Faster way to glue hardwood edging?

[Les Key]

I'm under the gun to get a walnut kitchen built before we move in on the 1st of the month in a house my wife and I are renovating. (boxes only, I can build the doors after we move.)
I chose to use 1/8" hardwood edge instead of hot melt edge banding due to the wear and tear factor. I've seen too many cabinets with loose edgeband after a few years.

Is there a faster way to attach hardwood edging than wood glue and pin nails?

I know titebond has a hot melt poly glue but I don't think it cures completely any faster.

[Fred Falgiano]

Not a faster glue, but I use blue tape instead of pin nails. I put a strip about every 4 inches and pull it good and tight. Works great and there aren’t any pins to worry about later.

[John TenEyck]

3M PUR, but it's expensive.

John

[peter gagliardi]

Take your plywood panels, and a strip of solid wood equal to the twice the thickness you want, plus a saw kerf. Glue it centered between both pieces of plywood, and rip after cure.
Twice as fast.
Perfectly tight edges. Not just where clamps or nails are, like with a thin strip.
No nails.
This is how we solid edge our plywood shelves in the shop.
But we glue 8’ lengths and cut shelves to length after.

[glenn bradley]

I too say no brads and pins. Save that for accurate reproductions of Home Depot kitchen department products. When rushed I will leave Titebond in the clamps for 30 minutes and move on carefully. Using that method you could finish a lot of cabinetry between breakfast and dinner. If you have a day job like me . . . not so fast ;-)

[Jamie Buxton]

Take your plywood panels, and a strip of solid wood equal to the twice the thickness you want, plus a saw kerf. Glue it centered between both pieces of plywood, and rip after cure.
Twice as fast.
Perfectly tight edges. Not just where clamps or nails are, like with a thin strip.
No nails.
This is how we solid edge our plywood shelves in the shop.
But we glue 8’ lengths and cut shelves to length after.

How do you do the rip? The banding is wider than the plywood, so if you were to run the assembly through the table saw, it would be teeter-tottering on the edge of the banding.

[Les Key]

Thanks guys,
Jamie, some guys use small battens the thickness of the offset. I did the first panel as two and just used a hand plane to bring it flush on one side.

[Al Launier]

How do you do the rip? The banding is wider than the plywood, so if you were to run the assembly through the table saw, it would be teeter-tottering on the edge of the banding.

I think Peter might have meant width instead of thickness. If the center strip was the same thickness as the shelves, but its width was (1/8" x 2) plus the kerf width of say 1/8" then ripping this down the center of the strip would produce edging that is shelf thick & 1/8" edging thick.

[Robert Engel]

How do you do the rip? The banding is wider than the plywood, so if you were to run the assembly through the table saw, it would be teeter-tottering on the edge of the banding.

I often do it this way, too. I use a 3/4" strip.

Several ways to attack it:

A piece of 1/4" ply underneath both sides.
Rip on the bandsaw, then flush trim and re-rip on TS.
Flush trim one side first using a plane.

I usually just run it through and don't worry about it because after flush trimming I do a final rip pass.

Lots of commercial shops use a lip planer but they are very pricey.

I like to use a high fence with gap on bottom on TS. William Ng has a video on how to build one.

[peter gagliardi]

I think Peter might have meant width instead of thickness. If the center strip was the same thickness as the shelves, but its width was (1/8" x 2) plus the kerf width of say 1/8" then ripping this down the center of the strip would produce edging that is shelf thick & 1/8" edging thick.

This, exactly.
It is not hard to mill the strip to a few thousandths thicker than the plywood, glue it flush or very close to , and lightly sand after.

[Derek Cohen]

Not a faster glue, but I use blue tape instead of pin nails. I put a strip about every 4 inches and pull it good and tight. Works great and there aren’t any pins to worry about later.

This is what I do. Blue tape has some stretch to it. Use the elasticity to hold the edges tight.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Bruce Wrenn]

Saw this in a WW magazine tips. Take a length of bicycle inner tube, and place ends over jaws of a spring clamp. After gluing edging, open spring clamp and "shove" it over the edge banding. Inner tube will force edging in place and clamps will hold inner tube in place.

[Brian Holcombe]

Buy Joe Calhoon's Marunaka Edge bander for solid wood edging.

[Edwin Santos]

I used to use blue tape with good results. I then tried a 3M tape Lee Valley calls "binding tape" which is green, and now I get even better results. It is stronger than blue tape with a little more stretch, yet comes off just as clean. You don't have to get it from Lee Valley, there are other sources. I think 3M calls it 233 tape, but I recommend going through Lee Valley if you can because they rock.

If you like the blue tape, give this green tape a try and see what you think.

I think it's important to make sure the edge banding is not glue starved so be liberal.


25U0330s1.jpg25U0330s2.jpg

[Mark Daily]

I use thick cyanoacrylate (super glue). On small parts you can use it by itself or use it in conjunction with regular wood glue. The CA acts as “nails” and holds the part in place while the wood glue dries. Just don’t mix them together- use a few dabs of the CA spaced between the wood glue.

Works very well and holds as well as wood glue. I’ve attached crown molding to cabinets using just CA and it has never come apart.

Currently I’m using 2P-10 but I think any thick CA will work. They have some YouTube videos that demonstrate how fast & easy it works. Sets in about 2 seconds if you use the activator and about 10 if you don’t and need a little time to adjust parts.