What if I told you one of the coolest BBQ tables you’ve ever seen…was made with dish soap?

Not epoxy. Not fancy tools.

Dish soap.

This is one of those simple tricks that looks way more advanced than it actually is. And the end result? A custom, layered, almost “professional art” finish that makes your backyard setup stand out immediately.

I didn’t overthink this. I just tried it—and it worked.

This Table Was Destined For The Garbage Heap

Years ago, when I owned my coffee bar, we had a set of commercial-grade patio tables and chairs—aluminum frames with a silver epoxy-coated finish. They were built to last, and they did… until they didn’t.

After years of use, they were pretty beat up and at the end of their run, so I brought a couple home. My thought was simple: they’d make perfect backyard utility tables—something for BBQ setups, parties, or just extra surface space when needed.

And they did exactly that.

One usually held drinks during parties, the other lived next to my grill. If they were out where people could see them, they needed a tablecloth—the epoxy coating had started to crack and peel, and they looked rough. When not in use, one ended up in the garage as a permanent fixture in the man cave.

Over time, though, I kept looking at them thinking there had to be a way to bring them back to life. Strip them down, repaint them, make them something worth showing off again. So I tested a small corner—figuring I’d hit it with some stripper or an orbital sander and see how it went. Turns out… not so simple.

Even after all those years, that coating was still incredibly tough.

Man Cave Table

As my friends and I started using one of the tables more and more—playing euchre, setting cigars and bourbon on it—I started thinking about resurfacing the top.

One of my buddies was collecting cigar bands and planning to build an epoxy-coated countertop with them. I liked the idea, so I started saving bands, going down the YouTube rabbit hole, and researching different ways to refinish a table.

Stripping The Old Finish

My first step was stripping the tables.

Years ago, I used to refinish furniture—and I hated it. So the idea of using a chemical stripper again wasn’t exactly exciting. Instead, I grabbed my orbital sander, loaded up some 60-grit, and took the tables out to the barn. Five minutes in… barely a scratch. That’s when reality set in. These old arms—and my lack of interest in sanding for three straight days—pushed me to try something else.

So I called a local sandblasting company and got a quote: $100 to do both tables.

I had one follow-up question: “How soon can I get them done?”

(Quick note: I didn’t take many pictures during this project. Like usual, I didn’t think about turning it into a blog post until I was already halfway through it.)

Creating The First DIY BBQ Table With Dish Soap

After I got the tables back from the sandblaster, I kicked the research into high gear. I knew I wanted one of them to be a “cigar band table”, so I started digging into videos and different finishing techniques. I found plenty on layering paint, but nothing that incorporated cigar bands. That’s where things got interesting.

If you go to YouTube and search “layering paint Dawn dish soap,” you’ll see where my thinking started to go.

Here’s the basic idea of layering paint:

The Core Process

• Prep the surface
• Apply a base coat — let dry
• Add layered colors — let dry
• Apply dish soap where you want contrast
• Spray final color over everything
• Let sit no more than 15 minutes
• Rinse off soap to reveal layers underneath
• Let dry completely
• Apply 6–8 coats of clear coat

If you watch a few versions of this, they all follow a similar structure.

Where I went off-script was adding cigar bands into the mix.

How I Incorporated Cigar Bands

After my layered paint (step 3) was fully dry:

• I used Gorilla Glue (non-foaming) to attach the cigar bands
• Used just enough glue to hold them—nothing excessive
• Let everything dry completely

Then came the key move:

• I applied a small amount of dish soap directly on each cigar band

So when I sprayed the final coat and rinsed it off, the bands would show through clean.

The overall effect turned out pretty cool. If I did it again I’d do it better and maybe a bit different, but I was happy. The only thing that really bothered me was the surface was kind of rough and uneven from the cigar bands.

Upgrading With A High-Gloss Epoxy Finish

We used the table like this for a few months, and eventually I decided to take it one step further—adding a pourable epoxy top. The goal was simple: Smooth out the surface and give it that deep, glass-like finish.

Because the table had holes in the center, I taped them off from underneath. This is key—otherwise the epoxy will just drip right through and you’ll have a mess on your hands.

Once that was sealed up, I followed the standard mixing and pouring directions:

• Let it self-level across the surface
• Used about 1 quart of pour-on epoxy
• Covered a 30” square table

This is where everything comes together. As the epoxy spreads, it starts leveling itself out, filling in all the imperfections from the cigar bands and earlier layers. You can literally watch the table transform.

Table Two – A Different Approach

The second table—my round one—I decided to do differently. No cigar bands this time. I wanted to experiment a bit and see what else this process could do.

Instead of using dish soap straight from the bottle, I transferred it into a smaller squeeze bottle and modified the tip to have a much smaller opening. That made a big difference. I could control the flow, “write” with the soap, and keep the lines from spreading too quickly and getting thick.

As you can probably tell, this was my first time doing something like this. I learned a lot, and while I’d do it better next time, I’m still happy with how it turned out.

To get the look I wanted, I changed up the paint layering a bit. The base coat was silver, then I added black, green, and orange in concentric circles to build some depth.

Before applying the dish soap, I wrote out the words I wanted to use on paper. That way, when it was time to put them on the table, I could move quickly and avoid the soap spreading too much. Once the words and a few extra flourishes were on, I sprayed the final silver coat over everything.

Timing matters here—do not let it sit more than 15 minutes. If you push it closer to 20, you’ll start to see issues when rinsing, especially around the edges where the soap lifts off. If that happens, you may need to gently work those areas with a soft cloth to smooth things out.

After everything dries, a light hand sanding with fine grit sandpaper helps clean things up before finishing.

For this table, I stopped at clear coat and haven’t added epoxy yet. I wanted to see how it would hold up over time. It’s done pretty well, but I do prefer the epoxy finish from the first table. I’ll likely go back this spring and add it, both for the look and the added long-term protection.If you have any questions on the process, ask in the comment section below.

Final Thought

If you’re going to do this project—and you want it to feel finished—epoxy is the step that gets you there.

The paint and cigar bands make it interesting.

The epoxy makes it look legit.