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Main Boards => The Bowyer's Bench => Topic started by: Dannon on March 10, 2018, 11:22:00 AM

Title: Reducing phenolic width
Post by: Dannon on March 10, 2018, 11:22:00 AM
What do you guys do to reduce the width of your micarta/phenolic? Mine is 2" wide and I need it to be 1.5" . What's the best way. Table saw? I done one peice sandwiched between to peices of wood held tight with clamps and sanded it to width with belt sander but it took a little while. Any quicker ways?
Title: Re: Reducing phenolic width
Post by: C. Johnson on March 10, 2018, 11:42:00 AM
If it's thin, say 1/16" you can cut it with a razor knife and a straight edge.

Thicker than that, I'd use a hacksaw with a 32 TPI blade.

This is all assuming we're talking about relatively short pieces, like riser accents or tip overlays.

If I were to try to narrow, say, one of the 39" pieces like Binglam's sells, I'd either do it on the bandsaw with a metal cutting blade or sandwich it between two pieces of scrap wood and cut it on the table saw.  A guy would probably want to set up some finger boards to keep the pieces from sliding around with that method.
Title: Re: Reducing phenolic width
Post by: Dannon on March 10, 2018, 11:53:00 AM
Thanks C Johnson,  I was thinking I would sandwich them between two peices of wood and just rip them to width.
Title: Re: Reducing phenolic width
Post by: kennym on March 10, 2018, 03:08:00 PM
Yep, I cut it with band or table saw. Makes nasty dust even with dust collection on table saw. A zero clearance insert is good and if need be clamp a pc of thin plywood against fence and raid the blade thru it to make one.
It’s not really hard on blades because it is just resin with linen in it. That said I don’t use my bandsaw if it has a good blade in it cause cutting veneer you want it as sharp as it can be.
Title: Re: Reducing phenolic width
Post by: Dannon on March 10, 2018, 07:14:00 PM
Thanks Kenny, I got it them cut earlier on the table saw.