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Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
By:Terry Haines
Date: 10/11/2009, 12:56 am
In Response To: Re: Strip: Cutting Strips (Bill Hamm)

You don't need a bandsaw or table saw to cut accurate strips. I use a simple hand-held circular saw. There's some tricks most people know but just in case:

Add a ply baseplate so you can have a zero clearance blade slot, and never use it for anything except vertical cuts. Using a decent blade goes without saying: I use a narrow kerf finishing cut saw and the strips hasdly need any sanding. Use a LONG guide extending beyond the front and back of the baseplate; that ensures the start and end of the cut are straight. Saw on a tabletop not on horses; put a sheet of insulating foam down to protect the blade (and the table).

Thees simple tricks give me a total runout of about 0.02" over many strips; you can do better on a table saw but it won't show on the boat.

One big advantage over a table saw; because the wood isn't moving you can work on double the length within a given workshop, important if you are short on space.

If the grain goes the wrong way and you have to cut thick strips and recut across those as per Fred Graus' post, here's an idea I used to cut staves for a hollow sailboat mast. I cut the thicker strips, rotated them 90 deg and glued them back together again to make a wide plank with the grain in the right direction. This is a lot safer to work with than a lot of thin bendy strips, and will reduce waste. You can also scarf out any knots on the thick strips first, saves having to do that on the final strips.

Hope this helps you, or anyone!

Messages In This Thread

Strip: Cutting Strips
Mrkim -- 10/8/2009, 5:40 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Fred Gasper -- 10/9/2009, 6:52 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
fred graus -- 10/9/2009, 9:09 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips *NM* *Pic*
Mrkim -- 10/9/2009, 1:49 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips *Pic*
Mrkim -- 10/9/2009, 1:53 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips *Pic*
fred graus -- 10/9/2009, 3:06 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Ed Darlington -- 10/10/2009, 5:46 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Mac McCaskie -- 10/17/2009, 5:42 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Bill Hamm -- 10/11/2009, 12:31 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Mrkim -- 10/9/2009, 3:24 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
fred graus -- 10/9/2009, 3:44 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Allan -- 10/9/2009, 9:56 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Mrkim -- 10/9/2009, 4:17 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips *LINK*
Ian Johnson -- 10/9/2009, 5:04 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips *Pic*
Etienne Muller -- 10/9/2009, 6:26 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Mrkim -- 10/9/2009, 8:13 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Bill Hamm -- 10/10/2009, 1:33 am
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Brian Nystrom -- 10/9/2009, 8:18 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Mac McCaskie -- 10/8/2009, 11:45 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Bill Hamm -- 10/8/2009, 5:54 pm
Re: Strip: Cutting Strips
Terry Haines -- 10/11/2009, 12:56 am