Birch plywood cabinet finish

ddaly81 · Post by **ddaly81** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:38 am

i'm aiming to make a cabinet out of birch plywood.

I'd like to make the birch darker - somewhere towards a mid oak finish and am considring using Osmo Polyx Oil Tint Honey.

The advice I've had from the timber retailer is that I can make the cabinte and then apply a couple of coats of the oil/wax and I'm good to go. However, online I have red about lots of preparation including other products and sanding.

Is any of this completely necessary?

Also, I'd like to leave the plywood layered edging exposed on the sides of shelves and surrounding the unit. Do these edges need any particular finish?

Thanks

London mike 61 · Post by **London mike 61** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 7:04 am

Why don’t you try it first on a off cut and see what the finish is like and how much effort you have got to put in to get it right. I would also do other finishes and see which one is best.

Mike

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 8:19 am

I'm with Mike above. You can't beat an actual test with the materials you're using.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 8:36 am

Have you thought this through? It sounds like a very strange finish you are after. I have to say that dark finishes are very passée now and none of what you describe is going to give a finish that fits any style. It sounds like a 1960's Liden cabinet. Sorry.

DWD

ddaly81 · Post by **ddaly81** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:33 pm

Thanks for the responses!

Yeah I'm defo gonna do some practise on some off cuts. I ordered some samples of Osom tinted wax last night. However, getting high grade birch plywood off cuts seems tricky from speaking to timber yard. There will be some off cuts from my own sheets however, I'd preferably get my head around how I'm finishing it before I make the order and cuts.

In terms of the strange finish - thanks for the feedback - I've attached some pics off the style i'm looking for a design I've made on Sketch to show the construction I've planned.

Any thoughts?

Dave54 · Post by **Dave54** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:50 pm

I've never used birch ply much. One thing I'd be wary about with dying or staining any flat surface is uneven take up, leading to darker patches.
Some ply shows sanding "bands" for want of a better word as well, and again I've seen that take up dye unevenly.
So you'll need to sand enough to get rid of that if present.
Personally, I'd finish it with a clear finish. Pretty well all timber darkens over time anyway.

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:57 pm

I would say they are veneered boards as that looks like an oak veneer to me. You could never achieve that look with a birch face. You need to order the proper boards for this job. This is the sort of thing https://www.atlantictimber.co.uk/crown- ... ywood.html If you have a chat with your local timber yard, a proper one, then you can discuss them ordering the board in and also doing the main cuts from an 8 by 4 board. They will probably have an under scoring device on their saw which will cut the edges clean with no breakout.

Buying the right materials will get you to where you want to be with your desired finish, which looks like a clear lacquer on oak.

DWD

ddaly81 · Post by **ddaly81** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:36 pm

Atlantic timber are just down from me which is pretty handy! I was hoping to make the unit quite chunky using 24mm thick plywood. The oak veneered boards only go up to 19mm which would probably be fine but it says the 19mm is blockboard in the middle. This ok?

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:46 pm

You will not get the neat sandwich edge that cabinet grade ply gives. Blockboard is made up of blocks and voids so you can get small gaps when cutting. I only put Atlantic to give you an idea of what I was talking about, shop around for oak veneered ply boards. I used to source mine from this firm, who supplied my timber yard, have a look for inspiration http://www.timbmet.com/ i notice they show a 19mm ply veneered oak board see http://www.timbmet.com/uk/products/rang ... ard-range/

DWD

Job and Knock · Post by **Job and Knock** » Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:26 pm

ddaly81 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 13, 2019 12:38 amI'd like to make the birch darker - somewhere towards a mid oak finish and am considring using Osmo Polyx Oil Tint Honey.

The advice I've had from the timber retailer is that I can make the cabinte and then apply a couple of coats of the oil/wax and I'm good to go. However, online I have red about lots of preparation including other products and sanding.

Is any of this completely necessary?

In a word, yes. Basically, as plywood comes from the mill it has potentially had the surface in contact with metal (e.g. steel racking, FLT forks, etc) and may also have other forms of surface contamination (e.g. oil, dirt) as well as the possibility of sun shading (where sunlight bleaches or darkens the surface of the timber), oxidation of the surface of the timber and sometimes even weathering (rainwater, humid environments such as under a tarp on the back of a lorry between the docks and he merchant, etc) which can raise the grain. All the above mean that surface sanding really is a good idea, especially as for the best surface finish with a hardwood such as birch you really should be aiming for P180 to P240 grit (factories generally only sand to P100/P120)

As to the colour, whatever you put onto birch will darken it and two coats of a tinted wax will darken it more than a single coat, but you will need to be careful to get even colour take-up (impossible to control if you try to finish the factory-supplied faces). Edge sanding is particularly needed to achieve the "triplex" edge look and the end grain suck-up a lot more finish than the flat surfaces do.

Personally I think that wax is too soft a finish, so I'd consider adding a small amount of colour using a suitably diluted water stain, flatting back the raised grain, then applying 2 to 3 coats of clear, matt PU lacquer (with an extra 2 coats on the edges), cutting back any raised grain between coats. I might also consider adding a bit more stain to the edges to make them more obvious, but as they will absorb more finish it may not be necessary

ddaly81 · Post by **ddaly81** » Sun Nov 17, 2019 9:58 am

Thank you for all the replies.

dewaltdisney - I'm contacting a number of suppliers to look into the oak veneer option. There are a few I've found that do 24mm oak veneer birch ply but not found one that can supply to my area yet. Got a few calls to make this week during open hours though so fingers crossed.

In the mean time, jobandknock, I've been to the timber yard and got some off cuts of birch ply so that I can experiment with the sanding and colour finish using some osmo testers that I ordered. Will have a go with some wood stain and lacquer too.

Cheers

moderator2 · Post by **moderator2** » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:14 am

ddaly81, please refrain from making spoonerisms from members names. You may find it funny others may find it offensive.

ddaly81 · Post by **ddaly81** » Mon Nov 18, 2019 11:29 pm

No attempt at a spoonerism (had to Google it) and certainly no offense meant. Just mistakenly left spaces out of one name but can't see how meaning was changed.

Sorry.

stevei · Post by **stevei** » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:42 am

I had to google it as well and am still baffled by the complaint. For educational purposes, can you explain the offensiveness and/or humour in the op?

moderator2 · Post by **moderator2** » Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:48 am

stevei wrote: ↑Tue Nov 19, 2019 8:42 am I had to google it as well and am still baffled by the complaint. For educational purposes, can you explain the offensiveness and/or humour in the op?

I edited the offensive post. One of the respondents' user names was misspelt.