So let’s start from scratch. What is edge banding? It’s pretty simple, and the edge banding video will help you understand it better, but here’s a quick overview to get you started.
This is a basic non-technical concept. Plywood, particleboard, and other artificial wood cores such as MDF have rough, untreated, unprotected, and often unsightly edges.
To accommodate this, some intelligent people have developed a technique that allows you to glue strips of different shiny materials to rough edges to match the top and sides.
These narrow tapes or strips are called edge bands, range in thickness from 0.018″ to 5mm thick, and are supplied in 250ft reels.
Thicker edges are used in high-traffic and commercial environments to provide greater resilience and impact resistance. For example, the military requires wider ⅜ inch solid wood edge tape for maximum impact resistance. Edgebanders are industrial-grade machines that use hot melt adhesive or glue to apply edgebanding to the cut edges of boards.