Epoxy Shou Sugi Ban - 3D Burnt Wood Coasters
Charring wood intentionally is nothing new. The Japanese art of shou sugi ban has been around for centuries. I won’t make this a tutorial on how to properly preform shou sugi ban yourself. The internet has plenty of those tutorials out there. Click here to learn about proper shou sugi ban if you want more info. In a nutshell, traditional shou sugi is burning cedar, then brushing the charred wood with a wire brush, then sealing with tung oil. The purpose of this is to use in fencing and siding. The advantage of burnt wood is it resists rot and insect damage much better than raw wood. The main point I want to get across is, I didn’t invent burning wood for looks/functionality, and I am not trying to replicate traditional shou sugi ban practices. This is something a little different and kinda cool in its own way.
3D Burnt wood Coasters
These are a super cool, super unique item you can make for relatively cheap.
Cost: Free - Fairly expensive (Depends on if you have epoxy already)
Materials:
1x5 softwood, I used a cedar fence panel
Start by cutting some 4x4” squares with your miter saw or table saw sled. My wife tells me coaster sets MUST come in sets of four or six. Never five. I explained we don’t only have even numbers of friends, but apparently that didn’t change the coaster rule… I digress. Take your five or seven squares outside and set them on the concrete or other non-flammable surface. Go ahead and start burning them with your propane torch. Softwood will burn pretty quick, but don’t worry about over-burning them. I personally like the deep “gator skin” char. As you burn one side the wood will cup. Then as you burn the other side it will flatten back out. So try to burn each side for the same amount of time. This will keep them pretty flat. If you need to even one side out, burn the side with the arch, not the cup. This will flatten it back out. Play around with it a little and you’ll figure it out pretty quick. If your kid isn’t too much a liability, this can be pretty fun for them to do. Use your best discretion though. Only you know if your child is ready for their first blowtorch.
Once you are happy with your char and have some pretty flat pieces, make sure they are completely extinguished and let em cool off overnight. It’s probably a good idea to douse em with water to be sure. Just make sure they’re totally dry before moving on. The next day mix up a small batch of some deep pour/extra slow setting epoxy. I wouldn’t use a normal epoxy here. Normal epoxy will cure too quickly and leave bubbles and poor finish. Baste your coasters with this well mixed resin until saturated, but not submerged. You want to completely seal your charred wood here. Not build the finish. This step will allow you to use the bar top epoxy to get a smooth bubble free finish. After the coasters are nice and saturated set them on a trash bag or something that they wont stick to. Wait till they’re not sticky before moving on to the next step.
Table top epoxy on sealed coasters
Now you are ready for your bar top epoxy. I used some by Better Boat Resin and was very impressed with it. Although it was much thicker than the usual deep pour resins I use. So it took a little more work to get it fully mixed. Which brings me to a good point, make sure you get it completely mixed. And I mean COMPLETELY mixed. Set each coaster on a small pedestal to elevate it. I used a small piece of wood wrapped in tyvek tape. The tyvek tape wont stick to epoxy. Packing tape is also a pretty good alternative.
Next, go ahead and pour the epoxy on each piece. Use a disposable brush to push it around a little, but don’t go crazy here. It will self level on its own. Be sure to get all the sides too. Don’t worry about drips, we’ll deal with those later. Once you get all your coasters nice and covered, you’ll probably see a lot of bubbles. Get that propane torch back out and do a quick pass with the flame to pop all the bubbles. If you haven’t done this before, relax. You won’t set fire to anything. Just do a smooth fast pass and watch the bubbles pop instantly. Its quite satisfying. You can come check on the bubbles again in 10 minutes or so, feel free to make another torch pass if you’d like.
If you are lucky you will come back in 24 hours to find a glass smooth, super cool piece of wood. If you are like me, you have another step before we are there.
Finish doesn’t look great yet. But we’ll get there.
I had a number of little charcoal “peaks” that were raised just about the epoxy level. So I lightly sanded them off with firm pad and 320 grit sandpaper on my orbital. Don’t worry about these scratches. They will disappear like magic with the next coat of epoxy. After your peaks are flattened, go ahead and apply a second coat of the bar top epoxy. Just as you did the first coat. Since this is (hopefully) the final coat, make sure your space is as clean as possible. I discovered an extra plastic storage bin makes a perfect coaster coffin. Nothing gets in or out. Its just up to you to be patient enough to wait 24-48 hours before opening it.
Better Boat says to wait a week for a full cure, and I’m inclined to agree. After the epoxy is fully cured you can finish them off a couple ways. The first way is to just sand the drips off with a hand or belt sander and call it done. This is probably the easiest way, but not the cleanest look.
Finished and ready for use!
If you want a little sleeker look, you can do what I did. I covered the faces up with a couple layers of painters tape to protect the nice glossy finish. Then ran them through my bandsaw to my desired thickness. Which for me was about 3/8”. If you don’t have a bandsaw, I think I would set up a little router sled to flatten the bottoms like a CNC would. It would take a little time, and make a lot of mess. But you’d get a perfectly flat bottom in the end. Even better than my bandsaw method.
The last thing you need to do is seal the underside to prevent any cupping of the wood. Shellac is the easiest, but not the most durable. So feel free to use your finish of choice. As with any project, don’t be afraid to make it your own. Thicker, thinner, bigger, smaller, new shapes, whatever you want! The epoxy isn’t cheap, but if your lucky you have some laying around from an old project like I did. Everything else should be pretty easy to source.
I’d love to hear some suggestions for other charcoal projects in the comments! Let me know what you can come up with!