MDF Cabinet ?

[jason walcott]

What is the best way to seal the cut edges on MDF plywood for paint?

[Cecil Arnold]

A thin glue mix has worked for me. You can use either white or yellow mixed with water, I think about 50/50.

[Todd Burch]

I use Clawlock. Search this forum.

I've also used a couple coats of Kilz (its high solid content works well). You could make up a glue size, or coat the edges with epoxy... put solid wood edging on it. There are probably several dozen ways to seal the edges of MDF. The "best"... well, that depends on the resources you have available, and what you mean by best (fastest, hardest, easiest, cheapest....?)

Todd

[Norman Hitt]

A Top Quality cabinet shop owner here told me they rout the edges, then sand with 320 grit and "leave the sanding dust on the exposed MDF edge" and then shoot a shellac based sealer, followed by clear laquer ( I forget which brand of sealer). It works really well and gives an excellent, smooth finished look. Apparently the sealer locks in the sanding dust to fill the voids, because their edges look like the face of MDF that has been finished with laquer.

[Jim Becker]

I use spackling compound...sanded between two coats. Then prime and sand twice.

[Wes Bischel]

I use shellac sealer on the edges - let it soak in. It drys fast, then hit with fine sandpaper, prime and paint the whole piece. The picture is a stool - 4 pieces of MDF laminated, edges sealed, primed and two coats of paint from a rattle can.

Wes

[Lee DeRaud]

I use shellac sealer on the edges - let it soak in. It drys fast, then hit with fine sandpaper, prime and paint the whole piece. The picture is a stool - 4 pieces of MDF laminated, edges sealed, primed and two coats of paint from a rattle can.

Wes

Ok, I'll bite: how did you do that texturing on the top?

[Wes Bischel]

Sorry, didn't mean to be obtuse - I was focused on the edge treatment. It's a texture sand (the brand I have is DAP, but there are others) I picked up at the borg in the paint dept. It's for adding a sandy texture to latex wall paint - I had it left over from patching and blending some BIG holes the previous owners had left.
All I did was mask the area with blue painters tape, hit it with a med-heavy coat of paint, and sprinkle the "sand" onto it. Once the paint had set, I brushed off the loose sand, removed the mask (in that order) and gave the whole piece another heavy coat of paint. So far it has held up to my 3 year old pretty well. No loss that I have seen.

Wes

[Lee DeRaud]

Sorry, didn't mean to be obtuse - I was focused on the edge treatment. It's a texture sand (the brand I have is DAP, but there are others) I picked up at the borg in the paint dept. It's for adding a sandy texture to latex wall paint - I had it left over from patching and blending some BIG holes the previous owners had left.
All I did was mask the area with blue painters tape, hit it with a med-heavy coat of paint, and sprinkle the "sand" onto it. Once the paint had set, I brushed off the loose sand, removed the mask (in that order) and gave the whole piece another heavy coat of paint. So far it has held up to my 3 year old pretty well. No loss that I have seen.

Cool. I was thinking skateboard tape or that non-skid stuff for tubs, but I couldn't think of a way to make it come out that neat.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

A Top Quality cabinet shop owner here told me they rout the edges, then sand with 320 grit and "leave the sanding dust on the exposed MDF edge" and then shoot a shellac based sealer, followed by clear laquer ( I forget which brand of sealer). It works really well and gives an excellent, smooth finished look. Apparently the sealer locks in the sanding dust to fill the voids, because their edges look like the face of MDF that has been finished with laquer.

I can't imagine routing MDF in my basement shop. It makes me queezy just to think about it. Now if you have great dust collection on your router table then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But otherwise I would not rout MDF in my shop.

[Jim Becker]

I can't imagine routing MDF in my basement shop. It makes me queezy just to think about it. Now if you have great dust collection on your router table then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But otherwise I would not rout MDF in my shop.

You just need a good router with good dust extraction...

[Norman Hitt]

I can't imagine routing MDF in my basement shop. It makes me queezy just to think about it. Now if you have great dust collection on your router table then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But otherwise I would not rout MDF in my shop.

I agree with Jim, in a basement shop. I have a different situation, in that I put my router table in the 10' x 10' door opening, then hook up the shop vac, and also place a large fan so it blows from inside the shop across the router table, pulling fresh air from the door in the other end of the shop and blowing any remaining dust out into the alley which is taken away by our "almost" constant southerly 15 mph breeze.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I agree with Jim, in a basement shop. I have a different situation, in that I put my router table in the 10' x 10' door opening, then hook up the shop vac, and also place a large fan so it blows from inside the shop across the router table, pulling fresh air from the door in the other end of the shop and blowing any remaining dust out into the alley which is taken away by our "almost" constant southerly 15 mph breeze.

Norm, I wish I could do that but as soon as I open the door, in come the misquitoes and other flying things. So I'm a shut-in in my basement shop even though I do have day light.

And Jim I think I know which brand router you're thinking about. Once I get good DC to my router table I think things will be a lot cleaner.