Carpentry and Woodworking - Repairing Splintered Edges on Finish Grade Plywood

Well, chalk this one up to lesson learned. I went to HD today and bought some nice finished Birch plywood and didnt pay much attention while the cuts were being made. Most of the edges have splintered edges from the cuts - nothing too big, but on average an 1/8 " to 1/4". I've read all about the right blades to use, and other methods to reduce splintering, but cant seem to find anything on how to sand them down or repair them.

I did some sanding on a test piece and it looks iffy. I was planning to make a very minimalist work desk and just put a clear coat polyurethane sealant on it (the wood has a really cool grain pattern and I've seen similar pieces look pretty good that way).

Any ideas? This is my first DIY project and I have limited access to tools etc. I suppose I could get some nice trim and put that all around the edges (I need to do something with the edges anyway), sand prior to putting the trim on and use some wood putty to fill in the small gaps that would result from sanding. I still think that will look suspect though.

Anyone have some advice for me? Much appreciated.

If you have your own table saw, and the ability to make fine cuts with a finish blade, would it be possible to resaw the pieces and scale down the size of your project by a few fractions of an inch?

Unfortunately I dont have many tools at all, but you raise an interesting point. Maybe I could find someone with a finish saw and throw them a couple of bucks to recut. What makes it difficult is that I live in the city of Chicago, but maybe there are some finish carpentry people hanging around.

For future reference: there is usually only one side visible in many projects, have that side down when you cut. With the proper finish blade, the underside should be nice and clean cut. If both sides will be visible, score the top side with a utility knife, then cut just shy of the mark. The tearout should stop at the scribe mark.

rbjax,
One of the first places to check would be any local community colleges with a woodworking class or vocational schools (why didn't I ever think of that in the 5 yrs I was being asked those kind of questions???). Also, a smaller cabinet or counter shop might be willing for a small fee.

Great feedback all the way around. I actually did begin looking for local carpentry shops that I can reach out to, and as others pointed out, it's really one piece I need to deal with that will be visible.

In the process I also found a really cool local woodworking workshop that offers an independent study program, which sounds really intriguing.

Thanks all, great forum here.