What is a river table?

Recently these tables have been blowing up on social media under hashtags like #rivertable #resintable and more. You may have seen viral videos of these stunning pieces of art/furniture, but what are they really?

River Tables are the hot new trend in the custom furniture and custom woodworking world, due to the incredible beauty that they showcase. The style and design of a river table doesn’t have any set parameters, but they usually always feature a clear or tinted casting resin that has been poured in between voids or along the natural edge of a board. Some tables cast an entire piece of wood in the resin, whereas others like the one we built combine 2 slabs together to give a “river” appearance.

If you’ve seen these and said, “I MUST HAVE THIS IN MY HOME!” There are 6 pieces of information you need to know when buying one.

1. River Tables are more like a piece of art than furniture.

What we mean by this is that no two pieces are alike and each table has a character of its own. Since there is so much room for creative interpretation, provide as many references as possible if you’re looking for something very specific to match your home.

2. Objects can be cast into the tables

As an example, if you love the beach and beach themed decor, you could cast sand and seashells into a blue resin so you would have an “ocean table” rather than a river table. Another option that has been brought up by some of our clients is to cast rings or sentimental objects into the resin. This is entirely possible to do for a piece that has a much more powerful story to tell.

3. The resin can be almost any color or a combo of colors

The casting resin we use is crystal clear from the manufacturer, but we can add an endless amount of pigments to the resin to create multiple colors and levels of transparency. If you are looking for something with a metallic style of look, we can use reflective flakes to add some more pop to your table.

4. Find examples of River tables you like

This one ties back into the first fact to know when buying a river table. If you love the look of a specific river table, send us pictures of that via our inquiry form and we can source wood and resin colors to replicate a table that you’ve fallen in love with!

5. What type of base do you want for your table?

All of the river tables we build are completely customizable and that includes the legs. If you love a specific type of legs, then we can use that design to build a matching set for your table. Metal and wooden legs are both great options for the base and they offer plenty of strength and durability to hold up the incredibly heavy tabletop. Oh, we forgot to mention that these tables can weigh 300 lbs or more!

6. Know what size you need and how many people you want to seat.

This one is fairly simple, but it is important to have this information on hand when beginning the inquiry process for your table. Since these tables use live edge slabs there is no standard size for them. Some slabs are cut very short due to the tree and others are cut EXTREMELY long with pieces like conference tables in mind. Just let us know how many people you want to see and the size of the space it will be going in and we can find the perfect match for you.

Thanks for taking a little bit of time out of your busy day to read this blog! It really does mean a lot to us here at The Knotty Log.

If you’re interested in having a piece of custom furniture built for you, click here to contact us!

6 Things You Need To Know When Buying A River Table