What method should I use to attach mahogany banding to veneer plywood

[GaryLaroff]

I put essentially this same request into another topic this morning and think it got lost, so here it is as a fresh request.  I have read the full topic on adding banding to MDF, so it isn't necessary to aim me there unless you feel it necessary.

I am working on a project for myself, am aiming for quality, not speed of completion and would like to have it become one of my best and most beautiful pieces.  It is a large tool cabinet for my shop made from solid mahogany with a lot of hand work.  There are no metal fasteners and all parts of all the drawers are being made with hand tools with the exception of initial parts cutting on the table saw.  All dovetails in the cabinet are hand cut but the heavy-duty mortise and tenon joints holding the cabinet together are all dominos.

There will be some non-movable shelves made of high-quality mahogany veneer plywood that is a full 3/4 thick.  On the front of the shelves will be fairly thick banding of at least two inches of re-purposed fairly dense old mahogany salvaged from beams somewhere.

What is the best approach to attaching the banding?  Although I have a plate joiner in a box gathering dust somewhere, one preference is to use the Domino with 4mm or 5mm domino tenons.

The other choice fits with the suggestions of ccarrolladams and Dovetail65 and would be the use of a "tongue and groove 60 degree" edge banding router bit set as in:

http://cdn.eagleamerica.com/images/popup/vp16-4041_p.jpg

and

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/orderstatus/html/smarthtml/pages/bit_edgeband_ogee.html

Do you have a suggestion as to which approach would be better?  In your view, is the full tongue and groove solution substantially better than using dominos?

Thanks in advance,
Gary

 

[Theshipstore]

I have used the Eagle America setup for banding and I like the results alot.
I never tried the setup from MLCS as I thought better of the Eagle setup. Personal choice I guess.
The end results worked great and was customer appreciated

 

[Kevin Stricker]

At 2" you are really talking more of a face frame than edge banding.  With any approach you should plan to flush trim the solid wood.  Even dominos when glued and clamped will allow the facing to shift slightly.  It's hard to get perfect tight domino mortices when plunging into plywood end/edge grain so take it slow, clamp the ply, and apply a lot of pressure on the fence knob to keep things stable.

Using the edgeband router bit set requires you to route both the banding and the shelves but will probably give you more consistent results.  The domino will be faster but slightly weaker as there is less glue area.  When it's all said and done the determining factor how it looks is not going to be the joinery but your ability to flush trim the facing to the plywood. 

 

[semenza]

Hi,

Which way will the banding attach? The 2" wide surface to the edge of the plywood like a face frame or the, presumably, 3/4" edge of the banding to the edge of the plywood ?

Seth

 

[GaryLaroff]

The intention is to connect the 3/4 wide part of the banding to the plywood and then flush cut the banding to the plywood.  If the flushcut bit I have/find is too short for a 2 inch front, then I will make the banding thinner.  The objective is the have a nice solid piece of wood fronting the plywood.  There is no other reason for making this thick.  The thought of a thick front was to keep the domino from showing or pounding through and/or having a thicker piece of banding to run past the router bit.

Gary

 

[TurnagainD]

Have you considered using a spline?  I like the fact that all you need is a router to cut a 1/4" groove in the plywood and pass the mahogany trough the table saw to plow another 1/4" groove.  I've used 1/4 ply for the spline itself.  The spline offers lots of gluing area and contact over the entire length of the shelf.

 

[GaryLaroff]

Sal,

Thank you for pointing out that there are differences between the Eagle and MLCS banding sets other than price.

I have used the Eagle America setup for banding and I like the results alot.
I never tried the setup from MLCS as I thought better of the Eagle setup. Personal choice I guess.
The end results worked great and was customer appreciated

Now that I look closer, I note that the Eagle tenon-making bit has a bearing on the end and the MLCS doesn't.  Do you see any other differences?

Gary

 

[mouppe]

Even though your veneer and your banding will both be mahogany, and your joinery may be perfect, there will still be a line where the grain meets. I would be tempted with such a prominently-sized banding to leave it outsized by 1/16" or 1/8". This will leave a little lip at the front of the shelf, and you won't need to worry about flush trimming it. It can be an elegant design feature if not too large.

I did the same in this bookcase even though it is all solid walnut. I used the domino to attach the face frame.

Richard.

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