How To - Adding Banding

While clean lines and unadorned, functional looks are in vogue these days I often cannot resist the temptation to add embellishments to my projects. Not too much but just the touch of an accent, an extra something does in my view add greatly to an object's aesthetics.

One way to embellish a project is to add ornamental banding such as those that can be obtained ready made in many establishments selling timber.

Ornamental banding like this come in many patterns

The heat and then the humidity of the last couple of months having considerably slowed down my woodworking, I had been toying with a couple of dovetailed boxes made some time earlier. These were experiments in dovetail making and I had consigned them to a corner intending to finish them at some point later.

Yesterday, I pulled out one of them and wondered what else I could do with them. A simple box made of dovetails is pleasing in itself but having made many of those I thought I should try to take them a step further.

I decided to use some of the ornamental banding purchased some months ago and never used. They are quite pretty and come in many patterns. They are less than 1/32nd inch thick but need to be inlaid.

I routed a shallow groove on the sides and front of the box

The best way to cut a groove to set the banding is by using a router with a bit of an appropriate size. I selected a banding that was 3/8th inch wide and used a straight cutter to the same diameter to rout the groove for the inlay.

Setting the depth of the cut is easy but a steady hand is called for when using the router with an edge guide. A slow and steady movement with the router will result in a clean straight cut.

The banding is attached with the usual PVA (Fevicol) glue and requires a little sanding after it has dried.

Banding added

With a bit of finish the box should look a little more exciting.

Finished Box

Indranil Banerjie
8 August 2014