Squaring off melamine...

[loutent]

I am just finishing a renovation of a kitchen pantry. It was sort of a bear of a space. 24 (deep) x 30 (wide) with an 18 inch passage door hung in front. Had fixed shelves about every 12 inches. Some of the 7 shelves were full depth (24) and some were 16 and the top shelf was 12. Particle board shelving (came with the house).

I tore it all out, mudded it smooth, put on two nice coats of semi-gloss white and screwed some adjuatable standards into the studs.

I spent today cutting "U"-shaped shelving from melamine sheets (4x8-damn heavy!). The shelves had a variety of cut-outs, depending on position. The bottom one had a

4 inch "U" cut out, while the others varied (8, 10, 12 etc.). Shelf depth got a little less as you go up.

Anyhow, after triming out the U's with my 1/2 inch flush trim bit, I have an inside radius on the melamine.

I want to edge the shelving with some oak strips, but would like some nice square (90 deg) inside corners to work with.

What is the best way to square an inside melamine corner?

I have some pretty sharp chisels, a fine-tooth dovetail saw and a bunch of other stuff.

Open to any suggestions.

Thanks .

Lou

[dadiOH]

I'd probably use a chisel and/or file.

[Doug Miller]

If using a file, be sure to file away from the side that will be most readily visible, to avoid chipout of the melamine surface.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 21:12:40 -0500, the inscrutable loutent spake:

A coarse file to cut/shape and a fine file to finish up. If you have an auger file (with teeth on edge but not face, use that to shape. It won't tend to undercut the line.

A super-fine razor saw might work, but point the teeth into the melamine or it'll shred.

[loutent]

Thanks everyone. For future reference, this is what I did.

The filing did not work very well and it took a long time for each radius. Got chip-out even taking care on the direction etc.

Eventually, about half-way through (isn't that always the way) I got pretty good at it.

The melamine was 3/4 so I used a 1/2 inch sharp chisel. First, I worked on the particle board between each layer. This removed most of the material, so I was able to glide the chisel through the remaining melamine and got a pretty good 90.

FWIW

Lou