Im new to using a circular saw and would like to improve my accuracy, If I have a blade that is 2mm thick do I add this on after the current line that I have marked and then cut down that? Thanks
Wood – When cutting wood do you add the width of the blade after the line mark
woodwoodworking
Related Solutions
Yes, you might want the highest precision possible - for example when you build furniture which benefits greatly from precise cuts. The most convenient way would be to draw the line that will signify the edge of the piece you want cut so that the blade cuts the line and whatever material is on the far side of the raw board. Something like this:
|the detail you want|line|remaining material|
| |blade cuts here|
This is quite easily achieved with power saws even without a guide and will be more of a challenge with hand saws.
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.
Related Topic
- Wood – Is the 60T blade that came with the Dewalt DWS780 miter good for general purpose cutting
- Wood – How to cut exact and identical rectangles with a circular saw
- Wood – Is it safe to cut throught a 70mm spruce beam with a Metabo jigsaw
- Wood – How to cut a 1 inch thick 12×48 plank in half (thickness)
- Wood – How to cut a 4×4 fence post lengthwise and at an angle
- Wood – How to cut an angled cut with low clearance
- Wood – Why is the cut using a jigsaw not a perfect straight line
- Wood – How to cut an arc in a pine board
Best Answer
A circular saw isn't a super precise cutting tool so you'll want to keep that in mind. Lining the notch on the shoe is not going to give you super accurate cuts. Its fine for framing but may not be for other tasks.
To me a cutting guide is the best way to improve your accuracy. They are very cheap and easy to make, and they speed up your work quite a bit.
Here's a link to one of many how-to's: making a cutting guide
If you make your marks on the waste side of the measurement, you can quickly and easily line up the guide to the edge of the mark, and get a pretty darn close to perfect cut quick and easy.