Resaw or plane - what's worth it?

[FS7]

I am making a desk that will, by all measures, be pretty heavily used by my wife. Spills, damage, you name it. My plan is to have plywood panels (1/4" plywood glued on to 1/2" MDF) make up most of the surface that I can replace when necessary. It will be edged with solid wood.

The panels are about 0.73" while the wood edging (already surfaced) is about 0.90". This seems like I could bandsaw about 3/32" or so off and still end up with a thick enough board, even accounting for errors and drift and such, to achieve the proper thickness after planing. I don't want to waste a full 1/4" of thickness but I am not sure it's worth the time. 

The wood is mahogany...not super expensive, readily available, similar enough to other species to use substitutes. Kingwood or ebony I'd definitely save. Pine, not worth the time. And no, I am not sure what I would use the wood for, as I'd end up with a lot of 3/32" x 3" x 10' strips. They would probably end up as accent strips somewhere.

[AHill]

Thickness of a desk top is somewhat arbitrary, as long as it doesn't sag. You can machine the edging to any height you wish. I'd opt for hardboard as the working surface. Easy to replace and the smooth side is more resistant to spills and general abuse than plywood. Glue the edging only to the MDF so that a lip exists. Just place the hardboard on top without gluing it. That way it'll be easier to replace.

[jteneyck]

If your edging is less than an inch wide I would use option 3 - glue on your 0.90" wide strips so that it overhangs both the plywood and MDF and then edge route it flush after the glue dries.  Trying to get perfect registration of edging already planed to final thickness is beyond my skill set.  

John

[FS7]

Both of these are good ideas, but I was more asking whether it would be worth it to resaw the existing edging pieces rather than plane to final thickness (or flush trim, or add a lip, or something similar). Right now the trim is about 3/16" too thick. A bandsaw blade kerf is about 1/32"...allowing for a margin of error I *could* salvage about 3/32" worth of mahogany (altogether, it would add up to about 5 square feet worth). It's not insignificant, so what I was asking was whether it would be worth it to try to save that or just turn it all into sawdust. The hardwood edging is 3" wide, so it's a good amount. It might be more accurate to call it framing rather than edging.

For what it's worth when I've done this in the past I have been able to use either the Domino or pocket screws and get an adequate fit even with the plywood and edging at the same thickness. I sand after, and only once have I ever started to sand through the top veneer of the plywood. I'm not worried about alignment and it doesn't have to be glass smooth.

[Gary G™]

I think you’ll save it for a while then find it’s taking useful space and toss it. DAMHIKT

[nodima]

Thought about this for a moment, and for "normal", not exotic lumber, my cut off is at 1/4" or so.  Above 1/4, I'll resaw, less than that, planer all day.  Reason being, I don't do veneering, and generally don't use stock less than 1/4" thick.  Additionally, once that 1/4" is cleaned up, it is closer to 3/16 or less...

Exotics, I'd probably resaw to 1/64" if I thought it would work!

[FS7]

I could use it for cutting board accent strips. Other than that, there would be very occasional inlays. Box veneering, maybe, but I have exactly one box planned and that's in March. If I'm going to veneer something I'll use an exotic, not the rather plain mahogany that I have.

It's tempting because when I end up with thin strips I do end up using them.

[fredhargis]

It's tempting because when I end up with thin strips I do end up using them.

Sounds to me like you answered your question.