How to Stop Wood From Splintering When You Cut It

If you happen to occur to’ve ever seen that the sting of your board will get splintered if you’re chopping, you’re dealing with in all probability essentially the most frequent points for woodworkers: tearout. Tearout could also be introduced on by using the fallacious form of seen blade, a boring blade, or from improperly positioned lumber. Nonetheless usually, you’ll be able to do all these things precisely and nonetheless have a splinter draw back. Sanding can help in case your splintering is minimal, nevertheless listed below are one other methods to help forestall splintering from happening.

Learn how to forestall tearout with a backer board

One of many very important frequent strategies to forestall splintering when using a chop seen or miter seen is to utilize a backer board. This is usually a simple technique to help the grain of your lumber from the once more aspect whereas chopping. As a result of the blade on a seen used for cross-cutting spins 90 ranges to the trail of the grain, the blade can tend to tug splinters out on the once more aspect of your board. Place a scrap of picket in opposition to the fence of the seen—the half that you just simply push your lumber up in opposition to to make your cut back—sooner than you place your board. Then, place your board in opposition to the scrap and make your cut back through every the board and your scrap. The backer board will help the lumber you’re chopping, lowering tearout.

You possibly can even use a backer board on a desk seen, nevertheless you’ll need a board that’s not lower than as massive as a result of the cut back you’re making for it to work, making this system impractical in some circumstances. To utilize this system, place the board you’re chopping on excessive of 1 different piece of lumber sooner than chopping on the desk seen. This will help some with tearout on the underside aspect of your piece.

Stopping tearout with tape

Tape is one different good restore for stopping tearout. If you happen to occur to’re chopping on a desk seen, using a strip of masking tape or blue tape on the best aspect of your board above the place the blade is positioned and chopping with the good aspect down can help forestall tearout. On a spherical seen, you must make the most of tape on the underside aspect of your board, chopping with the good aspect up. Keep in mind that chopping through tape will likely boring your seen blade further quickly, however it might be worth it, counting on how actual you need the edges of your cut back to be.

Stopping tearout with scoring

To keep up tearout from happening, one helpful methodology is to realize the board alongside your cut back line sooner than chopping. You’ll be able to do that with a utility knife, a scoring tool, or any blade you may need helpful by making a groove alongside together with your software program using a straight edge alongside your cut back line sooner than making your cut back. Mainly what this system does is pre-cut the ground of your board with out enamel, making it a lot much less likely for the seen blade to catch on splinters as a result of it spins and the enamel exit the board.

Reducing tearout using a router

If tearout prevention methods don’t work or are impractical, you might make a cut back that’s an eighth to 1 / 4 inch outdoor your cut back line after which join a straight board alongside your cut back line and trim the remaining supplies with a flush trim bit in a router. As a result of the router blade usually spins perpendicular to your board, a sharp flush trim bit ought to provide little or no tearout. For curved or irregular cuts, you might make a template that’s the exact measurement and type of your cut back, then use the router to trim your piece to the shape you want using the an identical methodology. That’s moreover an effective way to make various gadgets the an identical measurement and kind.

Stopping tearout when drilling holes

If you happen to occur to’re using a drill press, clamping a scrap piece of picket onto the foot of your press sooner than drilling can present the underside of your board’s grain help as a result of the drill bit exits the board. You presumably can cut back splintering using this system with a hand-held drill, too, by clamping a scrap to the once more aspect of your mark, guaranteeing the clamp is apparent of the outlet, and drilling with the scrap in place. You possibly can even drill a shallow hole on the opposite aspect of your board after which drill through from the best, lowering the uncovered ground grain that should be drilled through.

Combining tearout prevention methods

There’s no rule that claims you might’t use tape and a backer board and scoring on the an identical time. Combining methods, significantly must you’re trying to make a very clear, actual cut back, will decrease tearout way more. You additionally must guarantee that your blade is sharp and that you just simply’re using the acceptable one for the job you’re doing. If you happen to occur to’re making a cross cut back, be certain you’ve gotten a cross-cut blade in your seen, and must you’re making a rip cut back, going with the grain, be certain you’ve gotten a blade that’s designed for that cut back in your seen.