If you often work with sheet materials, such as veneered MDF, you’ll know that cleaning up edges can be tedious. Even more so when working with melamine-faced chipboard (MFC), the edges of which can be pretty sharp when newly cut.
The Woodworker & Good Woodworking
Where you need to add decorative lipping it’s important to have a clean, square edge before applying it properly. This may be iron-on lipping, glued with contact adhesive or fitted via an edgebanding machine in a professional set-up. Once glued, tidying up the surplus is not always straightforward. Getting a neat, consistent arris along each edge can take a while, especially if all edges of a panel have been lipped. Depending on the material, you may need to use a file or finely-set block plane if it’s real veneer. File or sand too vigorously and you risk exposing the glue line or core material underneath.
Abrasive strips
This simple gadget from FastCap enables you to sand both arrises in one or two passes, removing an equal amount of material from each side. It consists of a shaped, rigid plastic cylinder, a segment of which has been cut away to create two flat surfaces at 90° to each other. These act as a backing for a strip of heavy abrasive paper. Pushing the FastBreak along the edge of a board automatically captures both arrises against the abrasive. At 150mm in length, the ridged cylinder gives a decent grip and fits the hand nicely.
Knurled thumbscrews at each end secure plastic caps over the cylinder, enabling the paper to be slid out when removed. There’s storage inside the cylinder for spare strips, too. The FastBreak is supplied with four strips of 80 grit and two pieces of 180 grit abrasive. You can cut your own, but these must be exact, and it must be heavyweight paper to prevent buckling and tearing as you sand.
Thicknesses from 19mm to about 60mm can be accommodated, which makes the FastBreak ideal for tidying up sawn door edges, too. A smaller FastBreak version is available for around £9, which uses one strip of folded abrasive, and enables you to sand boards between 6mm and 19mm thick.
Conclusion
This is a sturdy, professional tool that’s dead easy to use. It’s fast, gives consistent results, can also be used on convex edges, and these don’t necessarily need to be lipped, either. It’s also ideal for softening edges of ply and OSB sheets, which can be sharp when hauling full boards into place.
The Verdict
- Pros: A fast solution for easing arrises
- Cons: Sourcing suitable abrasive may be tricky
- RATING: 4 out of 5