Finishing kitchen carcass interior

[murdoch]

Hi all

I wondered if anyone can help. I use a lot of oak veneered mdf for kitchen carcasses and finish them with A/C lacquer from morrells. They look great to start but after a year or two the bottoms of shelves and drawers tend to not wear too well, especially when pots and pans are put on them which are still a bit wet.

Does anybody know where I'm going wrong or use anything different which will last longer and not let the oak start to go black if it gets wet? Maybe hard wax oil? I just don't want an expensive kitchen to look shabby inside too quickly.

Many thanks

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

A finishing guru presented at our turning club last week and he was raving about a new product called Treatex. A guy from Osmo started the company. He finished a wooden bowl with it that he claims he has dishwashed 18 times and was as good as when first finished. It has a lot of carnuba in apparently which is of course very durable

 

[hansonread]

I suspect that I use the very same 2k AC from Morrells and without trying to teach you how to suck eggs, do you follow there drying times correctly? AC usually requires around 30 days before fully curing, if used before then the surface can be damaged, with water penetrating into the veneer and that can then cause you wear problems further down the line. That said, if you have the stuff sat in a drying room for 30 days and your still getting a problem, could you finish them with a PU instead? Nasty stuff to put on but really durable, especially when layered up.

Is it the WB AC you use or the solvent one?

For draws or shelves that get extreme use I sell my customers a Himacs insert, although any brand of solid surface would do, himacs comes in a 3mm thickness, that finishes really nicely to a flat matt finish. The customers love them, and still being a premium product its not like your flogging them a bit of plastic to sit in there!

 

[nathandavies]

Have you thought of using pre-lacquered oak veneered mdf from Eco panel? save yourself spraying time.

Nathan

 

[murdoch]

Thanks for the advice hansonread, I use the solvent lacquer and didn't realise I should dry for 30 days. This seems ages as I can't have carcasses hanging around for a month! I guess that once sprayed most kitchens are fitted within 14 days. I have thought of pu but think its nasty stuff and I would have to invest in some better extraction.

I have thought of ore finished sheet material but that doesn't help with solid drawers, racks, trays ect and also I use a solid lipping on all edges.

Cheers bob, I'll look into treatex.

 

[hansonread]

Yeh it is a long time, you can install it a bit quicker than the 30 days, but you just have to be a bit more careful with it. One of the benefits of PU is its drying time but you should defiantly invest in an air fed mask if going that route, and not a electric filter air fed unless you like burning money on filters! If your not already using a compressor then it can be quite costly but if you have a few spare cfm then you can add a filter and a mask for not that much at all.

The other option is especially if your using solid wood stuff, is an epoxy coating, in draw bottoms this is really simple as all you have to do is pour it in(great test for your joints to see if it all comes pouring out!!), and torch it off to get rid of the bubbles, but on shelves it can be a bit more tricky and requires a bit more sanding afterwards. De gassing the epoxy in a vacuum chamber can also really speed things up.

If your ever in the hampshire area pop by the workshop and you can have a poke around at our mdf sink! a sink comprised of nothing more than mdf and pva glue that we coated in the epoxy to make it water tight, epoxy is VERY durable.

 

[the_g_ster]

How about some toughened glass?

On the bottom of a unit, sealed, with epoxy at the edges.

Maybe even glass for the internal shelves?

By PU, do you mean something like Rustins? Sorry for dumb question.

 

[hansonread]

PU meaning polyurethane. Not sure on the rustins product as they don't usually sell really nasty stuff to the general public, but PU is nasty stuff to spray, Proper drop dead in the booth kinda stuff!
http://www.morrells.co.uk/products/wood/18