How to finish

[neuromancer]

Hi Y'all,

I made a cabinet this weekend. I'll post some pics in the project announcements later tonight if I can, or else tuesday.

There were certain constraints, the two most important being:

1) It needed to use only available materials (that is, stuff taking up space in my shed).

2) I needed to be able to finish it in a day.

So I made it with 5/8 inch plywood, scrap lumber, and decking screws. I got it all put together and played a game, and it's nice.  

The plywood is probably C/C or CDX, so the exterior of the box is a little rough. So here's my question: How's the best way to finish a cabinet made with inferior materials:

Options I've thought of:

1) Leave it unfinished. That one is easy (cause there's no work involved, but it's probably the ugliest cab.

2) Fill the voids with wood filler, sand and paint.
2a) Don't fill, and just paint -- at least it covers the stains.

3) Laminate (probably not an option, unless I score some free laminate material). I _could_ laminate it with 1/8" hardboard, but that probably isn't much of an improvement.

4) Print out some full size graphics, laminate them and glue them on the cabinet.

I'm kind of leaning towards option 4, because I can print for free, and laminating is pretty cheap. The base color would need to be white though, and I'm not crazy about that. I'd glue it around the edges with rubber cement, and maybe apply edge moulding.

Bob

[Matt Berry]

I'd use some kind of filler, sand it smooth then paint it. After that I'd print out some various graphics / side art and apply it to the cab. It's best to take the time to make it look kind of nice even if it is "hacked" together. That way when you look back at it 10 years down the road you don't say, man I wish I would have taken the time to make this a little nicer, or what was I thinking when I put this together. I know I've done that with some of my older projects. I often shake my head and wonder, what was I thinking when I built that. So take it for what it's worth from someone who's been down that road many of times.