cutting fine plywood with circular saw - are more teeth always better?

[Florin Andrei]

Cutting 3/4" baltic birch plywood with the circular saw. The goal is to make a fine, clean, flat cut.

Does "more is better" apply in this case? In other words, will a 150 tooth blade always cut cleaner than a 100 or 60 tooth?

[Victor Robinson]

More teeth will theoretically yield a better/cleaner cut of the surface veneer. However, a high toothed blade can't be driven as fast through the cut, hence a high potential for burning.

If you're referring to the 150t circ saw blades sold at the big box stores on the supercheap, do yourself a favor and stay away. Those things bind, burn, and kickback like nobody's business.

A circ saw blade in the range of 60t is more than enough for a nice clean cut. Freud makes a Diablo blade that has 60t and is around $20 or less. It's a fantastic blade.

[Jonathan Link]

And use blue painters tape when cross cutting the face of plywood.

[Van Huskey]

It has more to do with the quality of the teeth than number. The best circular saw plywood blade I have found is:

http://www.freudtools.com/p-16-thin-kerf-ultimate-plywood-melamine.aspx

Not exactly cheap but is is great and has plenty of carbide to resharpen several times, unusual in circular saw blades.

[Chip Lindley]

In addition to good advice above, use an accurate straight guide for your saw. It does not have to be elaborate to be effective. I have a 9 ft long piece of aluminum extrusion scrounged from a glass dealer's scrap bin. It guides my SkilSaw in a straight line and serves also to align cutting marks with the saw's blade. Simple enough!

[Dan Rude]

I use a high tooth carbide blade for my 5 1/2" trim saw, but I made a zero clearance insert for the saw base. Its just a Piece of hardboard the size of the saw base and double stick tape to the bottom of the base and plunge the saw blade through it. I then use a striaght edge to guide it. I also tape the cut too.

[John M Wilson]

A circ saw blade in the range of 60t is more than enough for a nice clean cut. Freud makes a Diablo blade that has 60t and is around $20 or less. It's a fantastic blade.

Check out the Freud D0760X Diablo Ultra Finish Saw Blade ATB 7-1/4-Inch by 60t 5/8-Inch Arbor on Amazon for $19.97

Good Luck!

[Florin Andrei]

Excellent information, thanks everyone.

[Victor Robinson]

Check out the Freud D0760X Diablo Ultra Finish Saw Blade ATB 7-1/4-Inch by 60t 5/8-Inch Arbor on Amazon for $19.97

Good Luck!

That's the one!

[Curt Harms]

You might consider what I've heard called a saw board. Glue a straight strip of 3/4" plywood 4" wide or so to a piece of 1/4" plywood. Make sure the 3/4" is 6" or so from the edge of the 1/4" ply. Wait til the glue dries then put the shoe of your circular saw on the 1/4" ply and tight against the 3/4" strip. Cut the 1/4" ply and you now have an accurate guide with anti-chipping properties. I've made 2 passes, the first one scoring the top veneer then a second pass for the through cut. It seemed to work out well. I'm using a Porter-Cable 314 trim saw which is easy to push in a straight line keeping against the 3/4" fence. I've used 2 blades, one a traditional steel plywood blade and a Freud 40 tooth carbide blade on the trim saw. The Freud gives at least as good a cut as the plywood blade.

[Lee Schierer]

I've used the Freud blade and it gives an excellent cut. I also use tape. Be sure to peel the tape toward the cut when you take it off the wood to avoid lifting the edges of the cut.

[Keith Hankins]

well it depends. If you ar cutting with grain less is good across more is good. I've found that it depends more on the blade than the teeth count. If you plan on cutting a good bit of ply go ahead and get a decent blade. I bought a forrest WWII 7 1/4" blade for my CS and used a strait edge. I was cutting good stuff and did not want ragged edges. The blade aint a 5 dollar oldham but you get what you pay for! A second alternative would be to cut it just a tad long and finish the cut with a staitedge and pattern bit in a router to make it pretty. I prefer the simplest method i.e. cut it once.

A second suggestion. Go to a big box store and buy you a 2" thick piece of 4x8 insullation (the good stuff) lay that puppy on the floor an put your ply on top of that (good face down). Set your saw to cut 1/2 tooth below the thickness of the ply and you will see great results. I have not hoisted a piece of ply on to my TS in a long time. I only recently invested in a festool tracksaw that replaced my CS with a WWII in it. That festool is sweet!

[Ryan Hellmer]

I have the Makita SP6000, similar to the Festool TS55. I fought the urge to get a cool tracksaw for a long time but finally convinced my wife it was a great investment. I haven't used it enough to really weigh in, but for me it just seemed like a better option. It doesn't take long (at today's prices) to justify the right tools for plywood breakdown. A couple bad cuts add up quick.

Ryan

[Jon Endres]

Another vote for the Freud Diablo 60-tooth carbide blade. I use one in my Hitachi saw on an E-Z-Guide and I get chip-free, smooth cuts on anything I cut. I haven't used a steel-toothed blade since I was a kid.

[Rick Fisher]

I use a Tenryu 52 tooth x 7-1/4 blade.. Have not used the Freud 60T .. Compared to the standard 24 tooth blade, the 52 tooth Tenryu leaves a fantastic finish..

[Bill Isaacs]

You can also make a zero clearance insert for your circ saw and attach it with 2-sided tape. I've had good results using mine.

Bill

Obviously you will need to be extremely careful as the blade will be fully exposed!

[Rob Price]

Another vote for the thin kerf freud. I had a bunch of sheets of walnut ply that I didn't want to cut twice. I bought a freud blade for my CS and it cuts very well. Not a ton of teeth, 40, but good and sharp.

[Forrest Bonner]

While a good blade and a straight cut are critical, your best bet is to cut the side of the ply that will show such that the blade teeth are cutting down into the ply. More splinters will occur when the teeth are coming out of the surface. Use tape well pressed down on the back side of the ply as suggested also helps.

For a really clean cut, set up a 'second' straight edge up against the one the saw rides on so that the 'second' straight edge lines up perfectly with where the edge of the blade teeth will cut. Use a very sharp marking knife and make a shallow cut the length of the ply. This will cut all the fine surface fibers so that the saw blade is not actually cutting - thereby possibly splintering - the top surface.

Forrest

[David epstein]

Cutting 3/4" baltic birch plywood with the circular saw. The goal is to make a fine, clean, flat cut.

Does "more is better" apply in this case? In other words, will a 150 tooth blade always cut cleaner than a 100 or 60 tooth?

Zero clearance base helps with the uplifting of fibres,
More teeth up to 40 and a thin kerf blade is the receipe for clean cuts.
More and wider teeth, more the problems with motor power and larger surface area that needs to be removed.

You can make a simple zci plate for your cs and use it to align the blade to the edge of the sub-base ( zci).
Blade parallel to the edge of the new base and zero clearance only in the front of your saw allowing the guard to work
as designed. To close every time you lift the saw from the wood.

A flexible area with pressure applied to both sides of the blade increases the anti-lifting protection.
One way to increase the down pressure of the zci is to apply painters tape on the zci and not on the wood.

I hope that helps and in return you can post pictures from your cleanest cuts ever.

If all the above are confusing and you have no time to make one,
search youtube for the smart base.
If I can find the video I will post a link for all the above in ready form.

good luck.