Replies

1. 
   Kevin | Sep 14, 2003 12:04am | #1

   Sand the edge with 220 then thin some wood glue with water (50/50) and wipe it in the edge. Let it dry and then lightly sand it again with 220 and it should paint up as well as the surfaces.

   Regards,

   Kevin

1. 
   andyzman | Sep 14, 2003 05:30am | #2

   Kevin,  thank you for your help.  I tried your suggestion and I think it is going to work out well but the mixture ratio that worked best is glue being about 70%.  It still dries rather quick and doesn't seem to be absorbed as deep.

1. 
   Kevin | Sep 14, 2003 08:39am | #3

   I should probably have said so, but the mix ratio I gave was intended as a starting point. Theoretically you could just use straight glue. The only point of thinning it with water is to make it easier to apply and to help apply a uniform coat that wouldn't require sanding to even it back out. It doesn't necessarily have to soak in at all. As long as the glue bonds to the wood then it's done what you want it to do.

   Good luck with the rest of the project.

   Regards,

   Kevin

2. 
   RW | Sep 15, 2003 03:56am | #4

   There've been some discussions on this on Breaktime and a good article written in FHB by Jim Blodgett just a few months back. Obviously, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Jim's method is to use a waterbased grain filler, like Behlens, to seal the edges. I've taken to treating the edges with drywall conditioner and rubbing in a slurry of spackle, then lightly sanding. I've never tried the glue, but suspect it would work fine. Pretty much anything that seals it up from sucking paint forever. My preference for the spackle method is really just that, a preference. It does give a very smooth surface to deal with, rather than all those little nibs sticking up.

   "The child is grown / The dream is gone / And I have become / Comfortably numb "      lyrics by Roger Waters

1. 
   Kevin | Sep 15, 2003 04:34am | #5

   I've tried the light weight spackle on MDF ends. It does work. What I like better about the glue sizing is that the dry spackle is still porous, whereas the glue isn't at all. So, the glue works to seal the endgrain better in my experience. Still... there's a downside to using the glue sizing approach. Any that slops over on the the face of the MDF seals wherever it is. I've had MDF panels that I had to finish out with a premium opaque lacquer finish where I was putting on multiple coats of sandable primer so that I could get it really nice and smooth before painting. Anywhere that the glue had been slopped over onto the face, even if it was wiped off before it dried, the face of the MDF built up the primer coats differently there because the glue totally seals whatever it touches. Even the hard face of MDF soaks up the primer or paint at first. Long story short... I had to use more coats of primer than I would otherwise have had to if there had been no glue slopped on the face of the MDF because what I needed the most was a uniform surface before painting. With spackle that simply isn't an issue. I guess each approach has it's own strengths and drawbacks.

   Regards,

   Kevin

3. 
   Joe_Fusco | Sep 15, 2003 04:48am | #6

   Andy,

   You might find this useful.

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