Best way to repair cabinet corners?

[Brad Lee]

As yo ucan see in the pic below, the bottom corner is a bit, well, chewed up

(Yes, thats a keystone plate wth coax & cat5)

The material is 3/4" particle board, typical of early 80s cabinets, nothing fancy. It's not otherwise cracked, just worn away so at the very edge, it's about 1/2" thick. The 2 bottom corners are like this, the rear top corners are similar but a lot less worn

How do I go about building up this area so that it's flat again, giving me a solid surface?

What about something like this?

These are plates that bolt around the corner- definitely the easy way out, but Id like to go with filling and painting if at all possible instead

[Darkstalker]

You could make a wood skirt around the bottom that will hide the wheels and the problem.  Not a "fix", but the problem wouldn't be visible anymore  

[SNAAAKE]

putty .

The onces the harden so hard that you can do much after it dries out.the sand the extra and corner protecter should do the rest of the problem.
Luck luck

[spidermonkey]

I don't know what Snaaake is trying to say  but anyway I would consider using the corner protectors. I think they look authentic and they also cover a multitude of sins. If your dead set on repairing the corners  then you'll just have to cut off the chewed up corner and replace it with a new chunk of wood. You'll have to put somekind of plate behind where your new piece and the cabinet connect and screw it from the inside out. Use some glue too. Maybe an L-bracket (the flat type) placed along the inside of the bottom corner (not around the edge) would work as a backing plate that way you wouldn't have to detach the back of the cabinet where it connects to the side. The L-bracket will just curve around it. Then fill in the scar with wood puttyand sand it smooth. Just an idea. Hope it helps
S.M.

[SNAAAKE]

what i meant was....put some wood putty to fill the dirty hole then cover it with corner protecter..thats all.

[Brad Lee]

I think I am going to go with some sort of corner protecter
I am going to have to putty a section about 10" on the bottom edge
where the laminate was chewed up, but it's very shallow damage at that point

I shot it with a nice light coat of primer and boy it really makes the imperfections stand out, and a heck of a lot easier to see than the wood/particle grain that was there(like the pic above)

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, wood putty is great.  I used it to fix mistakes.  Works great.

[hyiu]

I also had a chipped away corner in my cab...
I used wood putty.... turns out pretty good....
This is my first time using putty.... so... sanding part is not very perfect...

after painting, you won't notice it too much (since its lower corner...) but if you look closely, you might be able to see it... (I guess that also depends on your sanding skills...)

good luck...

[neuromancer]

Bondo.

Put a screw into the edge of the wood to give the bondo something to hold onto.

Bondo is awesome stuff, but messy to work with. You would need some form work, maybe cardboard lined with foil, a tiny bit larger than your finished size, so you can sand it down. Once it cures, it's like tough plastic.

I've used Bondo to repair rotting window sills, and as a surface treatment for an outdoor table.

bpb

[1UP]

Maybe you could make a piece of wood that roughly fits into the damaged area, epoxy it and clamp for a few hours, then sand it down.  Should be stronger than putty.

I actually bashed a corner of my cab while assembling it.  Fortunately, the part that broke off was in one piece, so I put it back on with some J&B Weld epoxy.  That stuff is STRONG when it cures!  It's also a good filler.  Then I sanded the corner flush with the rest of the wood, finishing it with some super-fine grit stuff for a smooth finish.  I laminated over it, but you should be able to paint it over without a problem.  I used a cheap orbital 1/4-sheet sander and it works great for everything.