Strategies for Banding Plywood Edges

When you use plywood in your shop, or many other types of sheet stock, you’ll probably want to cover the edges. When this is done well the final piece will look like a solid piece of wood. Let’s look at what you need to do to effectively band plywood in your shop. Types of banding In this class you’ll learn about heat sensitive edge banding, thin strips like are commonly used for European-style cabinets and wide bands like you might put on shelves to reinforce them. Each of these requires a different approach in order to be used correctly. Making the banding Banding is often very thin, and that means ripping those thin strips on your table saw. You’ll learn about a shop-made jig that works great for producing short banding, and a commercially made jig that makes it easy and safe to rip long pieces. Clamp it Clamping edge banding is unlike clamping other projects. Because it’s typically thin we have to take extra steps to make sure it’s secured. From masking tape to specialized edge band clamps, we’ve got you covered. We’ll even look at what it takes to clamp banding to a curved surface. Trim it Banding is applied oversized. That means the edges of the banding project past the face of the material. You’ll learn about shop-made devices that allow you to trim banding on a router table, table saw or with a hand-held router.