Bondo for this Job, or What?

[John Stevens]

I'm making a free-standing cabinet from plywood, and the outside will be painted. Rather than put edge banding or solid wood on the edges, I want to paint it, too. But I want the paint on the edges to appear as flat and smooth as the paint on the sides. I don't want the layers of veneer to show through the paint.

What should I use to smooth the edges after cutting them with a table saw? I want something that can be sanded smooth, that won't shrink, won't crack, and will "give" a little if the case is stressed a bit when being moved from room to room. (That's not asking too much, eh? :confused: )

One of my buddies says Bondo is the way to go. What would you use? Thanks in advance.

[Anthony Anderson]

Body filler will work well for this application. Mix with hardener, apply, wait to dry, then sand, can use an orbital sander. Start out with 120 or so and sand down to 240, spray a coat of primer, resand and paint. Good Luck, Bill

[John Pollman]

I don't think you're going to find many solutions that will "give". But I've had similar situations and I've always used Durhams Water Putty. Mix it up to a smooth paste about the consistency of peanut butter. Use a putty knife and lay it on and smooth it out a bit and let it dry. It will dry very hard and durable yet it is easily sandable. Once it's primed and painted it'll look as good as the face of the plywood. I've used the same stuff for years to fill low spots and knots in the face of plywood. It's great stuff.

Just my .02

John

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd edge band it with solid lumber maybe 1/4" thick, and then go ahead and paint it. Wood's pretty tough, can be sanded or planed, and is nicer to work with than bondo. You can also round the edges a little, and that makes them more ding-resistant then sharp edges.

[Vaughn McMillan]

I've used both Bondo and Durhams Water Putty on plywood faces and edges with good results. Recently I also tried a pre-mixed filler called Flexall to finish the rounded-over edges of some painted plywood. So far, no complaints, and the stuff sure was tough when it came time to sand it. I have Bondo and Durhams on the shelf, but decided I wanted to try something new. (I had purchased the Flexall for another project a year ago, then ended up not using it.) I liked the fact that I didn't need to mix anything, and the tools cleaned up with water.

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

I used filler on some edges in my kitchen renovation (sink cabinet) where I ran out of milled poplar and used plywood for some face frames. The end result was good and would be totally un-noticable if I had used bondo. (Those edges are only seen when the doors are open, anyway)

[fred woltersdorf]

vaughn,where did you get the flexall?i went on the flexall website to find distributors.they listed home depot and some hardware stores.i went to two hd's and the hardware store but none of them had it,in fact they loked at me like i had 2 heads.thanks fred