Material and finish selection for rolling book cart

[Aaron Karp]

My wife asked me to recreate this rolling book cart. The product details say it's stained and painted rubberwood which, maybe is correct, but sounds suspicious (stained and painted?). How would you achieve this result? Semi gloss white paint? I want it to look polished but not like Ikea.

I have some spare pieces of plywood in roughly the right sizes that I'd like to use but could pick up another material if necessary.

https://www.crateandbarrel.com/white...y-cart/s620218

Thanks!

[Mel Fulks]

For that piece I would use high gloss paint. Its pretty hard to make white too shiney. And I don't think IKEA makes glossy
stuff.

[John TenEyck]

The Details pulldown suggests there are two versions, one is the rubberwood one stained espresso brown, the other is made with a white engineered panel. The white one looks a lot like Melamine to me, but that's not going to give you the higher end look you want, but it sure would be an easy project if you used it. Cut out the parts, edge band or T-molding, glue it up with biscuits, Dominos, etc. and done. If you want a higher end look I would look at PlumaPly which paints great. You still have to deal with the edges though just like with any sheet goods. You could edge band it with maple, etc. banding thick enough to radius the edges. If you use a high build primer the edge banding seam should disappear after painting.

For finish I would consider a WB lacquer rather than paint because they are harder and will better stand up to books, etc. sliding on it. The Lenmar Duralaq WB lacquer I've used gives a beautiful, hard finish.

John

[Jim Becker]

John is correct...there is more than one version of the product. Rubberwood is very popular for mass market furniture like that that is made in certain regions of the world...the dining chairs I recently acquired from Ikea to fill quick replacement need are made from that species, for example, and were produced in Thailand.

If you are planning on a smooth painted project..white or other color...choose material that is ideal for painting. For solid wood, maple is a good choice because of the close grain structure. Poplar is also a reliable choice. If you use a quality plywood product for panels and edge band with the same solid wood, you'll have a good base for painting. I agree with John's suggestion for the finish. For this kind of item you need a "non-blocking" finish that stuff will not stick to. Waterborne white lacquer is an excellent choice for spraying. If you need to hand apply, my go-to is SW ProClassic which is a 100% acrylic product that is non-blocking.