ah, they beat me to it! I KNEW this one, Mike!

2 coats: been there done the MDF lam thingy. MDF is a real "sucker".

dave

Mike in Mystic wrote:

Hi everyone,

I finally got started on my workbench - an exact copy of the joiner's bench
from Sam Allen's workbench book.

Anyway, things went fine up until the masonite. I used 3/4" thick MDF
versus particleboard (as Allen stated in his book). I wanted the extra
weight. Anyway, I mounted the Record 52 1/2 front vise without too much
trouble and went ahead and prepared the contact cement and cut the masonite
edge trim pieces.

I used a light nap paint roller to apply the contact cement, which was messy
as hell (I'd never used it before). It went on the surfaces fine, however,
so I didn't think there was anything to worry about. I went inside for
about 20 minutes and came back out and checked the pieces. The masonite
looked like I expected - a tacky coating, that didn't come off on your
fingers. I think "great, it's time to go for it", but when I check the MDF
benchtop, it looks as though I didn't put any cement on it at all. CRAP!

So, a few questions. First, I'm pretty sure my problem was using a
water-based product on MDF. Honestly, I didn't even check the contact
cement I used, but just from my results it seems obvious that that's the
problem. So, do I need to do anything to the bench surface now in order to
continue with the project? I'm considering just using regular titebond now,
and some new pieces of masonite. Will this be problematic? Would it be
better to try to find some organic-based contact cement and go with that?

I'm pretty annoyed at myself, as I've been strapped for shop time lately and
this really brought my bench making day to a screeching halt.

Thanks for your help,

Mike