How to shoot plywood?

[Brian Sommers]

I'm using my table saw to do my rough cutting and I want to know is there a way to shoot plywood with a hand plane? How would you go about it?

[Curt Putnam]

I wouldn't try. I value my irons too much and would not like the effort involved - half of it is glue. LV's shooting sander might be of interest - depending on size, etc.

[Frederick Skelly]

- half of it is glue.

+1. You shoot it the same way you shoot anything else. (Or at least I did.) But as Curt said, it's tough on your irons - nicks them, dulls them. But it's doable.

Brian, is there a reason you don't feel comfortable with the edge that comes off a new sharp saw blade?

[Jim Koepke]

My first thought when seeing the title of this thread was with a Colt .45.

I do not use much plywood. As Curt suggests try sandpaper.

jtk

[Patrick Chase]

My first thought when seeing the title of this thread was with a Colt .45.

You mean you'd drink a 40 of Colt 45 and then shoot the plywood? Seems legit...

EDIT: Get a pair of those cheapo Avanti 60t ATB blades at the Orange Borg. They leave an OK surface on ply and MDF, and you won't feel bad when you pitch them. I've shot plywood before when I had to, and it invariably leads to grinding, honing, and tears.

For really good cut quality you could also try a Freud LU79R010 (80-tooth high-ATB) or the even more expensive Forrest equivalent. The Freud 1090X is also a decent medium cost option for ply, but its 0.087" kerf is narrower than many riving knives, so if you go that route be prepared to make a dedicated insert with a thin splitter. Speaking of inserts, zero-clearance is a must when cutting laminates in my experience.

EDIT 2: What sort of ply? As somebody else noted it's the glue that does the damage, and that varies a lot. I would not recommend shooting HydroTek FWIW (generous layers of phenolic adhesive).

Also, this is one case where you really REALLY want a sloped shooting board. I still remember the first time I shot multi-ply Birch plywood without one, and saw the perfectly spaced notches in my cutting edge.

[James Pallas]

If you woodwork chances are you are going to end up using some plywood or other manufactured wood products for jigs or fixtures or whatever. That stuff will put Some scratches in your good planes. I have a handyman #5 that I keep around for just for those times plywood a painted edge knotty fir and the like. I don't have any guilt feelings when I put the #5 to task.
Jim

[Lenore Epstein]

I've consistently had sharp clean results on birch plywood (not Baltic birch, just the regular medium-quality kind) using a fairly fine-toothed Diablo blade made for plywood and MDF from the Borg. And that's with a circular saw and a shop-made cutting guide, so I'm sure you could do at least as well on your table saw with the right blade in good condition.

As for shooting, I'd trust the advice given above.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Jim,

You had the same thought I did, and I have made a lot of 243 size holes in targets stapled to a plywood target holder, although I haven't made any such holes in a few years. I will say one thing though, if you are used to seeing 24 caliber holes, a 45 caliber hole is a frighteningly big opening in the paper.

With regard to the plywood, I have a few half sheets, full sheets, 3/4 sheets, etc., from years ago. I am not particularly fond of it any more either, but if you grew up like I did, you don't want to actually throw away anything like that when it is still usable..... I am thinking about making some chest like things for storing cans of nails, etc.......can't just throw away something good.....even if I don't particularly care for the stuff......

Stew

[Art Mann]

I have to wonder why you would use your table saw to do rough cutting but not to cut to final dinensions. That is what a table saw excels at. If you want to stay true to the Neanderthal faith, then you should be cutting plywood with a hand saw.

[Patrick Chase]

I've consistently had sharp clean results on birch plywood (not Baltic birch, just the regular medium-quality kind) using a fairly fine-toothed Diablo blade made for plywood and MDF from the Borg

Diablo and Freud are one and the same. I bet yours is either a 1080X or 1090X (I don't think the Borg carry the LU79R010 - too spendy).

[Patrick Chase]

I have to wonder why you would use your table saw to do rough cutting but not to cut to final dinensions. That is what a table saw excels at. If you want to stay true to the Neanderthal faith, then you should be cutting plywood with a hand saw.

Are you sure that's how they worked plywood back in Moxon's day? How about MDF? :-)

Seriously, if somebody wants to stay true to the Neander faith they probably shouldn't be using engineered panel products to begin with. We all compromise here and there, though. If I'm making shop fixtures out of ply or MDF then power tools are fair game.

[Stanley Covington]

Use a steel-bodied plane that works well, but which you are willing to sacrifice. The sole will get badly scratched by the sanding belt grit embedded in the plys.

Get a HSS blade from Japan. I think Tsunesaburo makes one. Not fun to sharpen, but the tungsten will help.

You may want to clamp a stick on the end of the plywood sheet to prevent the inner plys from spelching.

Oil the sole of your plane frequently (like every stroke).

I hope you hate the plane, because it will hate you back after a few passes.

Stan

[Hilton Ralphs]

Sorry not an answer to your shooting question but a decent plywood specific blade and a zero clearance throat plate are your friends. Remember when cutting plywood you want to blade fully extended (high as possible) which is exactly the opposite when cutting wood.

[Robert Engel]

In addition to what Hilton ^ said, here's the trick if you need perfectly clean plywood cuts:

Score with sharp knife before cutting.

But a high quality, newly sharp blade and a slow feed rate will do about as good.

[Karl Andersson]

For shooting and cleaning up plywood edges, I use Surform planes, which people practically give me at yard sales and flea markets. No, really, they are Neander tools; one of mine is old enough to have wooden handles! They come in two-hand "bench plane" size and block plane size, and the hard steel blades stand up pretty well to the plywood glue (plus there are dozens of little blades to share the load). I usually don't try to make the edges perfectly smooth, since most plywood panels I make are for framed door panels and are hidden in grooves, but you can angle the surform slightly as you push it to get a smooth surface instead of grooves from the rasp teeth. If you had a bunch of plywood to smooth, replacing surform blades as they wore out would be easier than resharpening your plane blades. Here's the block plane size for those who've never had the pleasure:

surform block.jpg
Happy planing
Karl