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Soon will be laminating a very long bar. I’ll have to use several pieces of Formica to do this. The pattern is “Natural Oak”. It’s of course one of the wood grains. I want the joints to be as unnoticable as possible. I don’t suppose this pattern is made so you can match the grain when laying pieces end to end. Any advice for making the seams disapear?
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Invisible contact cement
*If I couldn't match the grain perfectly, I'd choose another design or application. Unmatched, it would look like hell.
*Formica is available in long lengths, I know up to 16' is available. Would this be long enough?And, this is just a hunch but I'd think the pattern must repeat every few feet. Probably made with a big roller that lays down the same pattern everytime it rolls over once. The trick is to find out how often it does repeat. Shame if you'd have to use 25 little 2' pieces.
*The longest section of this bar is about 22' long. Probably too long for one piece of formica although I'd prefer to do that. (how do you handle 22' of flexible formica?)Another question: For post formed countertops, the formica thinner and made to bend to a sharper radius. Can you get this in a roll that's longer than 16'? Just brainstorming.
*Are you saying that laminate bigger than 5 x 12 can be had? If that be so, all you'd need Richard, is a few more windows worth of venetian blinds.
*I can't get anything bigger than 5 x 12. The other thing to remember in a bar that size is, the laminate will change size with changes in the environment (growing and shrinking), so it's often detailed to use smaller pieces with a wood frame, or something similar, to break it up. Someone on a cabinetmaking forum was saying recently they ran into a lot of trouble on a long run; the whole thing grew and buckled.
*That's what I thought on the size, but one can hope. I mean, even 6x12 would be a Godsend. How many L's have been 5'2" on a side? Damn.
*I'm not saying bigger sheets aren't out there; I just can't get them in the boonies. 30" x 12' particle board blanks for tops would be a godsend also, but I cna't get them here.
*who would be so cruel as to ask you to do the imposible? Natural oak? Really! My advice to you is to work on trying to convince your client to chose a different look. Good luck!
*He Richard I own a small cab/counter top company, I can get dim/from 30"to60" wide Lam up to 12'long. The Manufacturers make at least 3 grades of lam:vertical grade (very thin) Post forming grade (nice for any tops) and Regular grade (big phenolic lines bad). Unfortunately all seams will show but you can match butcher block by matching patterns. Some one else brought up a good point about expansion and contraction. I have made tops with 3/4"x2" build up under the deck and then cut a 3/4"x3/4" kerf on the deck on all edges this seams to relieve the problem. I also do this on the solid surface ssv tops that I make. Seems to work.
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Soon will be laminating a very long bar. I'll have to use several pieces of Formica to do this. The pattern is "Natural Oak". It's of course one of the wood grains. I want the joints to be as unnoticable as possible. I don't suppose this pattern is made so you can match the grain when laying pieces end to end. Any advice for making the seams disapear?