Edging for Veneered Round Table Top

[Jeremy Rayburn]

I'm tackling my first veneered round table top, and have run into a problem. I've always just used solid wood edging for square or curved veneer projects, but I can't really use a solid piece for a circle. What is the best way to cover the MDF edges? I was thinking of just making a arc template that matches up with the table top, and making 6-8 identical pieces and glueing around the edge of the table. I'd like to rout a profile once it's done. Any suggestions? Pics would help!

[Jim Becker]

You could still use solid stock via bending...or do a segmented construction as you detail in your post.

[Mike Henderson]

One way to put an edging on a round veneered table is to use a flexible edging. Choose a wood which will match your veneer and resaw/plane it down to about 3/16". You can go a bit thicker but you'll understand why you need to keep it thin as I explain it.

Put tape on the surface of the wood. Blue tape works well. If you used 3/4" substrate, you'll now cut across the grain about 7/8" wide. Suppose your board was 6" wide, you'll now have pieces of wood that are 6" by 7/8" by about 3/16". Lay the pieces together end to end (so two pieces will make a 12" piece) and blue tape the pieces together. If you want to, you can then turn the pieces over and put some glue where the pieces join.

You'll find that you can bend this wood around your table to make an edge. You don't have to glue all of it up at once. You can glue pieces as large as you feel comfortable handling. So, for example, you can take a piece 12" long and glue it to the edge of your table, being careful to center it so that a bit sticks up and below. Use a strap to hold it while gluing.

When you get to your last piece, I like to glue with a small gap, about an inch. Then you can cut and put in that piece and make it tight.

Remove the blue tape.

You'll have to *carefully* sand the edging flat with the veneer.

You can then put some profile on the edging. Note that it can't be much because the edging isn't very thick so just some rounding is about all you can do. If you really want a lot more, you can do several layers of the edging to build it up to what you need. You might be tempted to use layers of different colors of wood. Resist that temptation - it's doesn't look good.

See the pictures which show the edging put on a (very dirty) student panel. It's not round but the idea is the same.

Note that the grain runs up and down along the side of the panel and end grain shows on the face of the panel. What you'd normally like to do is round the edging back so that the end grain showing is very thin.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

I've never done the following but have seen it done.

Make up six or eight pieces as you mentioned. Glue it up but leave two joints unglued so that it would come apart in half if unclamped - but leave it in clamps. If your glued up piece is not complete - that is, if it has a hole in the center, you need to attach a piece of plywood to it so that you can have a center pivot.

Figure out the size of the veneered panel (radius) and use an accurate circle jig, like the MicroFence, to cut the inside of the edging. Be careful where you leave the clamps - you don't want the edging to collapse when you route it out. You can also glue the edging to the plywood with cardboard between them so you can remove the plywood later.

Now, turn your veneered panel over and use the bottom for your center pivot for the jig. Adjust the jig to account for the diameter of the router bit and cut the veneered part.

Take the edging apart into two pieces and fit it around the veneered part. If the center is too big, take another very small cut on the center piece to make it just a bit smaller. If the center is just a bit too small, you can take a bit off the joints of the edging to make it fit.

[Note: you might be tempted to just glue up the edging, route a hole and try to drop the center into it. I doubt if you could do that and have the joint be really tight.]

When you have a good fit, glue the edging to the veneered part. Once it's set, use the center hole in the bottom of the table to cut the edging to size.

You then have to get the edging flat with the veneer which can be done with a plane and finally with a scraper. Finish with fine sandpaper.

This provides a more "natural" look and allows you to use any edge profile you want.

Mike

Mike

[Earl Kelly]

Jeremy,

I make some round tables with solid edges. I use jigs with a shaper to cut the pieces to identical curves. I've included some pics to further explain.

The trick is to get a tite joint to each other as well the veneered top. I used a jig on the tablesaw to carefully cut the ends. And usually took an initial cut, then several very thin slices to sneek up on a great fit.



Earl