Beautiful Trim from It’s a stable and less-expensive alternative to solid

BY MICHAEL STANDISH

rices are up, but - ceptible to the mutating forces that bedevil quality is down. If you’re disappoint- ordinary lumber. P ed with this state of affairs but still Genuinely warped or twisted plywood is dif- want good-looking trim in your house, you ficult to produce unless you leave a sheet of it might want to investigate engineered products, out in the rain. Swaybacked plywood, resulting such as veneer plywood. from careless storage practices such as deep Because of its balanced, cross-ply construction stacks or inadequate support, is corrected easi- (that is, thin layers of wood with lots of glue ly by slight hand pressure during assembly. If to restrain them), veneer plywood is not sus- need be, any unwanted set can be reversed with

THE LAYERS REVEALED

3 1 ⁄4-in. by 1 ⁄4-in. rectangular edgebanding

3 ⁄8-in. by 1-in. band

3 ⁄8-in. cherry veneer plywood

1 ⁄8-in. radius edge

3 ⁄8-in. cherry veneer plywood

1 ⁄8-in. radius edge bead

Veneer plywood (commonly available in two dozen species) edged with solid-wood edgebanding creates an attractive alternative to off-the-shelf millwork. The flat plywood stock averages between one-third and one-half the cost of the same species in solid wood.

Drawings: Bob La Pointe THREE WAYS TO HIDE THE EDGES When using plywood as trim, you’ll need to cover the edges in most cases. You can do so in one of three ways: solid-wood edgebanding (-edged stock or molding), a mitered plywood return, or veneer edgebanding (pressure-sensitive or iron-on).

Solid-wood edgebanding can be glued on, nailed on, or both to cover plywood’s 1 visible layers. A ⁄4-in.-thick solid- nosing was added to the stool in the photo to protect the Solid-wood vulnerable edge. To protect molding used as the plywood’s thin veneer edgebanding (photo right), the edgebanding down to the tape, then switch to .

A mitered return cut from the same piece of plywood stock eliminates color- matching problems when staining. Small returns such as this one are often just glued in place.

Iron-on veneer edgebanding must contact the plywood Square-edged edge completely for solid wood used thorough adhesion. as edgebanding Clean-up is best with a file (10-in. to 12-in. mill bastard) held at Mitered about 5°; veneer plywood return are clumsy, and knives sometimes Solid-wood follow the grain. molding used as edgebanding

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MAHOGANY

OAK

Veneer edgebanding

Joints are cut square Store-bought and butted. 3 1 moldings create The ⁄4-in. by 4 ⁄2-in. solid-wood vertical casing supports edgebanding a thicker 1-in. by 5-in. top casing, which is 3 1 16 4 3 ⁄ -in. by 1 ⁄ -in. made of ⁄4-in. veneer square-edged plywood backed by an 1 solid pine additional layer of ⁄4-in.

5 plywood. ⁄8-in. by 1-in. base cap

3 1 ⁄4-in. by 4 ⁄2-in. pine veneer plywood

3 3 ⁄8-in. by ⁄4-in. Veneer edgebanding glass bead with corner block

3 1 ⁄4-in. by 4 ⁄2-in. veneered casing

1-in. by 5-in. by 5-in. solid mahogany corner block Marker tip When only a MAKE PLYWOOD TRIM narrow plywood IN A VARIETY OF SPECIES edge is visible, a brown marker can color the exposed Because they’re readily available, common or exotic edge and save you species of plywood can be substituted for solid wood. the trouble of Above are three window-trim examples, from simple banding the edge. to more complex, in pine, mahogany, and .

84 FINE HOMEBUILDING the process of strategic clamping, or “train- CREATE CUSTOM MOLDINGS WITH A ing” it back to flat. Finally, veneer-core plywood is stable in an- If you can’t find the molding other important way. It is far less sensitive you want at your local home than solid wood to fluctuations in humidity, center or lumberyard, consider and it expands or contracts only a third as making your own. You can cre- much as Honduras mahogany, a species no- ate complex moldings by as- torious for staying put. sembling simple profiles milled Plywood also is significantly less expensive. with a handheld router or At current local prices, using solid material router table. The three router instead of -grade or maple ply- bits below are available from wood means tripling my materials costs, in- Lee Valley (800-871-8158; cluding veneer edging. Hardwood lumber www.leevalley.com). costs me at least twice as much as an equiva- lent amount of same-species plywood.

But using plywood is not all roses Although designed to make 3 base-cap molding, the bit To be fair, however, at about 75 lb., a ⁄4-in. pictured at right is similar to thick, 4x8 plywood sheet is bulky and heavy. the one used to create the Breaking down a full panel with a circular band molding for the pine or a tablesaw without side and outfeed sample on the facing page. support can be awkward and slow. There also are indirect costs. You may have Molding bit No. 5 to purchase full sheets, forcing you to store more material than you want. Some suppli- ers sell partial sheets, but this seeming bene- fit usually comes with a surcharge, which can The two bits pictured be hefty. Also, lengths beyond 8 ft. typically at right were used in are a special-order item, and any savings the more ornate cherry gained in materials tends to evaporate. casing on p. 82. Another downside is that face veneers are 1 normally no thicker than ⁄32 in., making ve- neer-plywood trim too delicate for use in bar- 1 ⁄8-in. radius edge-beading bit rooms or fraternity houses. Where trim work will receive merely normal levels of abuse (e.g., outside corners), veneered French provincial classic No. 1 material is still not the best choice. For other trim applications such as window and trim or moldings that are located off the , ASSEMBLE THE TRIM FIRST, however, this fragility doesn’t come into play. THEN CUT IT ONCE Finally, unless striped edges are a design el- ement, they must be concealed. It takes time Rather than running six to apply even the simplest banding, such as individual pieces of trim iron-on or pressure-sensitive veneer tape, but around a door or win- not much more than removing saw marks dow, you can glue, from lumber. align, and them Wood moldings such as backbanding, ei- to create a composite ther plain or with a profile, are applied to the molding, which you edges of plywood in much the same manner then can miter as a sin- as solid wood. These moldings, either store gle piece. To avoid dan- bought or made with routers and tablesaws, gerous shrapnel and to are nailed and sometimes glued to stable ply- protect the sawblade, wood edges. be careful not to cut through any nails. Michael Standish is a living in West Roxbury, Mass. Photos by Chris Green.

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