How To Rip A Sheet Of Plywood With A Circular Saw

Now squeeze the trigger and slowly lower the blade into the wood.

How to rip a sheet of plywood with a circular saw.

The system works well for both rip cuts parallel to the grain and crosscuts perpendicular to the grain. Start by marking the outline of the square or rectangular hole onto the plywood sheet. When you re done ripping just pull the board off the sawhorse flip it over and pound the nail through and pull it out. Use the circular saw to rip or crosscut the plywood.

Drive an 8d nail through the board and into the sawhorse to prevent the board from slipping while you rip it. The 2x4s will be sacrificed just a bit when the blade passes over them but that won t affect the quality of the cut. This guide is designed to rip plywood into strips by running the straight edge along the edge of the plywood while the circular saw cuts a certain distance away. I keep a piece of rigid foam board in my workshop.

If you need to cut plywood down to size but only have a circular saw or skilsaw don t worry. Use an 8d nail as a third hand. Adjust your saw blade depth. I made mine 4 feet for crosscuts and doors.

Place long pieces of 2 x 2 lumber in the notches between the two sawhorses so they re flush with the top of the sawhorses. Set the depth of the circular saw blade so it cuts through the plywood but not too deeply into the sawhorses or supports. Lay 2x4s under the plywood perpendicular to the direction of the cut. You now have a circular saw guide that will allow you to rip a full length sheet of plywood.

Raise the lower blade guard out of the way while keeping a firm grip on the saw. Of all the tips i can give you this one helped me the most. Adjust your circular saw cutting depth to be just below the material. It s easy to cut plywood with the circular saw by following th.

Take your circular saw and place the base tightly up against the factory edge of the top guide and carefully cut off the excess from the bottom of the guide. I slide my circular saw with sled attached onto the guide and set the desired width then flip the tab to clamp in place. Your cut line will be where you place the edge of the guide. Next lift the rear of the saw but keep its front edge pressed firmly down on the sheet.

This will rip the bottom piece to match the bed edge to blade distance of your saw. Then all you have to do to rip ply goods of 8 foot lengths is mark both ends and clamp your melamine guide to the plywood.