Cutting Formica With Circular Saw

The tape will tear instead of the laminate.

Cutting formica with circular saw.

Stores charge a lot to cut counter tops. The trick to this is using the circular saw in a reverse motion when making the cut on the finished side. Cutting formica countertops to size involves sawing both the formica sheet and the particle board layer that gives the counter its strength. This way if there is any minor chipping to the laminate then you can sand it out with the belt sander and the counter will still be the correct size.

It is possible to cut counter tops smoothly without much preparation with carbide tip blades. Last but not least for a thinner piece of formica you can use a utility knife for cutting. You will want to clamp a 1 2 to use as a rip fence. Once you install the formica use a jigsaw to do any trimming or make any round cuts.

Add 1 16th of an inch to your measurement so that your cut is actually a little wide of the mark. On the other hand a circular saw is for cutting straight cuts. This is not an easy technique and should not be tried by anyone who is a beginner to woodworking or adequately practiced. A router with laminate trimming bit is the tool that you would need when you want to cut finer and smoother cuts.

A sawhorse is used as a platform or base for cutting countertops out of formica. We used blades in forw. Most of the cutting is done with power saws while the finishing is carried out with a power jigsaw. Use this measurement so that the saw rests against the fence and the blade is lined up with your mark.

Another way of cutting formica with a circular saw is reverse cutting. To cut formica with a circular saw start by measuring the area you want to laminate with a tape measure and mark the cutting line on the formica with a pencil. The circular saw will leave a portion of the backsplash that will be cut in the next step. What i mean is that rather than pushing the circular saw forward so that the rotation of the blade is pulling the finish side of the laminate up and causing it to chip you kerf the laminate running the skill saw in a reverse motion.

Then put masking tape on the cutting line lay the formica on a flat surface and cut along the lines. Turn the saw on and slowly cut the line all the way across the top. When you are installing cabinets that have plastic laminate on them the process of cutting the formica when scribing to fit can be done with a skill saw. Measure the length of your cut at the top and bottom of your counter.

Cut the final section with the handsaw. A circular power saw with 40 teeth is ideal for cutting these countertops. Measure the distance from the blade on your circular saw to the edge of its shoe. Then connect the marks with a strip of thick masking tape which will protect the laminate from tears.

That means cutting the material by pulling the saw into that piece and cutting from the back end of your blade.