I recently finished a desk/table set up in walnut (local, air dried, tiger striped) with a formica top edged with walnut. I Beveled the edges, but rounded them by sanding.
I know that crisp edges are both the holy grail of finewoodworking and the bugaboo of less skilled woodworkers. I’m generally about a 3 on a scale of 5 (five being FWW material). But I intentionally rounded the edges on the desk set because I’m worried about people falling and hitting the edges, especially the corners. Sharp edges and corners can promote stitiches and lot’s of blood at least among the young and the old and an Irishman after the Saint Patty’s day parade.
What do you do with edges?
Are you worried about safety?
Thanks in advance, I’m building more table type furniture and am quite conflicted about the table edges and corners.
PS: The old “California Roundoff” style would take care of this quite well, but I’ve moved on!
Replies
It's always a good idea to break the edges on firniture. Square, sharp edges are fragile, and finishes tend to pull back from them.
If you want to round edges off to whatever degree, that's an aesthetic choice. Sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes not. I can't remember seeing any tables with crisp edges on their tops lately. Most of them have anything from a 1/16" R roundover to a complex profile.
The sign of inferior workmanship is a "dubbed" edge where the top is no longer planar, but kind of sags off toward the edge, usually caused by poor snading technique.. No matter what profile you decide on, make it clean and definite, not mushy.
Michael R.
Use a chamfer bit.
I hate sharp edges on furniture cause two of my kids have scars on the faces because of them.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
I hate sharp edges and especially hate sharp corners. Dangerous things. Rounding them is a must I would say, unless you are planing to use furniture as weapons ;)
I usually use a 1/16" roundover bit or a slight chamfer. My favorite implements are a PC laminate trimmer (the one that looks just like a little router) for the former and my LN low angle block plane for the latter. I hope we have all moved on from the "melter butter" edge as well.
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
telemiketoo,
I'm not sure where you got the idea that sharp corners are the "holy grail" of fine woodworking. If they are, I'm even farther away from doing fine work than I thought--which is way too far.
In lots of old work there's a bead at the edges, often without an outside quirt; i.e., the bead part of the profile "rounds over" the corner. One of the reasons they did that is because the inside quirt will always show a sharp, straight line, which makes the corner look straight and sharp even if it's quite beaten up.
I've tried it out. It has the illusion of a straight and square corner even though the actual edge is a round bead.
Alan
Thanks folks.
I'll walk away with some new realizations. While I already had figured out that "sharp" was a really bad idea for a table or desk edge due to potential cranial contact, I now have a few other thoughts:
1. "Sharp" isn't a good idea; kinda like I thought.
2. Not sharp doesn't have to be sloppy - chamfer, rounds and ogees can be "crisp" and look like quality, but not be "sharp".
Don't expect pictures of my table edges - they're not sharp, but they're also not crisp. The curly walnut veneered drawer fronts, well, that's something else!
Telemiketoo,
As others have already said, dangrously sharp corners aren't really desirable. And while chamfers and round-overs are both perfectly acceptable profiles, you can also ease an arris with nothing more than a little 220-grit abrasive.
Inlaying stringing will also help achieve a crisp, linear, look while distracting the eye from the small indignities of daily use.
Good luck,-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Telemiketoo,
It's also very difficult to get any film-forming finish to adhere to a sharp corner.
I just finished a small desk (about 1 foot off the ground) for my daughter yesterday and used a roundover bit in my router to give it a nice, safe, edge. Yes, I really worry about sharp edges and injuries since I have kids. Especially since I made this table for my daughter to play cards, board games, do homework on and the last thing I want is an injury associated with this table which was a labor of love. A chamfer bit is another possibility and I have one but haven't yet used it. Can't go wrong with a roundover bit though...
Regards,
Buzzsaw
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