Repairing plywood - or Dad's been landed in it again !

[OldWood]

This needs pictures and as I've not done a picture load before I hope it's going to work!

Daughter has bought a small industrial pallet to turn into a coffee table - hopefully picture 1.

Of course Dad then gets suckered into helping ! The attraction of this pallet is that it is 19mm pitch pine faced ply and despite being somewhat abused should sand up really nicely.

The one problem is shown in the second picture with the under frame off. Because of the position of the metal legs, this cannot be just cut off. The frame will be replaced and will cover most of this damage but there will be a 3mm gap showing at the end if I don't do some sort of patching - what is suggested ?

Thanks
Rob

 

[SketchUp Guru]

:roll:

 

[knappers]

Sorry, but she BOUGHT that?

S.

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

Sorry, but she BOUGHT that?

S.

+1

She should have said she would take it off them, and thereby do them a favour..

 

[woodbloke]

+2...Nov 5 is a few months away, but should do quite well if it's kept nice and dry - Rob

 

[Racers]

Let her come round ny house and I would be minted!!! :wink: :wink:

Pete

 

[OldWood]

Hmm - so much for advice from the General Woodworking forum - I think I'll just stick to the 'going round boys'.

You may not have children who perhaps make the wrong call, but at least she thinks this has potential and I've got to work with that. If you're not prepared to give assistance when it is genuinely asked for, like I'm doing for my daughter, then please don't give any comments at all.

Rob

 

[woodbloke]

Hmm - so much for advice from the General Woodworking forum - I think I'll just stick to the 'going round boys'.

You may not have children who perhaps make the wrong call, but at least she thinks this has potential and I've got to work with that. If you're not prepared to give assistance when it is genuinely asked for, like I'm doing for my daughter, then please don't give any comments at all.

Rob

Firstly, apologies for my comment. I too have a daughter of around the same age but I'd hope that she'd not dream of purchasing something like that, or at least would give me a ring to ask if was a good idea or not. I know that some wood from pallets can be reasonable (provided a decent pallet can be found) but this one, in my view at least, is beyond resurrection - Rob

 

[Stoday]

You should have wached Bargain Hunt earlier this week (not on 1st April!).

Someone had cut most of the sides off an old galvanised steel water cistern so that what was left formed legs. Turned upside down, with a splosh of varnish to bring out the manky partly oxidised galvanising, it formed a table.

£900 FFS!

 

[barkwindjammer]

Someone put up a post of a you-tube vid a wee while back which showed a guy who made boxes, he burnt the surface with a blowtorch-almost beyond recognition, he then sand blasted it, when it was finished the surface was stunning, it had a kind of driftwood effect, its amazing what can be turned out of scraps m8 :wink:
hopefully someone can find that vid cos I cant at the minute.

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

Hmm - so much for advice from the General Woodworking forum - I think I'll just stick to the 'going round boys'.

You may not have children who perhaps make the wrong call, but at least she thinks this has potential and I've got to work with that. If you're not prepared to give assistance when it is genuinely asked for, like I'm doing for my daughter, then please don't give any comments at all.

Rob

Sorry, no offence was intended. Both of mine are too young to buy anything, my comment was in shock that she paid for a pallet. Most companies burn them en mass and thus usually give them away if you ask.

what about veneer?

 

[OldWood]

Apologies accepted, and with all respect to you all and particularly the lassie concerned, she did for some reason spot that the top panel is old ply and is 3mm pitch pine faced, and will sand up well, even if it is going to look distressed.

I too was a bit concerned until it appeared. By the way the 'missing' leg was one we'd taken off before this 'before' photo was taken. The legs are held on with 5/16 whit bolts which shows it has a bit of age and when I looked at it initially these countersunk bolts seemed to be in green plastic seats, which we've now found are brass - hadn't thought of verdigris in this sort of thing and will offset the bolt heads nicely.

So despite all your naysaying, I think this could turn out quite an interesting piece. Clean up the steel legs and paint black, I've access to a drum sander for the top, replace the white wood framework, and mount the whole thing in two 'nice' wood cross timbers as feet to raise it up a bit and protect the floor.

Which brings me back to the original query on the 3mm in fill to deal with the damaged ply. I could just use body filler, or I could see if I can find a bit of vaguely matching pine and effectively re-veneer that section.

And let's have some proper answers this time :lol: :lol:

Rob

 

[barkwindjammer]

go for a small veneer repair, wood filler or anything else will show up more, I think ?

 

[woodbloke]

Which brings me back to the original query on the 3mm in fill to deal with the damaged ply. I could just use body filler, or I could see if I can find a bit of vaguely matching pine and effectively re-veneer that section.

And let's have some proper answers this time :lol: :lol:

Rob

I'd be inclined to find a piece of something similar and try a patch. Glue ought to take provided surfaces are clean and dirt free. If you have access to a drum sander then cleaning up the top ought not to be too much bother...pics though, of the finished table, having seen the 'raw material', are mandatory :lol: - Rob

 

[OldWood]

Which brings me back to the original query on the 3mm in fill to deal with the damaged ply. I could just use body filler, or I could see if I can find a bit of vaguely matching pine and effectively re-veneer that section.

And let's have some proper answers this time :lol: :lol:

Rob

I'd be inclined to find a piece of something similar and try a patch. Glue ought to take provided surfaces are clean and dirt free. If you have access to a drum sander then cleaning up the top ought not to be too much bother...pics though, of the finished table, having seen the 'raw material', are mandatory :lol: - Rob

After all you lots slagging, you don't deserve any pictures. Thanks for the confirmation - I don't think I've any pitch pine but I do have some nicely coloured, close grain pine, and actually having said that, larch would possibly do it well.

The nice things about this exercise is that I get to teach one of my offspring some wood work, I get to do all the fun things on this project and none of the boring dirty ones, and, if it works out OK, I get the plaudits (hammer) (Oh it's a hammer, I thought it was one of those football rattles !!)

Rob

 

[beech1948]

Lets see.
No matching pitch pine
Distressed and knackered old ply

Considering drum sanding which will just about ruin any "patina". Instead consider a wash with a scrubbing brush and soapy water and then bleach with Oxalic acid to even out the colour and dirty marks

Has some dings and divots.

SOLUTION EUREKA. Get some clear epoxy and some metallic sparkly dust ( I like electric blue but maybe yellow or red), mix together and spread to fill divots. If you do drum sand then you can overfill slightly. Then enjoy contrast of old and sparkly.

Alan

 

[OldWood]

Thanks Alan - the query over the matching pitch pine is a bit academic as the bit concerned is under the frame but is exposed as an edge, so virtually anything would do that has an approximate colour match.

Patina is a thing in this context I know nothing about and am not that sure it applies - isn't patina the result of UV 'oxidation' ? The idea of filling the dings is clever and I will pass that on - thanks.

Rob

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

You could french polish it..

 

[harryc]

Enough is Enough its still a PALLET...............................................................................

 

[Stoday]

The New Yankee Workshop has a video on making inlays with a router. In a demmo he makes the cutout and perfectly-fitting inlay.

http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct.php?0606