I just built my first large project out of high quality (supposedly) 3/4” maple plywood. After I got the top built which is 18” x 76” including a 3” solid maple edging, and lightly sanded, I noticed some slight waviness in the plywood surface. Apparently I didn’t notice that sheet of maple plywood had the waviness in it – pieces from another sheet are fine.
I was planning on finishing the wood with General Finishes Satin Gel Topcoat. Is there anything I can do to smooth out the surface? The waviness is slight – probably about 1/64”. I doubt I could sand it out without going thru the veneer. Is there any clear finish, compatible with the oil based urethane finish, that would level it out – like self leveling?
Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Replies
Unless you want to do a thick, pour on, epoxy bar top finish, no there isn't any resonable way to level the surface. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.
Two things come to mind. I am not knowledgeable when it comes to plywood so keep that in mind.
1. Take a deep breath, exhale it and say "it is a project made from natural materials and so will tend to have or develop some irregularities". Then stand back and admire what a wonderful project it is over all.
Just look at some million dollar antiques to see what I mean : cracks, waves, curls, worm holes. Starts to make your new project look like a miracle of perfection doesn't it ?
2. Go find some scraps from the same sheet that you may have from cutting the parts to size and experiment with a clothes iron and maybe some paper between the iron and the wood and see if you can reactivate the glue and get the waviness to press down. Probably won't work because of the high tech glue used but what the heck; worth a try on some scrap.
May want to add to this a "veneering hammer". You don't swing this "hammer" you forcefully rub it over the lumps after heating the surface with the clothes iron. The veneering hammer sucks the heat out of the veneer while pressing the veneer flat thus causing the chilled glue to hold the veneer in the flattened position.
As far as the self leveling I wouldn't go there unless you put a border around it to catch the "spill" and if you are going to do that you may want to consider putting down a new layer of veneer on top of the flattened surface you have now instead. Some glues don't have water and so shouldn't cause the top to distort.
PS: Ok that last comment may have sounded off the wall. If you use traditional veneering glue, hide glue, you must veneer both sides to keep the plywood panel flat. If you use epoxy, Gorilla glue, or some others that are of a dangerous nature, then the surface won't shrink from heat dissipation or water evaporation and should stay flat after curing.
PPS: A pro might just bite the bullet and make a whole new top. I don't know.
it may not have
delaminated, but just warped(chinese maple?) . all of your above methods may be redundent if that is the case. one has to make a diagnoses before doing that. laying more veneer on will not solve the problem as it will just follow what it is being laid on.
if you are not happy wiyh the outcome, then one must find a straighter piece of plywood and replace it.
ron
Thank you for your ideas. The plywood is not delaminated - I guess you would say it is warped in a wavy fashion. Making a new top is a possibility although I may experiment with a few ideas first.
It certainly is a lesson learned - I never thought about taking each 4' x 8' sheet out of the stack and running my hand over the entire surface checking for this problem. I was more concerned with matching grain and visible defects.
First and probably last plywood project. Give me solid wood!
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