Shopsmith Forums

When I get the SS email with the latest piece/part on sale I often read the hints at the end. Today's was about wrapping a piece of tape around the board at the cut line and I usually do that unless it is soft wood and I don't care tear out. However, one thing struck me and that was that they didn't mention anything about wrapping tape around the board at any other place where it contacts the table. I was taught that if you use tape it should always be placed surrounding the cut line AND also somewhere on the board's surface which still touches the table so that when the board is being cut, the tape does not affect the angle at which the blade cuts the wood.
Have I been overly picky all these years?

For those of you do actually wrap a board at the cut line to reduce tear out, do you also place an equal depth of tape somewhere on the board to keep the cut accurate or is it completely unnecessary and I have been wasting time and tape all these decades??

Be well,
Ben

PS, I would never ask this at lumberjacks or FWW forums for fear of starting a flame war. Here I presume cooler heads will prevail.

The extra tape certainly does eliminate a source of error ... but it's a pretty small error.

Let's assume that the tape is 0.004" thick. If crosscutting 3/4" material 6" long, the bevel-angle error is 0.038 degrees, and the side-side "length" variation is 0.0005". If crosscutting 6/4 material 3" long, the angle error is 0.076 degrees, and the side-side length variation is 0.002".

So for most purposes, I'd say that the error is negligible.

I agree , one other note is,,,, I was all ways taught that you never make a finish cut on a saw.

I know folks do this all the time,,,,, it was not how I was taught.

You will have a much more crisp edge if you finish with a disc sander or a sharp knife .

Just my 2 cnts.

Hobbyman2

My simple minded approach is to cut to fit. If it fits, glue it. A .0002 variation won't affect the fit enough to cause me to worry.

If tear out occurs, where does it happen? Most often as the blade exits the cut, right? Tape at that point doesn't require wrapping. If tear out happens on the bottom, something else is likely the cause. In any case, a scoring cut will certainly help.

I have had mixed success "ensuring" as clean cut simply by using tape. As for using it to maintain proper position of the blade - well my cuts are just not that demanding. How far from 90° will my cross cut 16" away be as the result of a single application of painters tape (even a couple wraps).

If I am working on a project that I want everyone to be impressed by (these don't happen frequently), I scribe all of my cut lines with a blade like an exacto blade. Cutting the grain at the cut line releases tensions before hitting it with a saw blade. Oh, and that blade will be one of the best that I have in shop.

I almost never use tape for that but I can't see the thickness of one layer of tape affecting the angle of the piece being cut. Then again a second piece to support the other end the same amount is almost free and I don't see it hurting anything. Probably more effective than crossing your fingers...
I should confess here that most of my cuts may not require the kind of super accuracy that the work of others might. I make more rustic bird houses than fine jewelry boxes.
I have used the tape on cuts on trim work (remodeling rental houses) when I am cutting trim with a power hand saw (Skil-saw type).
On a tablesaw or RAS I have used the technique of making a first pass that barely cuts the surface then setting the saw for a full depth cut and cutting again. I have also used the cutting the surface with a sharp knife first thing, but not that often. A properly adjusted saw, a quality and sharp blade and the patience to feed slowly will go a long way toward reducing tear-out.


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I use the tape method fairly frequently. It definitely helps with tear out or chipping in the case of melamine. I generally only use it when cutting sheet products. If I am cutting wood I am usually crosscutting using a sled which backs the cut and has zero clearance below the blade so there are no issues. The one issue that was mentioned previously is tearout happening from the rear of the blade which is generally an alignment issue.
Paul

To Everyone--- Thank you for your wisdom, insight and experience.

My guess is this old fart will "occasionally" fall back to old habits , but I presume that until I again try those very thin veneer, multi-sided attempts at marquetry boxes, I will stop putting tape "EVERYWHERE" !!

Except for my flag boxes, my next few (many??? ) projects when the garage is again use-able are all cabinets of various sizes and uses (including an entire new kitchen - which I may shelve until I have regained some sense of reality!! )

Again, thank you to everyone. I hope you all know how much I appreciate your collective and selective and impressive wisdom.

Be well,
Ben