What sticks to fake wood veneer?

[Harry Muscle]

I'm putting together a piece of furniture that is made of particle board covered in that fake wood veneer (wood print). Since this is a fish tank stand that will support 600lb of water, I would like to use glue as well as the supplied screws to hold everything together, however, I'm having a problem finding a glue that will stick to this wood print veneer. So far I have tried polyurethane glue (LePage PL Premium), standard epoxy, 5 minute epoxy. I also covered a test piece in polyurethane varnish (since this is how I'm hoping to water proof it), and after letting it dry two days, it comes off in sheets when you use your fingernail to scratch it.

So I'm wondering if anyone knows of a glue that would stick to this fake wood veneer and also a waterproof clear coat that I could apply to it to help in water proofing everything.

Thanks, Harry

[Rob V]

To get anything to stick to it - you have to rough up the surface first.

I re-faced a formica dresser one time w/ maple veneer. First thing I did was take my belt sander w/ 100 grit and give it once over. Then used contact cement to adhere the veneer. 2 years later - still holding strong.

[George M. Kazaka]

What exactely are calling Fake veneer???? Is it a vinyl or a Melamine, If it Melamine there is a lemaine glue but I do not know if it is available other than through Commercial Distributers I would think that it would hold on the vinyl also but cannot say for sure

Good Luck, George

[P©WÉ®T©©LMAN]

Hi Harry,

A thin film of construction adhesive or contact adhesive, a wise move would be to rough up slightly the contact points for even better adhesion. Wipe off immediately anything that squeezes out when you tighten the screws.

HTH

[Harry Muscle]

It's that stuff that Walmart furniture would be coated with ... I believe it's actually paper, because it gets damaged by standing water very quickly.

Thanks, Harry

[Harry Muscle]

Thanks, I can rough up the part which will be glued no problem. I also tried silicone glue just now, and it seems to stick better than anything else so far. However, I still have the problem of what to use to apply a protective clear coat over the whole unit. I can't rough up the whole thing since I'm trying to keep the existing finish, I just want to protect it from water.

Thanks, Harry

[Harry Muscle]

I might try that. I also just did an experiment with silicone glue and it seems to hold pretty decent. However, I still have to figure out what to use to protect the whole unit from any water damage. So far the only clear coat I tried is polyurethane varnish which come off.

Thanks, Harry

[stoutman]

What do you mean by this? Poly takes several days to cure. Months to cure completely.

> Thanks, I might try that. I also just did an experiment with silicone glue

[Harry Muscle]

I applied three coats to a test piece, waiting 2 to 3 hours between each coat according to the instructions (btw, this was spray on poly). Then after three days (when I realized that most glues don't want to stick to this stuff) I wanted to see how well it stuck to the surface, so I tried to scratch it lightly with my finger nail and right away it began to separate from the surface. You can then just peel it away.

Harry

[jev]