prep plywood edge to paint

[stephen wood]

I'm making a contemporary bath vanity cabinet out of plywood. It will be painted. On the front I'm planning an inset door. I'll cut an opening in the plywood for the door. I'd like it if the edges of the plywood looked finished. Is there some kind of compound I can apply to the plywood edge to fill it in so it will be smooth and not show through the paint.

Thanks!

[Jason Roehl]

Crawford's Vinyl Spackle. It comes in a bright green quart can.

[Mike Heidrick]

I'm making a contemporary bath vanity cabinet out of plywood. It will be painted. On the front I'm planning an inset door. I'll cut an opening in the plywood for the door. I'd like it if the edges of the plywood looked finished. Is there some kind of compound I can apply to the plywood edge to fill it in so it will be smooth and not show through the paint.

Thanks!

Edge it with real wood.

[johnny means]

If we're talking about your typical borg plywood, your best bet is probably a roll if iron on edge banding. If we're taking about baltic birch or some other quality multi ply, a couple of coats of primer after a good sanding will do. Spackle will do the job, but IMO it takes too much effort and yields so so results, while edge banding is cheap and easy, while giving more professional results.

[Chris Tsutsui]

The edge tape was too expensive for my taste when making some shop cabinets.

I used cheap borg plywood with voids in the edges that require a filler. Durhams water putty was used as spackle to fill in the voids. Then a light sanding before I used a closeout primerless paint gallon.

I love closeout "miss color" paints at the borgs, sometimes they have exactly the color i'm looking for and it's just $5 a gallon for the premium stuff.

[Stew Hagerty]

+1 for spackle. I use it on plywood edges all the time, and on MDF edges too when I'm going to paint it.

[HANK METZ]

Although Spackle will work just fine, drywall patching compound may be a better choice. It can be had in a dry mix, like flour, therefore it has an indefinite shelf life, doesn’t require as much finessing as Spackle, and it’s cheaper for a given quantity.

Different formulations can also be chosen for a range of drying times. For example a common formulation called “Presto Patch”, a fast set type by DAP, is a 4 lb. dry mix box for under $7 at hardware stores, and will set in less than 10 minutes and be dry enough for paint in about 30. Fast set won’t crack while drying when filling deep voids or holes, and shrinks far less than Spackle. Fast set of course needs mixing time, but you just mix what you need so there’s little waste. Again though, if Spackle’s what you have on hand, go for it, but if you’re going to purchase a product for this task, give a fast setting drywall patch a try.

- Beachside Hank
The use of nails in fine furniture is to be abhorred- drywall screws are preferred.

[Van Huskey]

Although it is harder to work with when a high degree of finish quality is paramount I like to use auto body filler (Bondo) in this and similar applications it sands and finishes very well (better then all the alternatives). In trim applications I have used all of the above mentioned products with fine results for trim but for something closer to furniture Bondo is the king for me, again accepting it is more of a pain to use.

[frank shic]

i'd edge band with fast edge wood veneer and paint it.

[Ron Natalie]

The edge tape isn't that expensive. If you're going to paint over it, just get the cheapest birch or whatever they have in the collection.

I used to work at a NASCAR track and there was a rule that you had to start the race with the same tires you qualified so we'd put a dot of colored paint on the tire as they went out to qualify so we could tell. Of course some teams didn't buy new tires every week so we had to change the color with each race. I finally asked the track promotor how he managed to get a different color every week and he pointed out he just picked up whatever they were selling for $1 at the home depot "mistakes' bin, never the same color twice.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Crawford's Vinyl Spackle. It comes in a bright green quart can.
Jason,
Crawford's or will any vinyl spackle work?
I have 6 shelves to do in the next week or so & I planned on using topping compound (45 min set).

I'm deferrring to your more current knowledge/experience here since you run across this more often as a painting contractor.

[Jason Roehl]

Crawford's is different from other vinyl spackles. I hate the others because they're nearly impossible to sand. Crawford's has a consistency more like that of joint compound, dries very quickly (don't leave the lid off longer than it takes to get some out), and sands out beautifully and easily. AFAIK, locally the only place I can get it is our Glidden paint store.

My second choice would be lightweight spackle. Some brands are better than others, but they're all pretty similar. Dries quickly, doesn't shrink and is relatively tough when fully cured.

