Plywood is a wood made up of layers of wood veneers stacked together placing wood grains 90 degrees with one another.
Plywood has been evolving so much that it is now primary choice for many builders and designers. People use it a lot, mainly due to it being durable unlike solid woods. Not just that, plywood definitely looks great from the outside.
The versatality of plywood makes is suitable for both interior and exterior applications. Literally, anything you need!
You might have had trouble with splintered plywood at least once in your life. With that in mind, this article will provide insight on how to fix splintered plywood.
Things You Need Before Repairing Plywood
Before getting started, there are some things that you need to prepare. Prepare a pair of work gloves to protect yourself.
The rest are basically tools that will be used in the repairment. Do make sure all the knives are sharpened or sharp enough to use. The tools are:
- Utility knife
- Wood chisel
- Hammer
- Water-based wood filler
- Gallon bucket
- Putty knife
- 9-inch wide drywall knife
- Shop vacuums
A Step-by-Step Guide to Fix Splintered Plywood
Now that you have all you need, wear your gloves and let’s get started with fixing the splintered plywood.
1. Creating an Outline Around the Splintered Area
Using the utility knife that you’ve prepared, create an outline around the splintered area. The outline is at the base of the splinters which is the area where they began to separate from the surrounding plywood.
If you feel like your utility knife is not sharp enough, do sharpen it first.
2. Cutting the Outline
After creating an outline around the splintered area, the next step is to cut that outline using a hammed and a wood chisel.
You have to hold the chisel the right way to prevent creating larger splinters. You can control the depth of the chisel easily by raising and lowering the handle.
Hold the chisel in such a way that the bevel faces down. Frequently tap the back of the chisel with a hammer to remove small slices of wood. Use the shop vacuum to clean up the smaller splinters and debris.
3. Mixing and Applying Water-Based Wood Filler
Pour the water-based wood filler into a gallon bucket. Mix it with the putty knife. Add moderate amount of watter to prevent the mixture from being too thick or too watery.
Now, you can start applying the mixed wood filler at the center of the splintered area.
4. Filling the outer edges of the splintered area
After applying the wood filler at the center, it is time to fill the outer edges of the splintered area.
Continue using the putty knife with medium pressure and slowly spread the wood filler equally around the area while reaching towards the center.
Now that the filler seems to be spread equally around the splintered area, leave it for a few minutes to harden. Smooth the hardened surface with the 8-inch wide drywall knife.
Remove any excess filler and start tidying up unused tools.
5. Sand the Area to Smoothen Plywood
Now that everything is done, there is just one last thing to do. That is, smoothening the plywood.
It might seem more convenient to just use a sandpaper and get the work done. However, a sanding block exists for you to provide better results with less work. So, create or buy one at the hardware store.
Finish the work by removing and cleaning up the renewed plywood with the shop vacuum.
Frequently Asked Questions
Delamination happens when the glue holding two veneers together fails. This normally happens due to negligence from the plywood manufacturing mill.
For example, the glue is not strong enough, or the veneer was too wet or too dry then they were sticked together.
Use a mixture of powdered resin glue and water. Slightly pry the splintered part and scrape the glue into the crack till it’s saturated completely.
First, scrape the residue of the old glue on both the veneer and the base wood. Then, apply the new glue into the base wood and press the veneer with pressure until they are sticked together.
Conclusion
And there you have it! Step by step solution to fix your splintered plywood. This problem happens quite often so don’t worry too much.
Follow these steps and your problem will be solved quickly. Hopefully this article helped you in some way.