Cutting a plywood sheet?

If you haven’t got access to a track saw, then use a hand saw. Not just any hand saw – get a pull saw. It will cut 5.5mm ply cleanly without splintering in no time flat. Just draw a line across the sheet and saw along it. It’s much easier to follow the line with a pull saw than a conventional hand saw and much less effort too.

One like this:

https://www.irwin.eu/tools/handsaws/pull-saws

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb874csw-1200w-165mm-electric-circular-saw-240v/230vv

Forty quid. Pays for itself in the first cut surely.

And you have it for the rest of your life. Titan stuff is absolutely fine for occasional DIY.

As for…

I can say from experience that trying to cut a 2440×1220 sheet on pallets on an uneven surface with a  circular saw is less than satisfactory. I especially enjoy trying to find something I can clamp as a guide that will fit under the motor. Also love having to move the clamps every five seconds because they get in the way of the motor.

You’ve put the guide rail on the wrong side!

Done loads of sheets like this, resting on off cuts on the floor etc. It works fine, its all in the setup, the actual act of cutting in 10% of the effort.

If you are struggling to find something to support the sheet just ask a neighbour you don’t like…

Off course you can cut on the floor with offcuts supporting.  you could also try and cut it with a dremel….

Right tool for the job is some proper saw horses positioned correctly to support both sides of the cut.  (found out the scary way what happens if you just try and hold a bit of sheet ‘by hand’ as you cut with a track.  blade jams / kick back / nice straight cut messed up….

I have 4 folding saw horses and they are used all the time – everything from temporary bbq table through to cutting sheet.  Very useful things to have, and not expensive either.

If you are just going for a circular saw I picked up a plasterers straight edge of amazon for very little, I think less than £10.  with 2 clamps that should do the trick and you don’t need to worry about the wood being bowed or twisted (learnt that from experience of cocking up too)

@snotrag – that saw comes with a 24 tooth blade.

Will that be Ok for a clean cut?

It would cost at least another £15 to get a blade with more teeth.

Have we really reached the second page of a thread about cutting one sheet of 6mm plywood in half? Can anyone summarise and let me know how’s the equipment inventory going as a multiple of the price of the piece of wood?

SCM make decent panel saws and have a lot of capacity with large sliding tables and a digital display.
More than enough for cross-cutting an 8×4.
Get one of them I’d say.

I’m selling one (minus the digital display, I’m not made of money!) But I can tape an old Nintendo Switch to an anglepoise lamp stand so that it looks the part. Only weighs half a ton too. 🙂

How accurate do the cuts and final dimensions need to be?

How accurate do the cuts and final dimensions need to be?

As a manufacturing engineer this is the bane of my life. Designers that tell me how to do something but not what I need to achieve and then complain when it doesn’t work. Are we talking simply snapping a sheet of 5mm in half, or sub-micron parallelism to the other edge.

Will that be Ok for a clean cut?

It will be a damn sight cleaner than anything you will achieve with a  dremel

Off course you can cut on the floor with offcuts supporting.  you could also try and cut it with a dremel….

Not even the same league fora. Comparison.

Support is support.  Placing it in the right places matters more than what the support is made of. Shop bought or otherwise.

However – Is anyone else waiting for a live feed of this plywood being cut with the Dremel ?

Use Dremel with a drill bit and drill a line of holes in a line where you want the sheet to snap when you bend it, then tidy up with your circular saw.

Impressed by Tom outing himself as even more useless than the OP. That takes some doing !

What I take away from this is that you find me impressive, which is as pleasing as it is surprising ❤️

Just mind that whatever you do, we already have a worldclassaccident

Could take the national stripes though.

Forty quid. Pays for itself in the first cut surely.

I’ve had a circular saw for many years. How I wish track saws were common/a thing as it would be so much better for everything except perhaps cutting railway sleepers at full depth around each side! I’d suggest a track saw would be more useful as a first purchase.

Also love having to move the clamps every five seconds because they get in the way of the motor.

Cuta full length 250mm wide strip of ply as your straight stage, then your clamps are far enough back to be out the way of the saw, and you can also bang self tappers through it.

For supporting sheets the best thing I’ve found is a sheet or large offcuts of celotex.  You can kneel on the work piece without distorting it, and just set the blade a hair deeper than needed and you just get a slight groove in the foam, so it lasts ages and it’s still good for insulation later.

Ok, having just built a workshop and had to buy a circular saw and learn how to use it its either

buy a circular saw, its the correct tool and will be for ever useful. Just be careful, they things want to kill you (i am genuinely scared if it)

just use a hand saw, done carefully it will cut straight, cheap and safer than a circular saw

buy a circular saw, its the correct tool and will be for ever useful. Just be careful, they things want to kill you (i am genuinely scared if it)

The correct  tool is a track saw.

You’ve put the guide rail on the wrong side!

Here’s my excuse: ah but the wide side of the foot is where the motor overhangs, and if trimming just a narrow strip off a sheet, the only material to clamp to is on the same side of the blade as the motor.

I guess the suggestion of cutting a 250mm wide might work though. Then I’d just need a level surface to place the sheet on so that it doesn’t sag anywhere, because it’s always fun when the cutting guide clamped to the material doesn’t sag and the foot of the saw slides beneath it.

So much to go wrong when bodging stuff. Wish I had a track saw for the occasional use I’d use it for.

Most obvious solution would be just to buy two halfs

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Non-Structural-Hardwood-Plywood-Sheet—5-5-x-606-x-1220mm/p/111195

So much to go wrong when bodging stuff. Wish I had a track saw for the occasional use I’d use it for.

Its actually  amazing how much you can use it.

Like i’ve cut rebates for boxes, ploughed slots and cut kerfs for bending skirting boards ( so leaving a mm only at the bottom of the cut.)

Buy one. You won’t regret it 😁

Then I’d just need a level surface to place the sheet on

I’ve got a sheet of ply that folds down from the garage wall and some fold out legs (or trestles would work) to support it. Handily, 1220mm from the ceiling puts it just above knee height so perfect height for working with large sheets as you can lean over/kneel on it to get a good eyeball on your measurements.

It’s hinged off a piece of decking with legs to the floor so I can store all those large useful part sheets behind it 🙂

Only pic I can find:

Most obvious solution would be just to buy two halfs

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Non-Structural-Hardwood-Plywood-Sheet—5-5-x-606-x-1220mm/p/111195

You could buy a full sheet for the price of a couple of those!

What 100psi said. I’ve always used a fresh blade in the stanley knife and the appropriate steel straight edge. Nice deep couple of draws on one side, flip over and do the same on the other side, and it’ll do nicely. I’ve always done my ply cutting on the dining room table, protected with a nice thick sheet of cardboard. Usually 3mm or 4mm, but the same applies to 5.5mm ply. It helps if you can clamp the straight edge.