Sanding messed up coffee table

[Richard Holub]

Sorry for not going into "search" but I don't know what category to look into...

I'm not an expert woodworker but I just want to try my luck at redoing a dammaged coffee table. I just finished sanding it and the top veneer looks good but the edge is composed of a compressed board with a coating of some sort. It is light brown/pink in color and I assume it is some type of sealer. Before I polyurethane the top, what should I use to reseal the edges? Is there a name brand or type of color I could look into? Thanks in advance for any help.

[Joe Chritz]

Sounds like you have substrate showing. You may want to use edgebanding and stain to match.

Maybe a picture would help.

Joe

[Richard Holub]

Joe, here are several pics of the table. I hope either you or someone else can make a suggestion on the edge composition.

[Doug Shepard]

I'm having a hard time telling from just seeing the pics but it sort of looks like what they call REN board. Dont ask me what that stands for, but it's used often in CNC cutting models for prototyping metal auto parts. The color looks about right and from what I can tell from the pics, the texture looks about right too. If that's what it is, I have doubts it's ever going to take any sort of clear finish and look good. Maybe masking off the top real well first and doing the edge with gel stain or even paint first?? Is the bottom side of the table veneered too? Or is the same stuff visible underneath where you could experiment?

[Joe Chritz]

Not sure what it is but I doubt you will get a clear finish to look good.

Myself, I would either rebuild the top (not really an option) or most likely I would spray on a sealcoat (1 or 2# dewaxed shellac) and then paint or spray tinted USL. (a water based finish similar to lacquer)

If you opt for a paint finish a little lightweight drywall compound can be used to fill any holes and smooth out the finish.

Joe

[Pete Brown]

Joe, here are several pics of the table. I hope either you or someone else can make a suggestion on the edge composition.

Looks like the top was veneer over MDF.

Pete

[Richard Holub]

Pete, That is what I think it is...now for my problem...what is the thin coating over the MDF that I can use to re-coat with? Is it a primer, sealer or is there something special they use? It is approx. 1/32" think and comes off fearly easy. That could be due to the bonding quality of the MDF.

[Pete Bradley]

It's a little hard to tell, but I suspect the manufacturer finished the edge with some nearly opaque finish built up in layers. Perhaps a replacement would be a beige paint with some glaze worked over it to look like grain. I think I've seen finishes where there was a layer that was lightly sprayed or spattered on also.

This is the kind of thing that the factory can churn out lightning fast on hundreds of pieces, but will take the average person quite a while to approximate.

Pete

[Richard Holub]

Thanks Joe, I think I agree with your idea (spray on). I will give that a try and see what happens.

[Richard Holub]

Sorry...I meant to say ":I agree with you PETE. I will follow up on that.

[Pete Bradley]

Just to clarify, the spray that I'm talking about is over an opaque base. I recommend you get a hunk of MDF and experiment on it until you get a process that gives a result that you like.

Pete