White Gloss shelving units

ifah

Hey Woodworking people,

just looking for a bit of advice - am looking to build a set of custom book/cd shelves for my living room and am looking to get a high gloss white finish on them - i was wondering if anyone came across a manufactured high gloss board (mdf maybe) pref 25 mm thick that i could build them out of ?

Cheers.

CJhaughey

The Panelling centre, has a high gloss panel in white called Ariane and cream called Naxos.

carpainter

CJhaughey wrote:

The Panelling centre, has a high gloss panel in white called Ariane and cream called Naxos.

How do you finish cut edges? Iron on tape?

ifah

just nearly fell off my chair - I rang Panelling Centre about these panels - 2400 * 650 sheets are €190 ex vat each - I would need approx 14 of these sheets so this is not a runner for me - thanks anyway - any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

galwaydude18

Get plain mdf sheets sprayed to that spec

carpainter

ifah wrote:

just nearly fell off my chair - I rang Panelling Centre about these panels - 2400 * 650 sheets are €190 ex vat each - I would need approx 14 of these sheets so this is not a runner for me - thanks anyway - any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

That's horrendous! I'm actually looking at building a simple unit myself for a sitting room in the future. I am going to use plain 19mm and 25mm MDF, biscuit jointed and painted. I've previously finished smaller bookcases using Crown Eggshell which gives a satin finsih and is very effective. I was initially hesitant about how a hand painted finish would look but at that price for pre-finished stock I'd be happy to go the painted route. If using pre-finished boards like that you'd really need to pre-score each board before cutting and even then chipping would be inevitable I'd say.:eek:

ifah

galwaydude18 wrote:

Get plain mdf sheets sprayed to that spec

Hey Galwaydude,

What type of effort would be involved to get plain mdf sprayed to that type of high gloss spec ?

cheers.

galwaydude18

Sand sand sand and more sanding. Apply at least two coats of mdf sealer, sand between each coat and then spray with an undercoat I would apply two coats of this and then apply a futher two coats of high gloss white paint. Sand between each coat of paint.

At the end you could could buff it up to a high shine. I would get someone to spray all that on if you dont have the skills to spray to a high standard like that

galwaydude18

Sorry double post

geofftulip

have you thought of conti board its a hell of a lot cheaper and is the white gloss you may want - b&q or somewhere will do it for a fraction...

kadman

Spray mdf with Granite or similar white primer, and then white topcoat. If you want an extremely high gloss finish with clear gloss lacquer, 2 coats.

Use cellulose or 2 pack, both available in Granite or ICI finishes.

kadman

galwaydude18

Goodman kadman. I knew you'd help out and correct me! lol

kadman

No, no, no....I,m not correcting you G Dude, just adding my tuppence worth, to all you guys good suggestions, no one has a monopoly on all the info, collectively I reckon we'll cover most of the bases;)

kadman

ifah

geofftulip wrote:

have you thought of conti board its a hell of a lot cheaper and is the white gloss you may want - b&q or somewhere will do it for a fraction...

Geofftulip - had a look at the conti board - the only thing i'll say about it is that it's kinda white - real dull looking.

Kadman/Galwaydude - that's the type of info i'm looking for - will have a look into getting a spraying outfit to price job for me.

Cheers.

galwaydude18

Ok kadman. Ifah I reckon kadman might spary them mdf panels for you if you ask him kindly enough?!

JoeB-

i had written a nice reply but the site went wierd and it was lost....

Have you considered melanmine panels... very cheap and may do the trick... not very high gloss but it could be ok... (I don't know if it's possible to spray lacquers over the melamine to 'glossen' it up???)

Or handpainting will give good results cheaply but not 'wet look' high gloss...

You will need 90% sheen lacquers... I use Morrells woodfinishes which have 10% matt, 40% standard or 90% wet look high gloss lacquers.... I use 40% and it's ok. I would imagine that to use 90% you would need a dust free environment and 'clean' air (for the spraygun) as any imperfection will be well noticeable...

You'd be best spraying the finished furniture rather than the panels themselves but it can be difficult to spray finished stuff depending on it's shape... I will always spray finished furniture if possible but sometimes I have to spray the pieces first and then assemble... or sometimes spray parts, then assemble and then finish spraying... it depends on the item...
If you spray the panels first you will still have to finish some areas afterwards which will probably be noticeable 'cause they'll be different... and there's also the (big) issue of marks and scratches during manufacture!

Cheers
Joe

edit: I have just googled the 'conti' boards and they are melamine covered chipboard... melamine is a hard wearing 'plastic' type material, similar to kitchen worktops...

Another things is I would imagine that Morrells would sell a high gloss coloured top coat, i.e white... they have a large range...

CJhaughey

Just bringing this back up, The big sheets 2400 x 650 are expensive but they also do individual shelving units and cupboards, I would make enquiries with them as to exactly what you need, chances are high that they will probably have a unit to match what you need.
The only place I used the full sheets was to clad the sides of the tall kitchen press and all the cut edges were hidden.
The material is MDF covered in a high gloss plastic film that is about 1mm thick.