Edge banding plywood

[David Klug]

I'm building a vanity for the bathroom out of some plywood that I have on hand. I would like to to put banding on the edges to give it a finished look. Has anyone done this before? Any ideas or helpful hint about what to do and what not to do would be appreciated.

DK

[Steve Cox]

If you want easy, buy a roll of iron on edge banding from almost any supply house. Better, IMHO is to use solid wood and glue it in place. Surface some similar hardwood to a thickness slightly more than your plywood. Next, rip some 1/8" strips off of that board. Apply glue to the plywood, put the wood in place and then use masking tape every 3"-4" (closer if needed) to hold it in place. After it dries use a plane to trim the banding close to the final thickness and then sand to finish. There are other methods (like everything else in woodworking :) ) but these are probably the simplest and most common.

[Chris Padilla]

David,

There are a ton of ways to edgeband plywood. I'll tell you what I do:

First, decided if your piece will be painted or not. My wife wanted a white vanity for our 1/2-bath so I was to edgeband quicker and easier than if she wanted the wood to show.

I edgeband for two reasons: looks and durability. No one like to see the plys of the plywood and plywood edges don't take paint well nor do they wear well.

I used my router table with a flush trim bit in it to trim the edgebanding right to the face of the plywood plus a hair or two. This requires a tall fence and the fence to be off the table to allow the edgebanding sticking out to slide through.

I also simply and directly glued the edgebanding to the plywood. No biscuits, no splines, no screws, no nothing...just glue and clamps. I even glued up two panels at once with edgebanding glued to both panels and then I ripped them when dry. Saved some time and clamps.

Because my panels were to be painted, I didn't do anything special about the corners where the edgebanding meets...no 45s. If the wood shows, odds are good you'll want to miter the ends and then things get a little more fussier so it'll look good. Be sure to pick some wood that matches the ply or vice versa, get some ply that matches the solid wood. The crossgrain situation is nearly impossible to hide so go for color matching to blend it better.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=6911 shows a nice maple TV shelf I made using some different techniques for edgebanding.

[Steve Clardy]

I use the iron on banding. Then sneak out the wifes iron and iron it on. Then use a utility knife to trim close, then sand flush. Simple, cost effective, and gets the job done.
Steve

[Jamie Buxton]

I use the iron on banding. Then sneak out the wifes iron and iron it on. Then use a utility knife to trim close, then sand flush. Simple, cost effective, and gets the job done.
Steve

Be careful to clean any stray adhesive off the iron before replacing it. Iron-on adhesive does bad things to expensive clothes. That, in turn, does bad things to you. DAMHIK. :(

[Steve Clardy]

Be careful to clean any stray adhesive off the iron before replacing it. Iron-on adhesive does bad things to expensive clothes. That, in turn, does bad things to you. DAMHIK. :(
Yes that's a good thought Jamie. But never had that problem. Just keep the iron on the veneer. Besides, with a temp setting on wool, it burns off if it ever gets there.

Steve

[David Klug]

Thanks for the info guys, I'll be sure to take a piece along with me when I go shopping.

DK

[Carole Valentine]

I make my own 1/4 banding by dimensioning the stock to proper thickness, routing the profile then ripping the strip off on the TS (I use the Grr-Ripper system for the ripping), joint the ripped edge on the supply stock, rout the profile then rip another strip and so on... Never liked the iron on stuff.

[Mark Singer]

I have a small Freud edgebander that does a great job...its about $220