the hardest part about building projects out of plywood is knowing what to do the finish the raw edges so in today's video we're gonna look at one of the simplest ways to professionally cover those edges the product we're using is an iron-on edge banding which is a thin veneer of wood in this case birch that has a temperature sensitive adhesive pre applied to the back this product is widely available and if installed properly is quite durable to install this type of edge banding you will need a few specific tools the first tool is a heating iron like the one I have here which is designed for crafts or you can use this one that's designed for well clothes the other tools an edge trimmer they make a few different styles so let's look at three of them the first one I have here is the cheapest out of all them and it's called the bandit edge trimmer this trimmer has two blades and can be used in either direction and is designed to only trim one side at a time because this tool is really cheap it can be a little fussy to use but if you have to you can totally make this work the next edge trimmer steps it up a notch to a dual sided cutter which means with one pass it can trim both sides at the same time these trimmers are the same just a different manufacturer but both of them have an extra set of blades that cuts a small bevel as well what that means is that the first set of blades flush the veneer while the trailing blades cut the small bevel easing the edge what's nice about these tremors compared to the Bandit is that they're spring-loaded which means that you can apply more pressure against the edge for closer cut unlike the flush cutting blades which do not need adjusted to make a cut the beveling blades however do if you're going for that beveled look to do that loosen the retaining screw and slide the blade in until you've reached what you think is the proper amount for your project the last trimmer is called an entry more tail trimmer this tool works really well at trimming excess material that overhangs the end of the plywood this tool isn't a hundred percent necessary to own it especially if you're only doing a few projects because there is another way to trim the tails and I'll show you that in a few minutes now that you're familiar with the edge banding material and some of the trimmers that we're gonna use it's time to dive into the how-to to get started cut a piece the edge banding slightly longer than the plywood itself about a half to an inch on either side is fine next while the iron is heating up locate the edge banding on the center of the plywood and at your desired overhang some people like to set the edge banding material flush to one side which eliminates extra trimming later but if you're just getting started having the material overhang on both sides is the way to go moving on the general idea is to start on one end heating up the banding so the glue starts the melt while at the same time applying a pretty decent amount of force downward just make sure as you're working that you're covering all the surfaces equally with the iron because the tendency is to miss a spot especially the edges continue working your way down the plywood carefully covering and heating all edges until you've reached the end some people like to follow up with a wooden roller similar to this one to ensure a good bond it's not always necessary but it does help on certain projects either way after you're done and before you trim take two fingers and lightly flick the edges upward as a way to check for spots that you may have missed and here's an example you can hear the difference in sound from the spot that was glued well to one that wasn't the good thing is you can always go back and fix that spot with a little more heat before moving on as an ad to know if your edge banding the sides of the plywood as well you're going to want to do those first especially if you're viewing your finished product from the front the reason being is that if you do the front first and then the sides because of the overlap you'll see the seam in the banding but if you do the sides first and then the front edge the seams will be hidden by the front piece of edging once you're happy with your results let the edge banding cool down just a little bit before the trimming process begins the first side the trim is the ends or the tails and you can do that by using the end trimmer or if you don't have one of those you can simply flip the board over and use a good sharp utility blade to cut the edge with that done it's time to trim the long edges now each trimmer works a little different for example the Bandit trimmer only trims one at a time and like I said before it's a little fussy it requires some adjustments moving it up or down to get the blade to engage once you do get it cutting it cuts pretty close but not as good as this style and here's why this style of trimmer cuts from both sides which means you're able to squeeze the cutter tightly to the plywood producing a closer cut I do recommend buying this style instead of the Banat style but again if money is a concern from you you can totally make this one work once you get started trimming the only spot that might give you some trouble is actually getting the blades started to help with that line up the trimmer so that the blade is just behind where you need to start the cut the idea is to squeeze the trimmer first to get the blade into position before advancing the cutter because if you don't you could end up squeezing the banding material and now they're chipping it or bending it over so once you're set up properly and the trimmers tight to the plywood you can then slowly advance the trimmer into the banding to start the cut now you may need to let up on some of the squeezing pressure just to get the trimmer started but the downside is that it may leave a little uncut material behind but that's okay because once you finish your first pass down the whole length you can flip the piece around and make a second pass to clean up where you started and for the most part I always do a second pass sometimes giving a little bit more pressure than I did on the first pass for there you can take a sanding block with a fine grit sandpaper to shape the edges and clean off any excess glue that might be remaining as you can see this is a pretty simple task to do and when it's finished it looks professionally done if you have any questions you can always email me if you'd like to share some of your projects that you're working on I love to see them I am so grateful for all the subscribers and everybody who's been watching this channel it's because of you that we're growing and it's because of you that more people are able to get their hands trained thanks for watching I'll see everybody soon bye bye you
