Pour-On Finish for Sides of Plywood?

[Steve H Graham]

I am thinking of making a steel rolling kitchen island with a wooden top. I can find hardwood somewhere and glue it together, but I am wondering if it's possible to use thick plywood, round off the sides, and coat everything with a pour-on finish. I don't know if this stuff will give a smooth, thick finish on plywood edges.

[Jim Becker]

If you like the look of 2-3 layers of high quality BB plywood, I suspect you can do what you want to do. The "bar top" type pourable stuff is pretty viscous and thick so I'll also suspect you'll get smooth edges if you apply it correctly and prepare those edges well first. You can sand high quality BB edges pretty darn smooth and there are no voids. I wouldn't use any kind of inexpensive material for this project...the pourable material is not going to "fix" a bad substrate.

Now tht thing you need to carefully think about is whether or not a large, bland whitish-tan surface is going to too boring for the space...you can color it, but I suggest you do not even think about cheap, pigment based stain for this. Dye will be the better bet and you'll have to experiment on scrap of the same material to be sure you can get the right dilution to provide a pleasing color. The surface veneer on BB is very absorbent.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you like the look of a plastic countertop, you might consider formica. It is sturdy, completely waterproof, and you don't have to invent the technology.

[Steve H Graham]

I thought they made clear versions of this stuff.

[Jim Becker]

I thought they made clear versions of this stuff.

There are water clear version of various coating resins available. Keep in mind that there are many folks who just don't like the look of a thick, resin coating on things like this, so that's going to influence comments.