How to Prevent Wood From Splitting When Cutting
If you’ve ever noticed the edge of a board splitting while cutting, you’ve encountered one of the most common woodworking problems: gouge. Pullout can be caused by using the wrong type of saw blade, a dull blade, or improperly positioned lumber. But sometimes you can do all these things right and still have a thorn problem. Sanding may help if the splitting is minimal, but there are other methods that can help prevent splitting.
How to prevent backing board from tearing out
One of the most common ways to prevent splintering when using a chop saw or miter saw is to use a backer board. This is an easy way to maintain the grain of the lumber on the back side while cutting. Because the blade of a crosscut saw rotates 90 degrees in the direction of the grain, the blade can pull splinters out of the back of the board. Place a piece of wood against the saw guide—the part you press the lumber against to make the cut—before installing the board. Then place the board against the crowbar and cut through the board and the crowbar. The backing board will support the lumber you are cutting, reducing pullout.
You can also use a backing board on a table saw, but to make it work you’ll need a board at least as wide as the cut you’re making, making this method impractical in some circumstances. To use this method, place the board you are cutting on top of another piece of lumber before cutting it on the table saw. For some, this may help when the bottom of a part is torn.
Preventing tearing with tape
Tape is another good solution for preventing tearing. If you are cutting on a table saw, use a strip of masking tape or blue tape on the top side of the board above where the blade sits and cut with the good side down to prevent tearing. On a table saw, you can use the tape on the underside of the board, cutting it with the good side facing up. Keep in mind that cutting through the tape will likely cause the saw blade to become dull faster, but it may be worth it depending on how precise you need your cut edges to be.
Preventing tearing with a notch
To prevent tearing, one useful technique is to score the board along the cut line before cutting. You can do this with a utility knife , scoring tool , or any blade at hand, making the groove with the tool using a straight edge along the cut line before making the cut. Essentially, this method involves pre-cutting the surface of the board without teeth, which reduces the likelihood of the saw blade catching on splinters as the teeth rotate and come out of the board.
Reducing tearout using a router
If pull-out prevention techniques don’t work or are impractical, you can make a cut one-eighth to a quarter of an inch from the cut line, then attach a straight board along the cut line and trim the remaining material using a flush trim. router Since the cutter blade typically rotates perpendicular to your board, a sharp flush trimming bit should cause very little lift-off. For curved or irregular cuts, you can make a template that exactly fits the size and shape of your cut, and then use a router to trim the piece to the desired shape using the same method. This is also a good way to make multiple pieces of the same size and shape.
Prevent slippage when drilling holes
If you are using a drill press, clamp a piece of wood onto the drill press leg before drilling to ensure the grain of the bottom of the board is supported when the drill bit comes out of the board. You can also reduce splits using this method with a hand drill, pressing the crowbar against the back of the mark, making sure the clamp does not touch the hole, and drill leaving the crowbar in place. You can also drill a shallow hole on the opposite side of the board and then drill through the top, reducing the visible surface that needs to be drilled.
Combining pullout prevention methods
There is no rule against using tape, backing and scoring at the same time. A combination of techniques, especially if you are trying to make a very clean and precise cut, will further reduce the gap. You should also make sure that your blade is sharp and that you are using the right one for the job at hand. If you’re making a crosscut, make sure your saw has a blade for crosscutting, and if you’re making a rip cut, following the grain, make sure you have a blade on your saw designed for that cut. saw.