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The old timer who told me to wet my plywood before cutting it
A guy in his 70s at the lumber yard told me to spray a mist on my plywood before ripping it to reduce tearout. I tried it on a birch sheet last week and the edges came out way cleaner than dry cuts... Has anyone else tried this trick with melamine or is it just for plywood?
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the_max26d ago
Yeah hold on. You don't want to soak plywood or any wood product before cutting. That trick is more about a quick light mist right before the blade hits, not wetting the whole sheet. Soaking it can make the wood swell and warp, especially with cheap plywood or melamine which has a particle board core. If you get the paper face or the edges too wet, the glue can let go and you'll get bubbling. For melamine, the real trick is to use a triple chip blade and tape the cut line with blue painter's tape. That stops the chipping way better than water and doesn't risk ruining the panel.
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Did you try scoring the cut line with a utility knife first? That's what I do with melamine and it works better than water, you just run the blade along your cut line and it snaps the coating clean before the saw even hits it. Saves you the hassle of worrying about swelling or glue failure.
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vera51426d ago
Is this just one of those things where the "right" way to do something changes depending on who you ask, @noahmartin? I see it all the time in my own hobbies. Like with grilling, some people swear by a dry rub and others say you gotta soak chips for smoke. It's funny how wood, whether for a shed or a brisket, gets treated so differently by different people. Your scoring trick makes total sense as a clean break method though.
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