Plywood - edge damage repair?

[BigShot]

Hi folks,

Imagine a bit of plywood with the edge (where you can see the veneers) hit so the wood bulges making the board thicker around the point of impact. The bulge goes about half an inch into the board before it's back to original thickness (and presumably undamaged). That's what I've got to fix.

I can't tell if the glue lines have split or the veneers themselves, but as I see it the way forwards is to get glue into the damaged area and then clamp it tightly enough to return it to the original thickness. Question is - how do I get glue down in there?

Would thinning wood glue with something (water?) be a good idea?
I'm using Evo-Stik Weatherproof Wood Adhesive if that makes a difference.

Where the damage was different (veneers split apart) I opened the gaps up with a knife, worked glue down into them and clamped up which did a great job... but there's no obvious gap to open up here.

Any suggestions of how to go about this would be handy.

Cheers.

 

[Mark A]

Can't you just cut off a strip, or is the plywood already dimensioned?

 

[BigShot]

Can't cut it off. It's not only dimensioned though, it's a finished product that's been damaged.

Not so valuable I'd spend a fortune fixing it, but I'd rather fix it than replace it right now.

 

[Paul Chapman]

How about using a sharp, thin blade (such as a Stanley knife) to slit the edge sufficiently to get some glue in, then clamp it?

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[BigShot]

Aye, that's a possibility, but I'm not entirely sure the damage is suitable for such an approach. It could well be but if there was a way to get the glue to soak in before clamping it'd save some messing about.

Not had much joy beyond a suggestion that it may be thinnable with a small amount of water... and not to a degree that I think it would soak in. If nothing else comes up I'll be doing that.

 

[beech1948]

Not sure you are using the right glue.

At those shops which sell stuff to airplane modellers you can buy small bottles of epoxy with different levels of runnyness. The idea being that if you need to soak something in epoxy its easy to let the runny stuff spread and soak in.

So using a Stanley knife to open up or create an access cut you then just run the runny epoxy in, clamp up and let it soak. You could also drill a couple of small say 3mm holes in the damaged part and fill with epoxy to the full depth and then just clamp it up.

regards
Al

 

[misterfish]

It sounds like you need something that is of a thin consistency that will soak in that you can then clamp/compress it back to the correct thickness and allow it to set. I wonder if something like the Ronseal wet rot wood hardener would work. This is a quick drying and penetrating liquid that sets hard. I recently had to repair the backing plywood on a mosaic where the wood had actually rotted and this certainly hardened and stabilised the soft laminations and allowed for repair. You need to make sure you protect the finished surface as the liquid will leave a thin film that would need to be carefully cleaned off.

Misterfish

 

[AndyT]

I'd just add that you ought to try clamping it down without any glue, to make sure it will go flat. If the plies are crumpled, there could be extra thicknesses in some spots which would not compress to the original thickness of the board. If so, you would need to dig out some of the wood with a drill or small chisel, then fill the resultant voids with a gap filling glue such as No More Nails.

 

[BigShot]

Thanks all for the input.
I just unclamped the repair and it's as good as I need it to be. I'm sure I could have done a better job with a different glue but as it wasn't a repair worth spending much on I decided to stick to the wood glue.

Following the suggestions here (particularly Paul's and Andy's) I pried open the plys, removed some chunks and splinters, then worked wood glue into the gaps with a knife. The chunks and splinters may not all have needed removing, but the bulge is no more.

Just a bit of filling and sanding to do and and the job's a good'un.

 

[Bradshaw Joinery]

My suggestion would have been to groove the edge of the ply out get the faces nice and flush then glue a stip of wood into the groove.

 

[Argus]

.

If it happens again, try to obtain a suitable small syringe, drill a few strategic small holes into the edge veneers, introduce a suitable glue and clamp tight.

Check out a chair repair kit. The technique is basically designed to do what you want to do.
Here's one at Axminster:
http://www.axminster.co.uk/veritas-veri ... prod22462/



Hope this helps.