If the laminate has been positioned accurately, there will be a 2mm over hang around all the edges which must be trimmed off for a neat finish.

Fig.13

Do this by working inwards from the corners using a block plane with the blade at its finest setting. Hold the plane parallel to the edge of the base and remove only a little material at a time to avoid splitting the edges of the sheet (fig. 13). Stop planing when the laminate is exactly level with the edge of the base underneath cutting off any more will leave a gap between this and the edging strip which will show when the strip is glued into place.

[edit] Edging strips

Fig.14

Fig.15

Fig.16

To give a neat finish to laminated worktops, thin strips of matching laminate are normally fixed around the edges. These, too, should be measured and cut with an overlap of 2mm, to allow for trimming. Glue and fix the edging strip in position as you did the top laminate. Once the adhesive has been left to dry out, you can trim off the excess at the top of the edging with great care, since the whole appearance of the worktop rests on the neatness of the joint between edge and top.

Start from the corners using a block plane, held at an angle of 45° so that a neat, bevelled edge is produced (fig. 14). Trim the edge away gently with the plane on its lowest setting until you have cut away all of the excess on the edging and just begun to bevel the laminate on top of the base.

If you have a lot of laminating to do, an alternative is to use a special laminate trimming tool; this has the advantage that it is automatically set at the right angle to give a neat bevelled edge (fig. 15).

Once you are near to the correctly trimmed angle, finish off all round with a fine toothed file and then with a piece of abrasive paper mounted on a sanding block. Use the same technique to round off the corners, other wise these are sharp and hazardous especially to young children. Remove any excess adhesive seeping from joints with a solvent cleaner.