Are there any tips that would be worthwhile knowing when using iron on edging on worktops. Is it best to put paper or cloth between iron and trim, should iron be hot/very hot etc.
Iron on edging
- Thread starter davecooper
- Start date
Sponsored Links
Paper (brown), its not how hot you have it but how long you keep it in one place.
Set iron to medium, keep moving it, you will tell when you have it hot enough. JUST KEEP MOVING THE IRON as though you are ironing a fabric.
Set iron to medium, keep moving it, you will tell when you have it hot enough. JUST KEEP MOVING THE IRON as though you are ironing a fabric.
I used to work in a place where miles of the stuff was put on every day, they eventually bought a machine to put it on quickly. It worked by directing the hot air jet of a paint stripping gun at the adhesive side of the strip just before the strip was pressed onto the edge by a big (cold) ball race bearing.
It worked really well, some of the guys stopped using irons for hand edging and used a paint stripper gun and the rounded corner of a piece of wood as a presser, it takes a bit of getting used to but does make really good edges as the wooden presser really sqeezes out the melt and burnishes the wood at the same time. best bit is that the wood never gets burned on the good side. For short lengths you can just warm up the whole strip while it's laying face up on the bench, then apply it and burnish.
Another tip: A lot of people use a router with a bearing race to trim the overhanging edges of the stuff, it is a crude and ugly way of doing it, that often goes wrong, splits the end or burns the real surface.
Try this instead.
wait till the strip has cooled.
Take a stanley and lay the blade absolutely flat against the real surface (do a test cut first to see which direction to cut the strip so that the grain doesn't pull the blade towards the work) the stanley blade has a half mm bevel on it that will leave the edging just proud of the surface as you slide the blade along (for very wide strips you might need two passes)
Then get a good sharp bevel chisel at least an inch wide, and sit it so that the flat base presses firmly on the real surface and the corner of the blade is just engaged with the half mm strip overhang, the handle will force you to offer the chisel at an angle to the edging strip,(hold the chisel against the wood by the blade) slide it along the srface of the wood and watch the hair thin slice of edging strip spiral off.
It worked really well, some of the guys stopped using irons for hand edging and used a paint stripper gun and the rounded corner of a piece of wood as a presser, it takes a bit of getting used to but does make really good edges as the wooden presser really sqeezes out the melt and burnishes the wood at the same time. best bit is that the wood never gets burned on the good side. For short lengths you can just warm up the whole strip while it's laying face up on the bench, then apply it and burnish.
Another tip: A lot of people use a router with a bearing race to trim the overhanging edges of the stuff, it is a crude and ugly way of doing it, that often goes wrong, splits the end or burns the real surface.
Try this instead.
wait till the strip has cooled.
Take a stanley and lay the blade absolutely flat against the real surface (do a test cut first to see which direction to cut the strip so that the grain doesn't pull the blade towards the work) the stanley blade has a half mm bevel on it that will leave the edging just proud of the surface as you slide the blade along (for very wide strips you might need two passes)
Then get a good sharp bevel chisel at least an inch wide, and sit it so that the flat base presses firmly on the real surface and the corner of the blade is just engaged with the half mm strip overhang, the handle will force you to offer the chisel at an angle to the edging strip,(hold the chisel against the wood by the blade) slide it along the srface of the wood and watch the hair thin slice of edging strip spiral off.
Sponsored Links
DIYnot Local
Staff member
If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.
Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.
Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local
