Bar top idea, self-leveling epoxy

[daksin]

Hi Guys- I wanted to run an idea I had by you to see how dumb it is.

I wanted to do a bar top with our brewery logo in it, but done in uncrushed malt (see my avatar). Black parts would be roasted barley/black patent/chocolate malt depending, and white part would be 2-row/pils. I'd then pour some clear self-leveling epoxy over it to fill the gaps. I'm just wondering if the grain is going to trap a ton of air bubbles in between the grains that the epoxy just won't seep into. Is this a problem, or is the viscosity of the epoxy low enough to fill all those tiny gaps. Ideas?

 

[LandoLincoln]

I'm pretty sure I've seen somebody use grains in an epoxy counter on here. It looked pretty cool and there wasn't a lot of air bubbles.

 

[rvklein]

Why don't you test it on a piece of scrap plywood.

 

[daksin]

Definitely going to do a test first. I did a bunch of different searches and came up with few examples, but not exactly what I'm doing. Hops and bottle caps, specifically, but no grain yet. Also, anybody who has used this stuff for a bar top, how do you finish the edges?

 

[rvklein]

I have 72 linear feet of expoyed bar top. The epoxy will flow down the edges and you'll need something there to catch it. As it's setting up you can use a small paint brush to brush the edges.

 

[Bobby_M]

I think you'd want to create a rigid separation between the malt colors with something like some thin strips of stainless turned up on edge and shaped like a huge cookie cutter. The last thing you need is to have the malt getting all smudged together. You can also spread a very thin layer of epoxy down, then drop the malt down onto it to get it to stick. Repeat a couple times to build it up and then do your final pour coat on top of it all.

 

[daksin]

I think you'd want to create a rigid separation between the malt colors with something like some thin strips of stainless turned up on edge and shaped like a huge cookie cutter. The last thing you need is to have the malt getting all smudged together. You can also spread a very thin layer of epoxy down, then drop the malt down onto it to get it to stick. Repeat a couple times to build it up and then do your final pour coat on top of it all.

That is definitely the plan. I don't think there's a good way to get clear lines without some sort of barrier. Laying down the grain onto wet epoxy would definitely cut down on air bubbles. If I do multiple layers, don't you think you'll be able to see them? I have no idea as I've never used the stuff before.

 

[huhwha]

I am watching with interest, as I am ready to do a very similar thing. My thought was to use some type of adhesive to hold the grain in place, but I haven't gotten to the nitty gritty yet.

 

[Bobby_M]

The epoxy itself is a good adhesive for anything you want to secure in place. Honestly the best way to handle this is to create a tiny test bed and do everything on tiny scale to see what the end result will be.

 

[tsl346]

Big watchout, when I did mine with bottlecaps I used some spray adhesive to keep the bottlecaps down so they wouldn't float, it only worked on about 75% of them. What I ended up doing was putting down half of the epoxy, let the caps that were going to float go ahead and float, then about a week later put on another coat so that it would be a smooth finish. I had a hard time with the "self leveling" portion of it. The epoxy was viscous enough that it did not flow quite as easily as I expected.

 

[huhwha]

I talked with a guy that did a table with coffee beans, both green & roasted. He said the secret was to do layers. In his case he did 3 layers.

 

[daksin]

I think layers will be the way to go. Now I'm concerned about getting the thing to look level. Sure, the resin will level itself, but if poured between some molding that isn't perfectly even, it's going to look wonky. The bar isn't exactly what you'd call "perfectly flat" or "well-made" and my carpentry skills aren't what you'd call "something that exists."

 

[mavrick1903]

I would use a thinner epoxy to do the first coat, a "Paintable" epoxy you can apply with a brush. Then do the mirror coat on top. I'd suggest System3 products. They are very helpful if you call them.

 

[daksin]

Surprise, this stuff is expensive. I've got 32 sqft of bar top to cover, probably at 1/4" thick. I may have to rethink the whole project. Other ideas?

 

[BinghamtonEd]

We did this in college at my fraternity. It wasn't a bar top, but a coffee table we played cards on. We painted the top black, trimmed it out in oak to form a lip on the edge, about 1/4" or so. We glued playing cards to the top. Then we poured the epoxy in. We used something, I forget if it was a hair dryer or small torch, I want to say torch (held with the flame a few inches away), to gently heat the epoxy once we had poured it. This caused any bubbles to rise out of it. It came out great, and stood up well to the ton of abuse it got.

 

[acidrain]

Surprise, this stuff is expensive. I've got 32 sqft of bar top to cover, probably at 1/4" thick. I may have to rethink the whole project. Other ideas?

Glass, but that's expensive too.
This isn't for the faint of heart, or light wallet. Epoxy is the way to go, but it takes patience, skill, and money.
Hint: the tiny bubbles that come to the surface are easily eliminated by quickly passing a torch across the surface. Don't scorch it though.

 

[jlb307]

check this thread out. might help:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/yet-another-keezer-410305/

 

[daksin]

That's a great look, but he used about a gallon on his to get the appropriate thickness, and my bar is easily 4-5 times longer and about the same depth, so I think it's a little cost prohibitive. May be going to subway tile. Thanks for all the help!