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You Don't Need Much Glue
A thin layer of yellow wood glue is all it takes to make a virtually indestructible glue joint. Extra glue just makes a bigger cleanup job, and it causes the nosing to slide around, making alignment difficult. To get a feel for the right amount, pull off the nosing after you’ve slid it back and forth on the glue (Photo 3) and look at the back. You should see a thin, even layer of glue covering both mating surfaces. When you apply the clamps, a small bead of glue should ooze out of the seam.It’s difficult to get the plywood and nosing to line up perfectly flush when you clamp them together. Snug up all of the clamps, but don’t tighten them. Then push the nosing up or down to adjust it as you tighten the clamps. Hold the nosing slightly above the plywood, about the thickness of a sheet of paper (Photo 4), and sand it flush after the glue dries (Photo 7).
Don’t Let the Glue Harden
Cleaning up glue squeeze-out is easy if you catch it at the
right time (Photo 5). At room temperature, the glue will set
enough for you to remove the clamps and scrape off the excess in about 20 to 30
minutes. Since the glue hasn’t reached full strength, you still have to
be careful not to jar the nosing loose. Removing the plywood from the clamps
frees them up for the next piece and allows you easy access to scrape glue from
both the top and bottom.
Dried glue smears are hard to see and can cause trouble when you apply finish to the plywood.Photo 6 shows how to expose dried glue by wiping it with a damp rag. The wetted glue shows up as a white spot that you can scrape off with a sharp-edged putty knife.
No-Clamp Nosing
Click image to enlarge.
If you’re painting the plywood or you don’t mind the look of filled
nail holes, you can simply glue and nail the nosing into place rather than
messing with clamps. Predrill holes for the 1-1/2 in. finish nails and drive
them below the surface with a nail set. Then fill the holes with wood filler or
patching compound and sand them smooth before you paint, or fill them with
matching putty after you stain and varnish the wood.
Sand Carefully to Avoid Damaging The Veneer
The top layer of plywood is a thin layer of wood, called
veneer. It’s easy to accidentally sand through this veneer and expose the
lower layer of wood, which doesn’t match the surface.
Use light pressure and a fine, 120-grit belt on the belt sander. Stop sanding as soon as you see the squiggly pencil line start to disappear over the glue joint (Photo 7). Be careful to hold the belt sander perfectly flat. Tilting it toward the plywood could cause it to sand through the veneer. Tilting it away will bevel the nosing. If the nosing isn’t quite flush, finish by hand-sanding.
There are many other methods for getting the nosing perfectly flush to the plywood. Experienced woodworkers use sharp planes and scrapers. A router with a flush-trimming bit also does a nice job. But both these techniques require practice for ideal results.
If you want to dress up the edge of a plywood shelf, simply rout a shape on the solid wood nosing (Photo 8). Make sure to wear safety glasses, hearing protection and a dust mask when routing. Move the router from left to right as you face the shelf.
Oops, I Sanded Through!
Over the years, I’ve glued on a lot of shelf nosing. And by far the toughest part
is sanding the nosing flush to the plywood. I can’t tell you how many
times I’ve accidentally sanded through the veneer in the process. Usually
it’s because I decided to remove the last bit of protruding nosing with
the belt sander, rather than stop and finish sanding by hand. But even sanding
through the veneer isn’t a fatal mistake. In most cases you can still use
the shelf, and you’ll be the only one who notices the
mistake.
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