Plywood

[SNAPPER]

I do not use much plywood as I have a good supply of solid wood, but the project I am working on now was a bit larger than any solid pieces I have. Have had more blades break cutting the 1/2" oak ply than cutting animal puzzles from 3/4" oak. Is this common with ply.
Dean

[jigsue]

Wood causes less breaks than both ply and MDF. I think it has something to do with the hardness of the glues used. it is not really a problem, unless the breakages are excessive. Do you use a blade lubricant? I do and this seems to have helped.

Sue

[GrayBeard Phil]

If you are very use to cutting 3/4 inch wood, your hands have a wired response to the 3/4 inch wood movement.

When you change to 1/2 inch ply, or in fact any 1/2 inch wood, you fingers and hands will be still programed for the heavier wood. Also there is the problem of the wider and longer wood to deal with.

Your blade breakage may be due to incorrect sideways pressure, or feed rates applied by you hands because of the change in thickness, and dimensions. Look for problems of not following the lines as you would expect yourself to do with thicker solid wood stock.

While the glue used with plywood is part of the problem, as Sue pointed out, the glue will dull you blades first, and you might notice the change in cutting before the dull blades breaks.

So, are your blades getting dull, or are you having problems with keeping on the lines as your clue to what is causing the blades to break?

Phil

[SNAPPER]

I figured the glue was part of the problem. The filler layers in this ply seems pretty soft so I thought I could cut the whole piece with a couple blades. Following the line is not a problem and I feel I have trained myself to focous on keeping the blade centered. I just started using mt FD blade supply, like a hot knife through butter. I try to feed only as much as the blade will handle, with out flexing to much.
Thanks
Dean