plywood drawer construction: edge cover

[Chris Padilla]

My personal preference is for edging plywood is glue and hardwood. A router table with a flush-trim bit will flush it up pretty (or a hand plane) and then trim the ends and you'll have a very durable edge.

"Iron on" and wood just doesn't feel right to me.

[Thom Sturgill]

Where in the store did you find it, Thom? Heat-adhesive back? Just curious as I'd like to look for it for grins the next time I'm at HD.

It was hanging next to the 2'x4' panels. Yes, it was heat activated.

[Bill Huber]

does the iron on stay on? the words 'iron on' makes me think it will peal off soon.

The ones I have put on are doing very well, there are no areas that have come loose.
I used the ones from HD and then work just fine.

[John Lucas]

does the iron on stay on? the words 'iron on' makes me think it will peal off soon.

Randy,
Yes and no. I find that if you use an iron to heat and press the banding down AND FOLLOW THIS WITH A HEAT SINK it will stay forever. What most people do is just iron and hope it will stay. The heat sink can be anything cool that can press the hot edge banding into the edge of the wood. It doesnt take any real time...no more time than heating the edge banding with the iron. You can use a 2 x 4 scrap. My best "heat sink" is my trusty block plane with the blade retracted but I often just pick up a scrap block of wood. What you want to do is put pressure on the edgebanding when it is hot and once cooled, move on.

[frank shic]

if you bevel the edges of the edgebanding, it'll decrease the likelihood of something catching and ripping it somewhere down the line. although i started with the heat activated edgebanding, i much prefer the PVC edgebanding that fastcap makes as it's much more durable than melamine or veneer edgebanding.

ed peters has got the easiest solution though: just use higher grade plywood and leave the edges alone! for a few bucks more you can save yourself all the extra time and expense over applying edgebanding by hand!