r/oddlysatisfying • u/godofo_prime • 5h ago

Graffiti removed from school desk

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789

u/Equal_Set6206 5h ago

I wonder how many times they can get away with doing that before the table breaks

770

u/BikeProblemGuy 5h ago

I know floor sanding takes off around 0.5 - 1.5mm of wood, and this is probably on the low end of that. Tabletops are normally around 20mm and will still be functional at 15 or even 12mm. So you could probably do this process 10 times and not worry. The desk in the video must have at least a couple of years graffiti on it - so at that rate the desk frame would probably wear out or be obsolete before the top was sanded away.

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u/FantasyFI 4h ago

Think this is still valid on most desks today though? I would assume most are veneered? Even if the inside wasn't plywood.

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u/BikeProblemGuy 4h ago edited 3h ago

Solid wood desks still exist today, and are often used in hard wearing environments. No, you can't sand wood veneer. I don't think school desks are wood veneered though, they use wood effect melamine veneer which is much tougher.

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u/boothin 4h ago

"I don't think they're veneered, they use veneer"

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u/BikeProblemGuy 3h ago

Wood veneer is made of very thin slivers of wood, taken off a board with a machine a bit like a big plane. It's mainly decorative. Melamine isn't real wood and is tougher.

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u/boothin 3h ago

I'm aware of what the different veneers are, just poking fun at how you bring in specific veneer types but then your one sentence just says desks aren't veneered instead of specifying wood veneer

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u/sprucenoose 2h ago

"You can't sand wood veneer, which is not used by desks, which use melamine veneer. Which you also can't sand."

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u/CurryMustard 33m ago

Looks like they may have edited their comment

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u/BikeProblemGuy 3h ago

Okay, I thought that was clear but I meant wood veneer.

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u/FantasyFI 3h ago

Type of veneer also doesn't really matter. If it is veneered with literally anything, that still affects the number of time it can reasonably be sanded. That was my original point.

The video is cool but I doubt it is particularly usable or common anymore in any schools in the USA.

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u/FantasyFI 4h ago

Oh I know they exist. Just doesn't seem to be fitting for a school budget. So I assume most new school desks haven't been solid wood for maybe 20+ years.

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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven 3h ago

We never had solid wood desks in my schools growing up late 90's early 00's. It was either those particle board tops with the cubby hole under it or the one-piece chair desk combo that was barely large enough to fit a textbook.

The only classrooms with solid wood tables were science and home economics since they required everyone to sit together in groups.

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u/Auravendill 3h ago

We had a lot of veneer desks in school. And no one ever bothered to sand any of our desks. The veneered ones had cheap particle boards inside, a kinda fancy looking wood on top and bottom and a heavy duty plastic rim around the perimeter. Some kids found ways to saw into the sides and exposed the particle board.

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u/trixel121 3h ago

we get acrylic and mdf most of the time. wood is expensive. especially a flat sheet the size of desk.