Plywood Edging - Ply Swelling

[Allen]

These guys

sell a router bit to put a concave edge on plywood in preparation for edging. They claim that some of the inner plys swell when glued and cause a small open seam between the edging and the face plys. Seems to make sense, but what is the opinion of the group?

Thanks, all.

Allen

[Bay Area Dave]

sounds like a solution looking for a problem. While I'm typing this I'm looking at the oak ply topped desk I built with edging glued and biscuitted. There isn't ANY gap between the field and the edging. that's my 2 pennnies worth...

dave

Allen wrote:

[Bernard Randall]

In principle these guys are correct, both solid wood and ply will swell with the application of glue, or most liquids. It is one of the reasons that joints should not be machined before they are fully dry, otherwise there will be a small depression which can be seen if a high gloss coat is later applied.

In practice, unless you are running a large operation where you machine all parts to high tolerance before gluing, you will need to do a clean up after the parts are dried and you probably won't notice the difference.

Bernard R

[Lawrence Wasserman]

I've used solid edge banding on ply many times with the edge just as it was cut by the table saw and had no problems. I sure wouldn't want to take the time to run a router around every piece that was being edgebanded for a problem I don't have.

[Wally Goffeney]

When that bit first came out a few years ago, it was favorably reviewed in Wood Magazine. I bought one and have used it successfully. Having said that, I have never done a side by side comparison to determine if this might be a solution for a non-existant problem.

Wally Goffeney