Hi Barnaby how did this surface turn out? I’m making a desk for my son’s room and I think I’m going to use a sheet of melamine faced birch ply from SL hardwoods, but I’m curious about your solution. I was originally going to make it from oak boards but I think the melanine might be tougher as well as easier to work with & cheaper.
White finish desk top
I got someone to coat it with a spray gun as sort of a favour. Two-part mat PU, which is pretty tough.
Doing this yourself is not cost effective at all though. If you don’t buy bulk 1L will set you back £60. And you need a paint booth and mask.
Melamine chips out very easily. Mark warned me not to use it. It’s also really, really expensive for what it is.
Oiled oak will last generations. And it’s very child safe as it doesn’t involve any nasty chemicals.
Hm thanks that’s plenty of food for thought. I did wonder about the top chipping when I cut it. I want to cut curves into the corners.
I’ve just done a whole office in melamine faced MDF and it did chip a little bit. Used a router with a decent cutter and my plunge saw. I could probably dig out some offcuts for you to test if you wanted.
Seems tough and should last ok, but if it chips in service then it will be a pain, exposing the MDF underneath - not a problem with solid wood.
You’ll need to edge-band the edges, of course, but SL Hardwoods do a good range of banding. I’d go with the 2.5mm real wood if I was doing it again.
SL also do melamine ply, which is what I was looking at. No need to band the edge. It was really expensive though 
That’s why I went with MDF! Although for a single sheet it might be worth going with ply.
12mm sheet was over £100!
it looks a lot better than white edge banding though I feel
the white ikea ps 2014 table uses it and it looks a lot more upmarket than most of their usual stuff
I’ve got a lead on a supplier for Mel-ply for £71 a sheet 18mm, and regular for £41 if that is helpful for anyone.
Edit: Should note, birch in both cases.
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I’d definitely be interested for some shelving…happy to split a sheet with anyone else.
Who is the supplier?
Is that with VAT ?
I used oak edge banding to match the existing doors. Doesn’t look too bad. SL Hardwoods so a real ply edge band too, I believe, although I don’t know how good it looks.
That sounds like a really good solution. Is it iron-on banding? does that stay on ok?
Yes, pre-glued iron on. The 0.5mm I used is a bit lumpy if the wood underneath isn’t totally flat so that’s why I’d go with the thicker one if I did it again.
It’s not really in use yet so hard to know how it will stand up to wear and tear
Do you have any photos? I’d love to see how it looks. I was thinking oak boards to make it match oak details on his bed but white melamine with oak edge banding might be a nice compromise. Although it’s possible he will sit there absentmindedly picking it all off one day when homework gets too boring. I think I’m talking myself back into using oak boards. I’m just worried the surface won’t be smooth enough to write because of the grain.
You can get oak silky smooth if you send it through the planer it then sand it up to 320 grit
after you oil it it will need sanding or rubbing with wire wool between coats as the fibres raise up again but this will make it very very smooth to the touch
if you are still worried about little bumps in the grain you can also use a varnish which will fill these up, but you will need to build up quite a few coats for that to work well, with sanding in between each.
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