Edge banding your furniture, whether it is your cabinet or desks the important thing to note is that it improves the longevity of your furniture.
Plywood, particleboard, and other manufactured wood cores like MDF have rough, unfinished, unprotected, and generally unsightly edges.
This raw edge, if left uncovered, can pose serious problems for the furniture.
Apart from looking unsightly and scratching the skin if someone bumps into them, these exposed edges allow moisture to seep in, which in turn makes the wood warp and become lumpy. To prevent these issues, edge bands were created – As they say “Necessity is the mother of invention”. Edge bands are placed on the end of raw wood boards to cover the ends and thus seal it from moisture.
The process of covering the raw edges of wood panels with a thin strip of wood, PVC, or resinous material is called edge banding. The narrow strips themselves are known as edge bands. Commercially, edge banding is done using industry-grade heat applicators and a hot-melt adhesive.
Functionally, edge bands perform some key duties for your furniture. First, they keep moisture out serving as de facto seals on the edge of the core material. Second, edge banding improves durability and resilience by providing impact resistance. If you’re using solid wood edging, it can also add to the overall strength of the furniture.
Commercially, edge banding is done using industry-grade heat applicators and a hot-melt adhesive. For modular furniture, the material used is mostly PVC which is easy to fix and has a long life.