Furniture edging is a useful element both for craftsmen who make furniture with their own hands and for any owner. With its help, you will be able to revive old utensils and protect them from rapid destruction. Perhaps not everyone understands what useful invention we are talking about. Then let's figure out what furniture edging is, what types there are, and what it is used for in general.
If you make furniture with your own hands, you are familiar with the need to process the ends. After sawing the board, this procedure is necessary. It will be especially useful for chipboard, since water and dirt can get into unprotected cuts.
In this case, the product will deteriorate faster. Furniture edgebanding is used for processing cuts.
This product is a finishing material, a narrow strip of melamine or other materials, designed for fixing on the ends of furniture. Its main functions are protective and decorative. It hides places where the chipboard layer is visible from the inside. It is known that this is a wood-chip material, and it has a somewhat unaesthetic appearance. Furniture edging in this case is simply a salvation.
The second function is protective. In addition to protecting the furniture itself, it helps to avoid injuries and snags on clothes. The sawn edges of the chipboard are sharp and often ruin clothes, and you can also get hurt on them. They are especially unsafe for the kitchen and children's room. Therefore, it is necessary to process the edges. And furniture edging is best suited for this purpose.
Content
Varieties
There are several types of edgebanding. They mainly differ depending on the composition, thickness and appearance.
So, we present the most popular types.
| View | Description |
| Melamine | The most common for home use. This is a melamine tape with a layer of glue on the back that is activated by heat. It is inexpensive, but not of high quality; it is afraid of moisture, and its service life is short, even with careful handling. |
| Made of PVC | The best option in terms of price and quality. It is used in most modern products. It is a PVC tape of 2 or 0.4 mm. The thicker one is used for processing the outer sides, and the thin one is used for cuts on the back side of the product. This type of processing is carried out only in production, since it requires a special machine. |
| Made of ABS plastic | Also a good option, similar to the previous one, only it has a more environmentally friendly composition. It is extremely rare on sale. It is used in the production of furniture at the factory. |
| Recessed T-profile | It is rarely used in modern production, but can be found on sale. This is a more reliable option than the previous ones. The T-profile has a stronger base and greater thickness. It is made mainly of laminated chipboard. It has a tenon joint. The profile has tenons that are inserted into the grooves on the furniture (pre-drilled). |
| Overlay profile C 18 | It has been used for quite a long time. It is still popular in the manufacture of furniture both in production and at home. It is an inflexible strip of chipboard, which is put on the cut part of the board and fixed with liquid nails. It is quite easy to use, so it is common in independent furniture manufacturing. The disadvantage is its location. The edge protrudes a few millimeters beyond the furniture, thereby increasing its size, and thus dirt gets clogged under the protrusion. |
Melamine edgebanding is most often used at home. It is easy to use and is widely available on the construction market.
Applying the edge with your own hands
It is possible to process cuts using PVC edging only at a production facility. This procedure is easy to order when purchasing boards, or as a separate service. But if you just need to repair old furniture, or simply do not want to contact a production facility, you can process cuts this way at home.
To do this, you need to purchase melamine edging. Also prepare:
- a hair dryer or an old iron
- sandpaper;
- stationery or construction knife;
- rag;
- a stand with a function for fixing parts (a vice or someone's help will do).
Let's stock up on some more dexterity, and we can get to work.
- Fix the part with the work side facing up.
We place the edge tape on the part - Measure the length of the edge to be processed and cut off the required amount of edge, leaving a few centimeters to spare, as it will shrink a little when heated.
Select the edge and cut to size - Now apply the facing material to the product and heat it thoroughly with an iron or hair dryer.
The part is fixed and the edge is cut with a margin of several centimeters, heated with an iron - Before it cools down and the glue hardens, you need to go over the surface with a cloth, smoothing and pressing the material.
Before it cools down, you need to press the edge tape firmly with a rag.
Advice!
Treat 30-40 cm sections gradually. This will reduce damage and errors.
- Having worked the entire surface in this way, we move on to the final stage. Now it is necessary to cut off the excess. To do this, take a construction or office knife, holding it at an angle to the plate, cut off the excess material.
The excess is cut off, first the end parts are cut off, and then those that go along - We process the cuts with sandpaper, eliminating their sharpness. Do the processing carefully so as not to damage the plate.
After the remains have been cut off from the part, all edges along the edges of the part are sanded down with a knife. - Wipe the product with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt – the job is done.
Glued edge on the ends of the part
This way you can process small items, but larger ones are best left to a professional.
Advantages and disadvantages of home processing
There are always advantages and disadvantages to doing the work yourself. As a rule, there are more positive aspects. In this case, the undoubted advantage is the speed and price of the work. You won’t have to wait for the product to arrive from production, you won’t have to place an order and pick it up. Naturally, having done the work yourself, you only pay for the edge.
The downside is the limited choice, since you can only apply melamine edging, overlay or mortise profiles (which are quite rare) yourself.
It is quite easy to process a small surface with melamine edging, and it is better to do it at home. But a large product that requires the application of PVC edging is better left to professionals.
