Plywood edging router bits

Re: Plywood edging router bits

Hoa Dinh in Alameda

>I personally think that these are a solution looking for a problem. I prefer simple 1/4" thick edging.

I still haven't figure out how to use these bits if I have to edge-band at a corner (e.g. all four sides of a plywood panel). Currently I just miter the simple edging.

-- Hoa

Hoa, I always jst ran them by the corner each way

Don Henthorn

>and had no problem. Of course the Lord looks out for imbeciles and idiots so I just may have been lucky.

Re: Plywood edging router bits

albertabob

>Ken, the problem with these bits is that plywood is rarely completely even in thickness.

Fitting a chunck of matching wood in the groove you just routerd is considered a challenge by most.

I'm sure others have suggested just wrapping the ply in a strip of wood just proud of the top surface and fitting it down as you are most comfortable with the tools you have.

Bob

I own those...

Brian in Sandusky, OH

>...and rarely find a place for them.

I usually just use iron on veneer edging, or glue my own strips in place.

I wish I could get my $80 or so back on those. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but the fact that I've used them once when I've had plenty of plywood to edge speaks for itself.

(I'll sell you mine!!!)

Although....

Brian in Sandusky, OH

>...perhaps I would use them if I had to edge plywood, and then I wanted to roundover the edge, or profile the edge.

Let's say that I wanted an edge that was 1" wide, and then I wanted a decorative profile on that....I'd probably use the bits. Probably a better glue surface then just a flat edge.

But for the cost, you could just do a spline to reinforce it...I still stick by my first answer.

Re: Prpfessionally speaking...

Rick L

>using those bits is a total waste of time and money. You gain nothing. Simply gluing the edging on is more than adequate. Put the edges on 2 panels and clamp the panel with the banded edges facing each so the panel itself is it's own caul or use iron on tape.

Have 'em, use 'em

Bill Hylton

>I have and occasionally use the Burgess Edge bits. Simply gluing a thin strip of stock to the edge of plywood certainly is easier. But when you look at the face, you usually see that band as a narrow frame around the panel.

The BE approach is intended to eliminate that. When you do it right�and I�m not saying that�s a snap�the solid-wood edging you apply fits between the plywood�s face veneers. When you view the face, the veneer extends to the arris. When you view the edge, you see solid wood with the wafer-thin edges of the face veneers at the arrises.

I guess this is a turnabout on the veneer tape business. With that system, you see the tape from arris to arris when you look at the edge. Look at the plywood face and you see face veneer with a wafer-thin tape edge at the arris. I�ve not used the tape. The guy who built the cabinets in our kitchen did and over the years, it has separated from the panel edges in many spots.

The BE system is not just a more-involved way of sticking on a solid-wood edging. Bear in mind that after you apply the edging, you recut the panel to trim the solid-wood edge flush with the edge of the plywood (or veneered MDF). It�s fussy�you have to shim the bits to match the sheet thickness, and we all know about the variability of sheet thickness (less of a consideration, I think, with veneered MDF). It�s extra work�after sizing the panels, you rout their edges, mill the edging, glue it, then recut the panels.

But it seems to me to be more lasting than tape and better-looking than solid-wood banding.

Bill

Re: Plywood edging router bits

ScottS

>One of the woodworking mags did a review of three different sets of these bits. Might have been Wood or Popular Woodworking. The Burgess Edge was one of the sets; I don't remember the other two. My memory is hazy, but... I think they had complaints about each of the tested sets. I think they were all a bit finicky to use. I seem to recall that they liked one of the sets a bit better than the Burgess Edge, but again I don't remember which one.