Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

wrote:
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

Use a new plywood blade (lots of small teeth) and run some masking tape
(blue) over the bit you are about to cut. The side the teeth enter will
get less tearout than the side the teeth exit. Hope this helps You
could also pre-score the cut and/or put on a backer board.

Damian

wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter


Are you going to cut a lot? Festool has a circle saw and blade that does
not tear out on top of bottom when using its guide bar. I would not have
believed that had I not seen it.

wrote:
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

If you are using a circular saw, get a finishing blade. High tooth
count, from a quality manufactuer. They aren't that expensive for a
circular saw. Also, adjust the base so that the blade is only slightly
higher than the thickness of the plywood. If the blade is fully
extended, you have a greater risk for tearout. But the "good side"
(the side that will be most visible) in contact with the saw. Tearout
is more likely to happen on the bottom side of the cut.

The other thing I've noticed is that sometimes the plywood you are
cutting is more prone to splintering when cut. I bought some 1/2" stuff
for drawers at Lowes that was horrible.

On 8 Dec 2006 12:17:33 -0800, "
wrote:

Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

* Use a hollow ground veneer/plywood blade
* Cut from the backside of the sheet (I find this to be the best
method/tip and it leaves a near perfect edge)
* Cover the entire cut line with a piece of scrap ply or other thin
material
*Cover the cut line with tape
* Do not feed to fast

wrote in message
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

As Joe indicated, one general rule of thumb is to try cutting plywood with
the good side down when using a circular saw, and the good side up with a
table saw.

May not totally solve the problem, but doing so, along with other
suggestions like an appropriate/sharp blade, will definitely give you a
better chance of success

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/29/06

wrote:
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter
I had to make a cross cut on Birch Ply and could not have any tear out,
so I did use a utility knife blade and make a very shallow cut first
and then actuely did use Router to make a rabit, it turn out it did had
zero tear out after cut, if you can make exact cut aling the knife cut,
surely you will get no cut, as long as you use a decent blade.
Again, if you are going to make a litle cut one or two ply cut, this is
the best method worked for me, other wise the other methods worth a try
suggested by others. However I did not have good results with masking
tape.
Max

wrote:
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

I had to make a cross cut on Birch Ply and could not have any tear out,
so I did use a utility knife blade and make a very shallow cut first
and then actuely did use Router to make a rabit, it turn out it did had
zero tear out after cut, if you can make exact cut aling the knife cut,
surely you will get no cut, as long as you use a decent blade.
Again, if you are going to make a litle cut one or two ply cut, this is
the best method worked for me, other wise the other methods worth a try
suggested by others. However I did not have good results with masking
tape.
Max

wrote:
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

I had to make a cross cut on Birch Ply and could not have any tear out,
so I did use a utility knife blade and make a very shallow cut first
and then actuely did use Router to make a rabit, it turn out it did had
zero tear out after cut, if you can make exact cut aling the knife cut,
surely you will get no cut, as long as you use a decent blade.
Again, if you are going to make a litle cut one or two ply cut, this is
the best method worked for me, other wise the other methods worth a try
suggested by others. However I did not have good results with masking
tape.
Max

wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter


Thought I'd never say it, but a few years back I bought a Bosch jigsaw to
replace my 30 yr C'man, and now it's my choice. With the "progressor"
blades and one of those clamp-on fences, it's incredible. You can even cut
lauan with minimum splinter.

Just bought the eldest one for Christmas. SiL gets a PC speedbloc. I still
get to buy tools with a full shop this way.

To get minimum tearout with my circular saw I put a piece of 3/8 plywood on
the base of the saw with a hole large enough for the guard to operate
through it but with an area just ahead of the guard that I plunge cut a slot
only the width of the saw blade after mounting the wood to the base of the
saw. It becomes sort of a zero clearence insert that holds the plywood cut
edges down as the saw teeth cut up through the board. I also use a thin kerf
high tooth count plywood blade like the other posters are suggesting. It
works great for minimizing (nearly eliminating) tearout, but it restricts
the view of the cut line at the point of cut. I've considered making a new
one out of clear lexan so I could see the cut line better, but the the wood
version has done the job for long straight cuts using a guide and that's all
that I've been doing so it hasn't mattered much. My shop is small, so I
precut sheets to workable sizes on sawhorses in the driveway.

I'm a few hours drive from you, just North of Charlotte.

--
Charley


wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

Thanks for all the help guys!
Charley wrote:
To get minimum tearout with my circular saw I put a piece of 3/8 plywood on
the base of the saw with a hole large enough for the guard to operate
through it but with an area just ahead of the guard that I plunge cut a slot
only the width of the saw blade after mounting the wood to the base of the
saw. It becomes sort of a zero clearence insert that holds the plywood cut
edges down as the saw teeth cut up through the board. I also use a thin kerf
high tooth count plywood blade like the other posters are suggesting. It
works great for minimizing (nearly eliminating) tearout, but it restricts
the view of the cut line at the point of cut. I've considered making a new
one out of clear lexan so I could see the cut line better, but the the wood
version has done the job for long straight cuts using a guide and that's all
that I've been doing so it hasn't mattered much. My shop is small, so I
precut sheets to workable sizes on sawhorses in the driveway.

I'm a few hours drive from you, just North of Charlotte.

--
Charley


wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on edges
of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw), technique,
tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions lately! Anyone
herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter

wrote:

Thanks for all the help guys!
Charley wrote:
To get minimum tearout with my circular saw I put a piece of 3/8
plywood on the base of the saw with a hole large enough for the
guard to operate through it but with an area just ahead of the
guard that I plunge cut a slot only the width of the saw blade
after mounting the wood to the base of the saw. It becomes sort of
a zero clearence insert that holds the plywood cut edges down as
the saw teeth cut up through the board. I also use a thin kerf high
tooth count plywood blade like the other posters are suggesting. It
works great for minimizing (nearly eliminating) tearout, but it
restricts the view of the cut line at the point of cut. I've
considered making a new one out of clear lexan so I could see the
cut line better, but the the wood version has done the job for long
straight cuts using a guide and that's all that I've been doing so
it hasn't mattered much. My shop is small, so I precut sheets to
workable sizes on sawhorses in the driveway.

I'm a few hours drive from you, just North of Charlotte.

--
Charley


wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you guys give me some advice on how to best avoid tearout on
edges of hardwood ply. Blade recommendations (circular saw),
technique, tricks, etc. Thanks! Sorry for all the noob questions
lately! Anyone herte live in the Asheville, NC area? Peter



very fine triple chip blade will reduce splinter out to almost zero

mark your line with a craft knife

cut your ply from the back


When using power saws go slowly

--