Applying Laminate to a Radius

Tradesmen explain handwork techniques for fitting laminate to radiused postform countertops. June 20, 2005

Question
I do post-form counters for Home Depot and they want a 1" radius on the finished ends. My problem is that it gets kind of tricky trying to bend and file the laminate. I've tried using the heat gun and sanding down the laminate. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Forum Responses
(Laminate and Solid Surfacing Forum)
From contributor S:
I wouldn’t suggest doing it that way. You can’t really radius the corner because you are going from a square edge end cap to a rolled front edge. What we do is cut the corner at a 45 degree from the front and then round the rest into the end. If you try to go into the rolled edge at too steep of a angle, it does not stick very well unless you sand down the laminate, and it is still hard to file the edge to make it look right. So keep the transition at a 45 degree angle and it will be a lot easier.

---

From contributor C:
I would do the radius and sand the back of the laminate until it's thin and very flexible. Make sure the contact is totally dry. After pressing it on, firmly take the file and tap the laminate on the cap (keep the file flat, not on its edge). Work around the edge and the cap will start to crack to the shape of the outside edge of the radius. Keep going until it's gone through and it's falling away, then give it a light file to finish. Practice it on a junk piece - it's easy to do and you’re not trying to file the laminate from the start, which is where the difficulty comes in to it.