Hi all,
I have built a lot of small things (boxes and cabinets) and now I want to build a desk(s) that wrap around my office. I have 2 questions.
# 1. I plan on using birch or maple and was going to get 1/4 veneered plywood and glue that onto 3/4 MDF for the surface area. I was then going to use solid wood to make the edges of the desk (hide the plywood layers that would show). Does that make sense to glue a 1/4 veneered wood to 3/4 or would it makes more sense for me to just buy a few rolls of wood venner and glue it onto the MDF? ( I was thinking the rolled veneer is very thin and may wear out quickly..)
#2. I want to make semi-circle cust into the table so that the chairs will go into the desk. I plan on making the desks so that the chairs face into the corners of the room. My challenge with this is that I have never applied trim to anything but a straight edge, other than using the thin rollout veneer stripping is their anything else I could do?
Thanks for any help!
Replies
Hi Stained,
I think gluing plywood on top of MDF might be a bad idea. I've never seen it done and I believe overtime the MDF and plywood will be unstable and some of the ply's may split apart without the ability to expand and contract properly. I know you can veneer wood on top of the MDF surface but you need to veneer the bottom of the MDF as well to create equilibrium throughout the board.
Others may have another opinion,
Mike
Resized for those suffering from megaphylesannoyem
First I wouldn't glue the ply to the MDF. Unless your trying to get 1 inch material. But even then just get 1 inch plywood or Mdf and veneer over that. The veneer will not wear out. The only problem you might have is later down the road if you want to refinish the piece. It is very easy to sand through Veneer.
Second, You can use the thin edge banding to cover the edge of the plywood in the semi circle. That would work just fine. But you could also use a technique called kerf bending. This is where you make a lot of thin cuts on the back side of a solid piece of wood and this allows the piece to bend around a radius. If you want to try this, I would make a few test pieces first. I hope this helps out.
http://www.kalafinefurniture.blogspot.com
I was just reading a Fine Woodworking article about laminating 1/4-inch ply to MDF for making fine furniture. "Fine Furniture from Plywood" (FW, July/August 2002) If you've got the online subscription you can view it at http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignPDF.aspx?id=2798
You don't say what you want the edging to look like -- thin and flat like iron-on or with some depth -- but here are some thoughts on the edging of curves:
(1) rip your edging lumber into 1/8-inch thin strips. That might be thin enough to bend to the curve (depending on the wood), and if you want some depth, add more layers; or
(2) for an edging with some depth, divide the arc of your cut into a smaller segment that you could cut pieces out of a board. You could make a template out of masonite and make a bunch of pieces with a router and a flush trim bit.
My two cents.
Steve
I'll be damn, you can glue plywood on top of MDF. I was wrong. Learn something new everyday.
stained ,
Why not just use a 3/4" plywood panel either Maple or Birch are both readily available and ready to go .
Unless you have some exotic grained 1/4" you will only create more work not a better product necessarily .
Thin strips as mentioned can edge a radius as well as making up a jig to glue strips together until you get the thickness you want then apply the built up piece to the desk top .
No offense but , not sure I understand the wisdom in creating the circular cut outs , it would be difficult to work where there is no counter top in front of you , if I see the sketch correctly it looks like the chair hole would be the same radius as the top ? You may want to make a mock up and sit at it and try it .
regards dusty
I swear if I look long enough the answers are in FW back issues.Check out "Cut Matching Curves" (FW Sept/Oct 2005). Or, again, online at http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=24954My thought on "circular cut outs" was dividing the circle into smaller segments that could be cut from a board, similar to the curved edge of the table in this article (it's three pieces glued together). You can't cut such an edge out of a single board (circle is too big). If the woodworker wanted a nice wide edge (like that table), this would be one way to do it.Steve
The main reason for wanting to glue 1/4 " on 3/4" is that I want the thickness of the desk surface to be at least 1" as I think it looks much nicer.
As for the circle cuts. ... I was goig to put pullout computer trays underneath. the only thing sitting on the desk surface in front would be a monitor. The scketch is a quick one - the cut outs would not be that deep..
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