Finishing adjustable shelves made of 23/32 birch ply?

[Drew Sanderson]

I am trying to figure out how to best finish adjustable shelves made of 23/32 birch ply. I am planning on using Target Coatings EM6500 white base and final coat with either the EM9300 or EM9000.

Here are my four main questions.

How do you treat your front face edge?

What do you attach to each shelf for spraying? I imagine their must be some kind of hook with a long shaft that I can screw into the back of the shelf to hang it from.

When you do hang shelves, or doors, what you hang them from?

Would you top coat with EM9300 or EM9000?

Thanks,

Drew

[Jamie Buxton]

Edgeband the plywood with something. If you don't, the plies will telegraph through the paint. Many folks edgeband with iron-on veneer tape, but I prefer to use solid lumber that's about 1/8" thick so I can round over the corners.

I have a spray support that is like a shop stool, and I have a rack which can hold many parts that lie horizontally. I put one shelf on the spray support, sitting horizontal, and spray the upper surface and front edge. Then I move it to the rack, and go on to the next shelf or door or whatever. After that coat has cured enough to handle, I repeat. (EM6500 cures enough to handle in less than 2 hours, in my experience.) Eventually I turn all of them over and do the other face. If you don't have a drying rack, but don't have a lot of shelves to shoot, you can just put them on your bench, tablesaw, car, or what have you. Hanging the shelves from the back, as you're thinking, would make you spray up to get the front edge of the shelf. That's not comfortable, and you probably can't see what you're doing.

[Ed Hazel]

I usually attach a piece of wood to the front of the shelves with a radius edge to cover the plywood core.

I have several hooks in my ceiling and usually just put a a screw or two on the back edge and use a wire to suspend the shelf from my ceiling this way I can spray both sides at the same time.

[Casey Gooding]

I like to glue a piece of solid wood to the front, as well. I usually use 3/4" to add some strength. My usual setup for spraying something like this would be a couple pieces of 1x2 with some 2" brads driven through them.

[Drew Sanderson]

My usual setup for spraying something like this would be a couple pieces of 1x2 with some 2" brads driven through them.

So do you spray one side at a time?

[Jim Becker]

So do you spray one side at a time?

I do...and I often pre-finish many components before assemble so I can spray them flat. I really dislike spraying into a box!

On the edges question, I generally edge band with hot-melt edge banding tape. (I scarfed a used hot air edge banding tool awhile back for that purpose) I'll also apply solid wood stock when appropriate. If I'm finishing with a color, such as you elude to, I prefer the edge banding as there is less chance of it appearing "discolored" over time in my experience, especially when the species is matched.

[Tim Sproul]

I'm in the middle of finishing stair parts - treads and risers. When I have to do a production (lots of the same size parts), I make a structure to hold the parts as they dry. And figure a way to put some dowels or screws into the parts to hold them. I don't have enough floor/"air" space to hang 15 - 20 parts.

And a picture is worth a thousand words.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/tsproul1/woodwork_web/IMG_0030-1.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k7/tsproul1/woodwork_web/IMG_0031-1.jpg

For adjustable shelves, the narrow edge is available for you to bore into. This method allows me to spray all the important surfaces - edges and faces - at one time and it allows me to keep the parts racked in a minimal amount of space as the finish dries. The rack is really cheap - a little glue, mdf or melamine and some brads or pins. When I'm done with it, I'll take it apart and dispose of it. If you wanted it a bit more environmentally friendly, you could build the rack from 1x material and then after taking it apart it could go into your green/yard waste bin rather than the landfill bin.

[Casey Gooding]

Drew,
Yes, I spray one side at a time. The advantage of the brads is it will typically let you flip the piece while it is still tacky and spray the other side.