7 Tips for Working With Plywood Tips.pdf
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7 tips for
working with
plywood
© 2009 August Home Publishing Co.
S
hop
S
ecretS
W
orking
W
ith
p
lyWood
Plywood has its challenges. It’s heavy and cumbersome to work with. And
the edges and veneer are prone to being damaged. But with a few of our
shop secrets, you can meet each and every challenge.
1. Easy Loading
The first step in dealing with ply-
wood is just getting it into your
vehicle — and then back out once
you get it to your shop.
I came up with a way to do this
with an old appliance cart (see
photo). With the cart resting on the
tailgate (with the wheels up), I lift
one end of the sheet onto the wheels.
Then I pick up the other end off the
ground and “roll” the sheet into the
bed of the pickup. To get the sheet
out, simply reverse the process.
2. Move it Along
Once you get the sheet of plywood
home and out of the truck, you’ll
need to move it into the shop. To
avoid having to carry it around the
shop, I made a “skateboard” from a
piece of scrap 2x6 and a set of casters,
like you see in the photo at left.
To ensure the plywood doesn’t
slip off the top as you’re moving
the sheet around, there’s a shallow
groove cut down the center of the
top, as illustrated in the drawing
below. And to make it easy to steer,
the caster at the front swivels.
a.
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© 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reser ved.
3. Quick & Easy Tote
Rolling a sheet of plywood around
is quite easy. But sooner or later
you’ll need to carr y a plywood
sheet to get it right where you
need it. When that’s the case, I
use the “handy” tote shown in the
drawing and the photo.
The tote is designed to hook
under the bottom edge of the ply-
wood. A round handle that fits into
the sides of the tote is easier on your
hand than the sharp edges of the
plywood. And the extended sides on
the tote make it possible to pick up a
heavy sheet by lifting with your legs
— rather than your back.
Note: When using the tote, be
sure to center the plywood sheet
on the support for better balance.
And to prevent the plywood sheet
from tipping, place your other hand
at the top of the sheet to steady it.
a.
4. Up Against the Wall
I like to cut up the plywood for my
project right away. But there are
times I can’t always do that. So I
came up with a way to store plywood
sheets nice and flat until I can.
All you need to do this is some
free wall space and the storage
bracket shown in the photo and
illustrated in the drawing below.
The wall bracket consists of two
parts: a hinged bracket attached to
the wall that holds the plywood in
place, and an index bar that adjusts
the opening of the bracket to allow
for varying amounts of sheet goods.
The hinged bracket is nothing
more than two 2x4s joined together
at one end with a 3" butt hinge. You’ll
also notice that there’s a
1
⁄
2
"-dia. dowel
glued into the top of each 2x4.
These dowels fit in holes drilled
into the index bar so you can adjust
the front bracket piece. The plywood
is held against the wall with another
1
⁄
2
"-dia. dowel (8" long) that’s glued
into the bottom of the front bracket.
I ripped the index bar to width
from a short length of 2x4. Once
you have it cut to size, the holes
can be drilled. Then, to soften the
sharp corners and allow the index
bar to clear the wall, I sanded a
radius at each end of the bar.
To use the storage bracket, select
a hole in the index bar that takes the
most slack out of the front bracket.
When you want to sort through the
stack, just set the index bar so the
dowels are in the outside holes.
2
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© 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reser ved.
5. Build a 2-in-1 cutting guide
One of the biggest challenges when
working with plywood is cutting a
large sheet down into pieces that are
a little easier to handle. Even with
help, it’s a hassle to cut plywood on
a table saw. To avoid this, I use my
circular saw and a cutting guide like
you see in the photo at right.
The cutting guide not only solves
the problem of making a straight
cut, but it makes it easy to position
the saw so you know exactly where
the cut is going to be.
An AccurAte reference edge.
The way
this works is simple. The edge of
the guide acts as a reference that
indicates the path of the blade (or
router bit, but more about that in
a minute). Ensuring an accurate
cut is just a matter of aligning one
of the edges of the guide with the
layout line on the workpiece.
