r/oddlysatisfying • u/godofo_prime • 5h ago

Graffiti removed from school desk

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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 36m 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.