Cut Thin Pieces

[Larry Beyer]

Hi All:
I have several projects which I have tried to "micro-size".
Have been using Cedar, Oak and Maple woods. About 3/16 inch square and some 3/16 x 3/32 thick. Havent had a problem ripping them from larger stock to this size.
The problem has been How to cross cut the thin pieces..they splinter back really bad. Even tried using a fine tooth hacksaw blade..to no avail.
Any suggestions? Do you know how to make the cuts or of any miniature type tools available for this application.
Thanks in advance
lcb369

[glenn bradley]

There's a whole 'model making' industry out there with tools to match. The prices are pretty high considering the tools capacity. Preac is one that comes to mind:

http://www.preac.com/

If this is an avid interest I would consider looking that direction. If this is a now and then thing, I use a 'no set' pull saw with good results. Another approach is to cut a dado in a length of scrap to match your 'keeper'. Cut your parts to size by cutting through the scrap 'jig'. This will minimize your tearout.

[George Summers]

One way to cut thin stock without (or at least, very little) splintering is to make a sandwich and cut the sandwich. ie: The thin stock layered between two thicker 'scrap' pieces of stock. Be sure to hold the sandwich together tightly or it won't work.

George

[Steve Clardy]

Larry. You could rip it, going across the grain first if the material is wide enough, on your table saw.
Then your crosscuts would be following the grain. No tearout

[Bill Wyko]

One way to cut thin stock without (or at least, very little) splintering is to make a sandwich and cut the sandwich. ie: The thin stock layered between two thicker 'scrap' pieces of stock. Be sure to hold the sandwich together tightly or it won't work.

George
Thats exactly what I was going to say. For making long thin pieces, masking tape the pieces to a larger piece of wood and cut so the small piece falls away from the blade, not between the blade and fence. Good luck.

[Doug Shepard]

Woodcraft has a little 60TPI saw that's pretty gentle on fragile pieces. I've used it for cutting miters in 1/16" thick inlay with good results, though even that's not foolproof. Sandwiching and/or backer scraps behind the cut are still good ideas. I've also used blue tape around the wood and cut through that. Often that's enough to support the cut so it doesn't spinter, but if it happens, the splinter is held by the tape. You can just stick a drop of glue on with a toothpick and lay the tape back down to reattach the splinter.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=853

[Andrew Williams]

I've had good results just chopping across with a wide chisel. Put a scrap under it though.

[Burt Waddell]

Larry,

The EZ smart will handle this. Place the pieces side by, use a fine tooth blade and cut away. The bottom should come out good regardless. The top will be protected by the EZ inserts and placing the pieces side by side should protect the sides of the cut.

Burt

[Brent Dowell]

Have you tried a nice little fine tooth Japanese cross cut saw?

They are designed to cut wood. A hacksaw blade is made for metal, so....

Spent a good amount of time today practicing cross cuts with my japanese pull saw on some 2x material. My arms sore, but I did not notice a lot of spintering. The cool thing was that when I would get to the last stroke on a 2x, the saw would cut right through the material without spintering, a very clean cut, the cutoff would drop to the floor, and the blade of the saw would make a very cool, 'schwinggggg' sound, just like the sword fight in the japanese martial arts movies....

[James Suzda]

Could you use an “X-acto” knives or tools? They can be found at model hobby shops that handle model wooden airplane or model railroading supplies. You can get a large selection of blades and small back saws for a very reasonable price for each.
Multiple cuts with a sharp thin knife would cut those thin strips very easily with no splintering.
Jim

[Chris Leverett]

I second the x-acto saw suggestion. I do a lot of model making with very thin wood and the x-acto is my tool of choice for crosscutting. A scrollsaw usually works well for me also.
Chris

[Larry Beyer]

Thanks for the input Everyone.

Will try the sandwich idea first.

The x-acto knives work but are somewhat awkward on the hardwoods.

Larry Beyer

[Mark Singer]

I have a set of Zona saws for fine work and a small miter box I made. The cut well and the kerf is razor thin

http://www.faimodelsupply.com/fai-zona.html

http://www.faimodelsupply.com/graphics/fai-35-350.gif

http://www.faimodelsupply.com/graphics/fai-35-260.gif