Build the guide.
There’s nothing too
complicated about making the cut-
ting guide. Start out with an extra-
wide base made from
1
⁄
4
" hardboard
(see drawing below).
The next step is to glue and screw
a plywood fence to the base. Since
the fence is going to establish the
reference edge, it’s important to
attach it so it’s perfectly straight.
{
Circular Saw
Blade.
To help
reduce chipout, the
inexpensive, steel
saw blade shown
above has tiny,
razor sharp teeth
that remove small
amounts of material.
Once the fence is in place, you can
create the reference edge by trim-
ming off the waste with a circular
saw. The nice thing about the extra
width on the base is that by using a
hand-held router and a straight bit,
you can create a second reference
edge on the other side of the guide.
When I’m using my circular
saw, I like to use a steel saw blade
designed specifically for plywood,
like the one shown in the margin.
But when using my table saw or
router, I use a different blade or bit.
To learn a little more about these,
check out the box below.
ThE cUTTing EdgE
Although the guide will make a
straight cut with either a circular
saw or a hand-held router, it won’t
guarantee you a chipout-free cut.
ThE cUTTing EdgE
<
Compression Bit.
Combining
up and down shearing flutes elimi-
nates chipout on both faces of a
sheet of plywood by “compressing”
the cut to the center of the sheet.
They’re sold with either single or
double flutes. The double shown at
left is made by Freud (#77-206).
Plywood Blade.
>
Designed to produce a superior cut
on both the top and bottom of lam-
inates and melamine, this triple chip
grind blade with a negative hook
angle (Freud #LU97R) works equally
well when cutting plywood.
3
www.Woodsmith.com
© 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reser ved.
6. Breaking down Big Sheets
Before making any cuts, you’ll need
to lay out the pieces on the plywood.
It’s a good idea to allow a minimum
of
1
⁄
4
" extra all the way around to pro-
vide enough material to make the
final clean-up passes later.
Still, cutting plywood to rough
size doesn’t mean you want a ragged
cut. The goal is to end up with clean,
straight edges that can ride against
the rip fence (or be placed against a
miter gauge or an auxiliary sled).
foAm Support.
To accomplish this, I
use the cutting guide and saw blade
I mentioned earlier. In addition to
the guide, you’ll also
need a way to support
the plywood during
the cut. The best way
I’ve found to do this is
to lay the plywood on
a sheet of foam insula-
tion, as in the photo at
right. (I got mine at a
local home center.)
Keep the good Side down.
One thing
to be aware of is that the blade on a
circular saw cuts on the upstroke.
This means the top surface of the
plywood is likely to splinter. So even
with a spe-
cialty blade that
reduces chipout, it’s
best to place the plywood with its
good face down on the foam.
7. get a Perfect Finish cut
One of the reasons for allowing a
little extra material is to remove
the “factory edge.” You can usually
count on this edge to be straight and
true. But it’s often dented or nicked.
So it’s best to trim it off.
To do this, you’ll need to adjust
the rip fence to make an extra-wide
cut, as illustrated in Figure 1. Then,
after readjusting the fence, run the
“just-cut” edge against it and rip the
piece to final width.
One problem area is crosscutting
a wide piece. Trying to do this often
results in the bar of the miter gauge
not being fully supported, resulting
in a less than accurate cut.
Sliding plAtform.
The solution is
a large, sliding platform that pro-
vides extra support for the work-
piece, like you see in Figure 2.
The platform is just a plywood
base that carries the workpiece
through the blade. The base is
guided by a hardwood runner that
slides in the miter slot. As you make
a cut, a fence keeps the workpiece
square to the blade.
fluSh trim it.
Sometimes a work-
piece is too wide even for the sliding
platform. That’s when a hand-held
router comes in handy.
With the cutting guide and a com-
pression bit (see previous page),
you can cut a clean, straight edge
without any chipout (Figure 3).
1
”
“
2
3
a.
4
www.Woodsmith.com
© 2009 August Home Publishing Co. All Rights Reser ved.
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aramita
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