Have you looked for 'edge banding' at your local Home Depot or Lowes store?
It might do the trick for finishing the edges of your covers. The stuff comes in various real wood varieties and plastic types. The wood ones are intended for finishing plywood edges and come in various widths for that purpose. The plastic ones come in colors to match laminate counter tops and usually is available in wider widths. If you can't find it in HD or lowes, your local cabinet maker should have some or if you can't find it locally you could try Rockler
http://www.rockler.com/search_results.cfm?...&submit.y=9.
I used the real wood type to trim my new plywood dining table top. It comes pre-glued and you just iron it on and then trim off the excess. An ordinary household iron works fine for gluing it on and various tools like sanders, x-acto knives, utility knives, flat rasps, etc will work for trimming the excess. Probably the fastest way to trim it is with a router bit designed for the purpose. Some wood trim bandings are just veneer and are not preglued but you can buy double stick tape that is designed to glue it on or you can just wood glue and clamp it.
There are also some tapes that might work.
Also I have used a plastic "T" moulding to finish edges. The T molding requires a groove cut into the edge (usually done with a router or table saw) to accept the center leg of the T. It provides a very rugged 'bumper' like edge when glued in place. It comes in white and brown at least.
Other Home Depot alternatives might include plastic moldings used to trim bathroom laminate panels or just cut thin strips of wood and 'frame' the edge.