Plywood shelves: do i need to cover the cross-cut before painting?

thebrandnewguy

I'm working on making a bookshelf with 3/4 birch plywood shelves and sides. Do I need to mount anything on the front of the plywood to make sure it looks nice when I paint it?

Millertyme

You can use a piece of solid wood like poplar or pine and nail it to the edge to cover the edge of the plywood. They also sell an iron on veneer to cover the edges.

thebrandnewguy

I saw the veneer tape, looked cheesy. The thinnest wood I saw was 1" or thin lattice lengths. Am I missing something. I figured I'd find something in the moulding section that I could smack on the front, but i didn't see anything in the 3/4" width.

TarheelTerp

There are different ways to do them... it's called a face frame.

Willie T

What size are your shelves going to be?

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Willie T

joecaption

If the shelves are going to be very long your going to need to face frame them to stop them from sagging.
It also would serve to cover that end grain.
You were looking in the wrong area.
You should have been looking at the clear pine if your just going to paint them. Lowes has a much better pine then Home Depot.

woodworkbykirk

if your just painting it why not go with flat stock mdf? its cheaper and easier to work with. you can simply sand the edge or put a small routed edge on it then paint.

regarding the actual paint process, if there any tight spaces on it, consider pre painting all the components with one coat of primer and one coat of the finish color before assembling, it will make it that much easier to get into the corners when you do the final coat

packer_rich

I bought some 3/4 pine trim last week at the HD near me. If you can't find any use the 1" and keep the reveal at the bottom of the shelf. That will just make the shelf look wider.

mae-ling

For just covering the shelf edge and not a face frame get a trim that is 1/4" (or 3/8") by 3/4" usually has 2 rounded edges. Bought some 2 weeks ago, had to get it in oak.

abracaboom

If you cannot find 1/4" thick, 3/4" wide trim, you're looking in the wrong place.

woodworkbykirk

or you obviously dont have a table saw...

using a 1" x 3/4" trim peice will also give it some added strength which will reduce the amount of sagging

BaltimoreBamBam

Just bought some for the bookcase I made. Got it from HD.