cart with the epoxy resin. It was really nice. I do intend to build more stuff using concrete as a medium, definitely counter tops for my new house etc.. I have a long way to go. I still have to perfect my resin skills but I love the way it looks when it's finished.

oh that's right. I though I recognized the name. Have you been to Austins? they have some really nice white oak boards you can use for your tables. I used them on a new desk top. I think they max out at 46" or so. they also have cherry/maple/walnut. You could do some cool mix and matching stuff like you would a butcher block.