Easily Trim Edge Banding
George VondriskaDescription
When I’m making something that has edge banding on all four edges, with butt joints at the corners, my go-to technique is to let the last two pieces of banding run past the first two pieces, then cut them flush.
There are a couple keys to making this work, and work well. The first one is tool-based: use a fine-tooth pull saw. The second is technique-based: carefully align the pull saw with the surface you want the cut aligned with.
I’m right handed so use my left hand to hold the face of the saw tight against the adjacent piece of banding to get good alignment. If you’re concerned about the set of the teeth leaving marks on that piece, cover it with masking tape before doing this process.
With the face of the saw firmly against the face of the banding, gently start cutting. Don’t force the saw, let it follow its path, tracing the other banding.
This approach takes a little practice, but it’s a foolproof way to get flush cuts.
When I put solid wood banding onto a plywood panel, I put it on such that this piece of banding bypasses that one. And I let it just run wild on one hand. I let it run long and it's much easier to do what I'm about to show you than it is to do the fussy cuts of trying to get this piece exactly the same as the door. So gonna clamp it in place because now we need to take care of that overhang. And the best way to do this for me is with the Pula. It's a very fine toothed saw. It's gotta be 18 or 20 TP I. The key to this is not to just do this. It's to use your left hand if you're right hand dominant to register against that face. So with these fingers, I'm holding the blade against the existing piece of banding and then get started with your cut. And what this is making happen is it's forcing this cut to be flushed to this face. So throughout the cut, maintain that pressure. And when you look here, you can see that that blade is dead flat against that other piece of banding. That's what's making this work perfectly flushed. A little bit of sanding. It's gonna look great. It's the easiest way to deal with that overly long banding.
I had two comments after watching the video: It seemed awkward to be reaching across the saw with your left hand to guide the saw. It seems to me that you would have to be less of a 'contortionist' to have the waste sticking out toward the left (for a right-handed person). Then the edge of the project would be right there for the guiding (left) hand . I was also wondering if a fine-toothed push saw would create less tear out. I will have to experiment with this to see what works best for me.