Gidday, in this video I'm going to be using this off-cut of laminate bench top
to make an edge strip so that we can complete our bench top installation, this end is missing
the edge strip... In this video i'm going to show you how to remove the laminate from the offcut,
how to install it, and how to finish it off so it looks really good.
All right, first up we need to check that our off-cut is big enough to make an edge strip for
the piece that we want, so it's got to be the same size or preferably bigger this will be perfect.
I'm going to use this hot air gun that I borrowed from Dad, thanks Dad for letting me use your hot
air gun, put a towel down here because this is going to generate quite a bit of heat,
the next thing to do is to heat it up using a hot air gun, heat up the laminate that softens
the glue that's underneath so that we can peel the laminate from this bench top.
This is the part that makes me nervous, the laminate is not very flexible
so we need to use a putty knife or a scraper or something
flat like this and work it in there between the laminate and the timber, make sure though because
this isn't flexible that you don't lift it up, don't put too much angle on here because it will
break and it'll crack really easily, so if this is warm it helps with it being flexible and the
glue will be soft letting you work your scraper in between the two like this. Now sorry about
the noise but i'm going to keep the hot air gun going as i work this paint scraper along.
Now we've got to prepare the surfaces this is the end of our laundry bench top
that's unfinished until I can get a laminate edge strip on there, give it a light sand,
our piece of laminate has cooled down carefully sand that too, now remember it
might be a little brittle so lightly sand it and in one direction away from you while you hold it.
We're almost ready to glue this piece on but before I do i'm going to trim
it down closer to our finished size and this makes it easier for later on.
So we're going to put our edge strip here flush with the bottom of the workbench
making sure it doesn't move hold it nice and tight then with a marker run along that edge there.
Oops that top line is going to be a better line,
and just go the same around the end here, okay trim around those marks with your scissors
just remember this stuff is quite brittle so be careful not to bend it too much it's not flexible.
Oh careful
I nearly put a break right through there,
in theory that's why we're making it oversized for little chips and chunks like that it won't matter.
oh there's another one i'll come back from this end now.
So we need to use a contact glue which is a contact adhesive, apply it using a spatula,
i'm actually just going to use an off cut of this edge strip or this laminate strip,
once you start spreading your glue around try not to move your edge strip too much
because you'll end up getting glue on the face of it. With contact adhesive you don't want any
thick ...I said that like a kiwi, thick! You don't want any really thick parts of glue any like um
globs or blobs, you actually just want a really thin layer, all your material has to be covered
but you want a nice thin layer of it and almost almost transparent.
We need to do the same on this edge the cool thing about contact adhesive, other than the
smell I really like the smell of it! but we're not supposed to like the smell of chemicals,
the cool thing is is that you're not sort of on a time limit as to how long it takes to apply
it because once you've got contact adhesive on both surfaces you're gonna have to wait five or
ten minutes, and it'll tack off, it'll become touch dry and you'll think you've almost missed
your window of opportunity to join these two together but when you put those two surfaces
together there will be no separating them they just... They just lock together like concrete.
Now i want to make sure i've got glue right up to the very edge because these front edges
are where laminate edge strips seem to get damaged the most and I reckon that's about right.
I said i like the smell of that glue but it's getting a little bit intense now! i've opened the
window ...If the rest of this video doesn't make any sense i'm sorry, i'm probably high as a kite.
Bear in mind as soon as these 'touch dry' surfaces meet there's no getting them apart so hang your
fingers over the edge a little bit and you can feel the top and the bottom of both of them,
when you're happy push them together. Now we need to make sure that we've got a nice even pressure,
if you've got a roller that's ideal, otherwise just use a cloth wrapped around a block of wood,
be mindful not to roll over the top at this point because it may crack it.
Because we use the contact adhesive to glue this edge strip on it's pretty much set,
the glue has done its work it's on there and it's not coming off so we can start trimming
this down straight away, I've got a flat file here which we're going to use on quite a low angle,
not like this as long as you're not scratching the bench top we want this to be as flat as possible,
i don't know how well you can see but it's got little teeth on the sides of the file,
now that's the kind of file that you need to use flat with little cutting teeth on the side
it's going to do a lot of the work when it comes to stripping off this excess bit of laminate.
There's two tips I wanted to give you before you start filing your edge strip though,
a file only cuts as you push it forward
it doesn't cut as you pull it back, so don't have any pressure on it as you draw the file
back over the work all that does is put you at risk of pulling that laminate edge strip off.
The other one is try not to file off too much of your laminate because it looks rough and
then it exposes your bench top or your fibre board (the timber underneath your laminate)
it exposes that to water damage. Try and ignore the existing damage on
this bench top it's actually a recycled bench top that i'm using but you can see that the
file is actually leaving a really nice clean cut on that edge strip.
There's a couple of chips taken out of this laminate edge strip and I know exactly what
i've done wrong, so the file only cuts as you push it forward but i've had pressure down on
it as i've drawn it back towards me and it's pulled off little chunks of this laminate edging
strip so i know what not to do next time. Next up you can sand the edge strip top and
bottom, i'm just using a fine sandpaper I think this one's 240 grit wrapped around a sanding
block, now if you don't have a sanding block just wrap your sandpaper around a flat bit of timber,
but sanding blocks are only a couple of dollars and if you do any sanding I reckon
they're really good, they're worth picking one up next time you're in the hardware store.
And get the excess glue cleaned up with acetone and a rag.
That job is done and it looks good, now you know how to turn an off cut of laminate bench top
into an edge strip, so if you've got this job to do at home follow those steps and get it
done! If you found this video helpful click the subscribe button and the little bell it
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