Contrasting edge -- stain and glue conundrum

[John]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to woodworking, and I'm building a set of walnut tables for my living room. The tops are walnut plywood with a solid walnut edge. Here's the tricky part: the edges are going to be stained a very dark color to contrast with the natural walnut of the rest of the table (not my idea, but I'm not calling the shots here.)

What I decided to do, in order to create a perfect line between the two colors, is to stain the edges ahead of time. I masked off all of the surfaces that will receive glue, and I'm ready to attach the edges to the top with some biscuits.

The question is, how can I prevent the glue squeezeout from ruining the look of the joint? Obviously sanding after glue-up is not an option because of the stain -- I need some advice on how to get rid of the squeezeout without marring either the stained edge or the delicate plywood on the other side of the joint. Any thoughts you have would be much appreciated!

By the way, in case this is at all useful, I'm planning to fill the pores and finish the top with Waterlox.

Thanks, John

[Leon]

If I were doing this this I would choose a naturally darker wood to contrast on the edges. Wenge for example would be pretty dark compared to the walnut.

Or cut a relief around the perimeter of the plywood top before attaching the walnut trim. Cut with the TS a 1/16 wide and 1/16" deep recess around the top edge of the plywood. This will hide the joint in the shadow between the surface of the plywood and the walnut trim. With the resulting grove you can mask the walnut plywood area and stain the outer solid wood trim.

[Charles Spitzer]

blue masking tape

[Larry Bud]

I don't see how this could ever work. No matter how good your glue up of the edge, it won't be perfect, and you will need to sand the top of the table.

I agree with the other poster in using a darker wood for the edging.

You know that walnut is going to lighten considerably over time?

[Larry Jaques]

On 15 Feb 2005 15:31:30 -0800, the inscrutable "John" spake:

Condolences. Question: Has SWCTS (She who's calling the shots) seen the finished walnut next to her ebonized trim yet? Do that before you potentially ruin the piece. She may not know that walnut darkens considerably when an oil finish goes on, even Waterlox.

That might help, but be sure the stain is glue-compatible. A waterborne dye stain should be, but check with the mfgr first.

Good call on the Waterlox, but I prefer an open pore look/feel myself.

To keep glue from sticking, put a couple coats of finish on the individual pieces before jointing and gluing. The glue should pop right off the varnish.

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