How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges
Recently Iโve been working on building drawers for our pantry. The material I chose to use is finish grade plywood. Plywood is strong, but unfortunately it has a raw edge that isnโt the most attractive side of the wood. No problem, it can be covered. You could use wood putty to smooth the raw edges of the plywood, but you wonโt get perfect results and it is only recommended if you are going to paint your plywood. Instead, I have a solutionย for you on How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges to give you a more professional look. In fact, some people may not be able to tell it was plywood to begin with!
This is an easy tutorial and requires noย power tools (unless you consider an iron a power tool.) You will need to purchase veneer edging for this project. Donโt worry if your edging is wider than your lumber, weโll fix that. Ready to learnย How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges? Letโs get this project heated up.
Materials:
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Instructions:
Pre-heat your iron on the cotton setting. Measure the length of your veneer edging on your plywood. (Do not cross your edging over any joints. Keep the veneer piece the same length as the cut wood.) Cut the excess off.
Rip off a piece of foil the length of the plywood or at least the length of your iron. Lay the edge veneer on top of the plywood edge. Lay the aluminum foil between the veneer edging andย the iron. Press the iron to heat up the glue on the underside of the edging. Keep moving the iron so as not to scorch the wood. Usually 30 seconds is all you need to activate the glue.
After the entire edge veneer has been glued, use a flat edge onย the trimming tool to burnish the veneerย firmly onto the raw plywood edge. If any areas still arenโt glued, reheat and repeat the process on that spot.
Turn the trimmerย tool and run itย along the side of your plywood toย trim off the excess edging. You may need to make a few passes to remove all the excess veneer.
Sand the edges smoothย and remove any rough spots.
Check it out, you are done and your plywood looks like it was solid wood not plywood!
If you learn better watching aย video, youโll appreciate that I made aย Facebook Live video to show youย How to Finish Raw Plywood Edges:
Donโt forget to Follow Me on YouTubeย for more tutorial and tip videos. Iโm always bringing you along as I work. ๐
Now that you know this trick, you can build anything using plywood and finish off those raw edges.
Until next time, enjoy fooling people with yourย clean finished edges on plywood. No one has to know that itโs not solid wood. ๐
Will you be posting how to build the drawers? Please!
My plywood contractor says that edge banding can be applied to door panels. But not on wider surfaces. He has left a lot of sharp edges and pointed corners. The sharp edges are where mica edges meet. Is there a routing tool or other that maybe used to correct this?
You can use a roundover or flush cut bit on a trim router (if the banding is on the outide of the door. Interior panels may not be able to do the same.
Very interesting site. And I love the name, very clever! Keep up the good writing!
Your drawer looks great! Thanks for sharing this tip with us amateurs! Plywood is very durable and heavy, so this veneer will finish the job off correctly.