I'm plotting to build a queen-sized captain's bed about 3-feet high with drawers on one side, shelves on the other, and a void up the middle for long-thing storage. I'm planning 8 base pieces - 4 drawer units (23w x 23d x 36h) and 4 shelf units (23w x 16d x 36h). I plan to paint it when I'm done. So....3/4" ply, or MDF?
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If I were given the choice, I'd vote for Furniture Grade Plywood, or Baltic Birch, but NOT MDF.
MDF is about 10% heavier than Plywood and much more suseptable to moisture damage, to say nothing of the very fine dust it generates when you machine it.
Stop thinking why you can't and Start thinking how you CAN!
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George -
I disagree with gmack, mdf is MORE than 10% heavier! I use it mainly for templates, and he is quite correct, it creates some very fine dust. To the extent that I can smell it coming through my canister filtered DC.
Keith Z. Leonard
Go Steelers!Comment
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Another vote for cabinet/furniture grade ply. 3/4" with a face frame for the carcass and 1/2" Baltic Birch for the drawers.Don, aka Pappy,
Wise men talk because they have something to say,
Fools because they have to say something.
PlatoComment
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+1quote:Originally posted by Pappy
Another vote for cabinet/furniture grade ply. 3/4" with a face frame for the carcass and 1/2" Baltic Birch for the drawers.GaryComment
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Frankly...I like MDF for a lot of applications but I wouldn't use it for this one. I'd go with the above consensus on this project.
MikeComment
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I concur.quote:Originally posted by silverfox
Frankly...I like MDF for a lot of applications but I wouldn't use it for this one. I'd go with the above consensus on this project.
MikeComment
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Reguardless of which material you use, You will have a significant expense. And you will have even more time involved in it`s creation.
Have you considered the fact that this piece may be passed down to future generations of your family?
I think You will have too much labor invested to have to admit "It`s only MDF" once completed? Admittedly Oak Plywood will cost about twice as much as MDF, But it will take as much time to build with either material. Question is are you creating an Heirloom or just furniture?
Sanity is just a one trick pony. Being a bit Crazy is a wide open field of opportunity!Comment
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Just to keep it unanimous, I agree that MDF is not suitable for a bed: it doesn't hold fasteners well, and wouldn't stand up to the stresses imposed by the bed's occupants.
Jim-Iowa has the best point of all; however, for a *painted* finish, you could use MDO plywood, which is the stuff sign painters use. It is a high-grade plywood with resin-impregnated paper faces ... more or less like Melamine.LarryComment
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With a painted surface I would not be opposed to using MDF for a lot of the construction. It is true that MDF does not hold fasteners as well as some other materials but it glues up much better than most. If it was me I would be building the larger boxes of the construction and the shelves out of MDF and building the drawers out of plywood or hardwood. I have built bed frames using this type of construction before (though never quite that high, normally about 18 -24") and have found the piece to be very solid and the additional weight add to the overall solidity of the feel of the piece.
Properly primed and painted you will have no problems with swelling due to moisture.
Now if I was building this to be a heirloom piece I would be building it completely out of hardwood and there would be no paint on it just oil or poly.
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