What is it called when you cut 2 grooves in plywood so that they will interlock with each other perpendicular? What is the best tool for the job? Just a circular saw? A router?
Wood – How to interlock 2 pieces of plywood
woodworking
Related Solutions
Reciprocating Saw
Most fun.
Miter Saw
Fastest.
Circular Saw
Most likely to have on hand.
Jig Saw
Slow.
Hand Saw
Slower.
Butter knife
Slowest.
Pruning Saw
Longest reach.
Fire
Cut right to the chase
Beaver
Requires lots of training, food, and cleanup (thanks @SteveJackson for pointing this method out).
Chain saw
By popular demand (don't use on PT wood)
No affinity to Ridgid, just the first brand in the list when searching for reciprocating saw.
The traditional tool is a block plane. This is basically a chisel protruding through a smooth flat base that solves the evenness problem.
A variation on that is a tool like a Sureform. This is a hand tool that has numerous small chisel-like edges that shaves of curls of wood.
In either case, once ytou have removed most of the stock, you can finish the edge and get it smooth with the plywood by using a hand sanding block or an orbital power sander.
All of these approaches are a but slower and more work than a router, but do not require specialty tools (and give the special satisfaction that comes with working on wood by hand).
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Best Answer
A router with a straight bit or a table saw with a dado stack are the two best options for this task.
A dado stack will be more versatile if you have multiple widths of plywood that you want to work with:
A straight router bit isn't adjustable in width, but it will produce a cleaner bottomed cut. They're often available in sets for different sizes of plywood:
If you'd rather not spend the money on either of those, you can always use a table saw with a regular 1/8" kerf blade and make several passes. Then you can clean up the bottom of the groove with a chisel. I wouldn't recommend trying this with a circular saw, but if you do, you'll definitely need to make a straight cutting jig for it.