[Craig Michael]

Edge it with real wood.

Agree completely. Simple and far better than fillers.

[Larry Browning]

+1 on the real wood edging. Much more durable than any kind of filler or iron on edging. Surly you have enough scrap boards around the shop to do this. If you don't have a thin strip jig for your TS, they are easy to make and plans for them are everywhere.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've got a big roll of the iron-on birch edging that I use on plywood. I've used spackle and various other similar materials on MDF edges to make them less thirsty. I've used real wood to edge before, but it's always a hassle, the heat activated edging and the associated trimmer is easy.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Jason,
Thanks!
I'll see if I can find the Crawfords since I hate using the light weight stuff.
If I have to use the LW stuff, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it.

[stephen wood]

+1 on the real wood edging. Much more durable than any kind of filler or iron on edging. Surly you have enough scrap boards around the shop to do this. If you don't have a thin strip jig for your TS, they are easy to make and plans for them are everywhere.


In considering this solution I'm concerned that I'll have a lot of seams/connections that might telegraph through the paint. Picture a piece of plywood with a 8 x 12 rectangle cut out of it. I would be applying strips to the inside edges of that cutout, then strips around the edges of the door that fits in the cutout.

[Curt Harms]

I often use Bondex water putty wood filler. It's a dry powder that I mix to suit. It can be sanded & painted as soon as it looks dry, usually less than 30 minutes. It's normally a tan color but I suspect I could tint it any color I like with transtint.

[Larry Browning]

In considering this solution I'm concerned that I'll have a lot of seams/connections that might telegraph through the paint. Picture a piece of plywood with a 8 x 12 rectangle cut out of it. I would be applying strips to the inside edges of that cutout, then strips around the edges of the door that fits in the cutout.

There is a down side to every method you might use to cover the edge. Even using all solid wood has a down side. It is not as stable as plywood. You just have to look at all the options and pick the one that has the best solution for you. I'm just saying if it were me I would go for the durability of real wood edging.

[Ron Natalie]

I've been edging plywood cabinet with veneer tapes for years. The edge isn't going to have any more stability problems than the veneer on the plywood face. Glued down to a relatively stable substrate it isn't going to have enough force to move against that.

[Alan Lightstone]

Real wood edging. Done the spackle many times. Never really liked it.

[Mike Heidrick]

I used 50/50 water/glue on MDF edges and then pimed the entire pieces with BIN primer from Lowes. When I painted it folks thought it was plastic.

[Walter McNeil]

Ditto to veneer edge banding. Treating the edges of plywood so that they look/behave like the faces of the plywood is exactly what it is designed to do.
I just can't believe that any kind of filling or spackling treatmetn of the edge will hide the end-grain/side-grain transitions without exhaustive preparation.
Iron-on may be tough in the interior corners, but peel-and-stick does a great job.

[Ron Natalie]

I've not had issues using the tapes either using a regular clothes iron or now with my junk sale handheld banding iron. Inside corners work fine. You can make butt joints or miters on outside just by overlapping and trimming with an exacto knife before applying heat to the corners. I've got a specialty overhang trimmer (which won't reach into the corners) but just using a chisel flat on the perpendicular surface works fine.

[David Winer]

Although it is harder to work with when a high degree of finish quality is paramount I like to use auto body filler (Bondo) in this and similar applications it sands and finishes very well (better then all the alternatives). In trim applications I have used all of the above mentioned products with fine results for trim but for something closer to furniture Bondo is the king for me, again accepting it is more of a pain to use.
Bondo should be a very good substance for filling plywood irregularities. (Haven't tried it myself for this purpose.) I always thought it was widely known, but apparently not. The stuff first came to my attention from a pro canoe repairer as a way to fill a deep scratch in the filled canvas cover of a wooden canoe. He told me that it is widely used for auto body dents. It worked beautifully and ever since I keep a tube on hand. Apply with a slightly flexible scraper and sand. What I like especially is the way it can be smoothed to match the surrounding surface without the patch showing through the paint. My guess is that Bondo is much less likely to chip out than spackling compounds.

[scott vroom]

I glue & pin nail 3/4" x 1/2" hard maple to hide plywood cabinet shelf edging. It will outlast and outwear all the other solutions.

[stephen wood]

thanks for all the advice! I'm going to try a couple of the solutions on scrap and see which I like for this application.