[bankintheroll]

I am putting together a bottle cap coffee table for my father's birthday. I actually already have a coffee table, so I don't need to build one. It had a slab of marble that I took out and I'm hoping it will work perfectly. Below is an image with the marble removed:

When I removed the marble, it left some kind of glue or sealant on part of the wood that I need to remove and sand out. Below is an image of whatever substance was used to attach the marble to the wood:

I will most likely have several questions regarding this process, but my first is this:

How do I remove this substance (glue, sealant?) from the table without harming the wood? I have tried using a putty knife, but this stuff is really on there and I was kind of damaging the wood when I was trying to remove it. I was wondering if some kind of chemical (or rubbing alcohol hopefully?) could get this job done? Thank you so much in advance!

 

[4DThinker]

Looks like liquid nails.

https://www.google.com/search?q=liq...8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

 

[bankintheroll]

Thank you 4DThinker. I read that heating and then scraping can remove liquid nails adhesive, or rubbing petroleum jelly on it. I will try the heating method first.

 

[bankintheroll]

My next challenge and question for this project:

I need to cut out a slab of wood that fits perfectly in the frame (seen in the 1st picture), but that also comes up only to the top of that lip (seen in the 2nd picture), which is also right below the adhesive. I will then need to paint that piece of wood and the sides after the adhesive is removed. I am going to paint it just to make it look nicer for when the bottle caps are glued down. I'm also going to be pouring epoxy resin over the bottle caps. My questions are this:

1) Do I need to do anything special with the painting process since epoxy resin will be touching those painted spots?

2) What should I use to fill in the tiny gaps on the 4 sides when I get the slab of wood screwed down? I don't want any epoxy resin to leak through. Would a product like Ultra-Seal prevent this, because I already have a 4 oz. container of that?

 

[Deanr]

I would consider removing that frame from the legs and building a new frame.

 

[bankintheroll]

Wouldn't the marble be heavier than the slab of wood I'm going to insert plus the epoxy resin though? Or is that not your concern?

 

[Deanr]

Weight is not the reason for my comment.
The two reasons I would consider building a new frame is, first it looks like a pain to remove that gunk completely.
Second, the existing frame doesn't look that good. Sloppy mitered corners and the finish is not great, dented and such. It almost looks like a piece of molding attached to some type of pressed wood.
There really isn't that much material so the cost isn't that great.
Tools, could be done with a miter saw and a router.
I think you would end up with a much better product.

 

[Chris Curl]

You could also probably remove the gunk pretty easily and simply with a nice sharp chisel.

 

[bankintheroll]

Deanr and Chris, thank you very much for your input. I will weigh my options and see what I can do tomorrow and update this status. Thanks again!

 

[bankintheroll]

I ended up removing that gunk from the sides rather easily. I wasn't aware my father had a really nice electric sander, so I used that to get the job done. I would like to replace the frame like Deanr suggested, but I just don't have the time. I waited around too long and need to have it done by Nov 20th, which is a few days from now. I will update with a picture once I mount the piece of wood and get some bottle caps on it.

 

[bankintheroll]

Well, I ended up getting pretty far today. I cut a piece of 2ft x 4ft 1/4 inch sanded plywood to fit the table appropriately, which only cost $10 at Home Depot. I then used spacers underneath to level it out as well as I could get it. Then, I spray painted the plywood and sides a nice glossy black, which really brings out the color in the bottle caps and two 8x10 photos I used. I am using cheap clear-drying glue to hold the bottle caps in place, and I used Ultra-Seal on the 8x10 photos to protect them from the epoxy resin that I will be using soon. I completed 11 rows of bottle caps and have 7 more to go. Here is a photo of what I have done so far (let me know what you think):

 

[bankintheroll]

Here is the nearly finished product (just need to apply epoxy resin). I am kind of upset though. I made the bottle cap design on my computer and the printer cut off the very top row. The StL is supposed to be 2 red caps wide and the top of the "6" is supposed to be 3 red caps wide. I can't believe I didn't notice this before I began. Here it is:

 

[DerlC]

Lookin' Good! ! ! :thumbsup:

 

[Deanr]

That actually looks better than what I had pictured a bottle cap coffee table would look like. Good job.

 

[bankintheroll]

Thank you deanr and DerlC. I still have to apply the epoxy resin, so it should look a little bit better yet. I will post another picture when I accomplish that. I just want to take my time because I haven't worked with epoxy resin ever and here it can be difficult if not done correctly. Anybody worked with epoxy resin and have any advice? Thank you!

 

[gus1962]

Now that's cool! Such a brilliant idea. It's looking great. Sweet job.

 

[bankintheroll]

Thanks Gus! I cannot say it was my idea though. I watched quite a few bottle cap coffee table making videos on Youtube. Some of them are very good and better than mine. One original idea I did have though was to incorporate those 2 8x10 photos in the middle which I covered with ultra-seal (so the epoxy resin doesn't soak up into them).