Pre-finished plywood finishing question

[Justin Jump]

I recently noticed that on my dresser drawers in my bedroom, the tops of the drawer boxes are rounded over, and made of plywood, which I planned on using on my kitchen cabinet project. ½” pre-finished plywood with ¼” bottoms, with the exception of ½” in the heavier drawers.

Anyways, I plan on using pre-finished, which led me to thinking about my question, if I did round those over, how would I finish the rounded over edge to match the pre-finished drawer boxes themselves, which then led me to realizing that the end grain of the front of the drawer, would need finished also.

To my question, does anyone bother finishing the edges of pre-finished when they are used on drawer boxes?

[David Hawxhurst]

i don't not finsih the edges on my pre-finished plywood drawers because they are in the shop/garage. for drawers in furniture and cabinets in the house i use solid wood for the drawer boxes.

[Bill McNiel]

I buy prefinished maple drawer sides with the rounded top edge and cut them to height by ripping the bottom edge and dadoing my own bottom slots . My hardwood supplier has them in 2" increments from 4" to 12".

[johnny means]

I just use a little wipe on poly. A couple of coats, just enough to make it wipable.

[George Bokros]

I would only use pre finished ply that has no more than a clear finish then as Johnny suggest put on a little poly, either oil or water base depending n what the was used for the pre finished ply.

[Peter Quinn]

I left the top edges square and used iron on prefinished edge banding to match for my fast and dirty kitchen overhaul, its been almost 6 years of daily use, no giving up yet. Why the round over? Unless the pre fin ply is baltic birch I wouldn't leave the edges or ends exposed, there are often voids and oddities in the core of basic 5 ply hardwood plywood that are unsightly. For shop cabs, I'm in the who cares camp, I'd use almost anything. I don't under stand the exposed ends on the drawer front? Are you doing slab doors and drawer fronts made of plywood? If so, the ends and edges need veneer for a finished solid wood look. Again, plywood often has voids, voids are unsightly and unsanitary should yuck collect in them.

[Sam Murdoch]

I am a big fan of pre fin ply but not for this use - especially if you intend to round over. I would use multi ply versions such as Baltic Birch or Apply Ply for drawer boxes but not regular laminate plywood. In the rounding over you are likely to find some voids as Peter Q writes above , and then you have a problem. For a few drawers that you want to round over I would add a solid wood top edge - 1/2" x 1/2" but what a pain in the shop that would be to do well.

If you'd rather not invest in more material and are pretty set on the 1/2" pre fin, I suggest that if you leave them square edged with a slight sanding to remove the sharp edges and then wipe on a few coats of poly or pad lacquer & you'll be fine.

[johnny means]

To be clear, I also don't actually round over the edge. I just soften the corner with a sanding sponge.