CLIMB CUTTING
Climb cutting (or pulling the saw backwards into the
work) is useful with thin or flexible material, such as fine
moulding, which tends to lift off the table when cut
normally. You will need a sharp TCT blade and packing
spacers (150-200mm wide) between your work and the
MDF sub-fences on the crosscut fence. Temporarily
remove the riving knife (if fitted) from your saw.
A climb cut gives less splintering on the top face, so is
also useful for cutting mouldings such as architrave.
KERFING (BENDING WOOD)
A series of parallel cross cuts - evenly spaced - almost
all the way through a piece of wood enables you to bend
it. The radius of bend depends largely on the spacing
between cuts.
Experiment with how much to leave uncut: it depends on
the species, the grain, and the moisture content. As a
rule of thumb, leave between 2mm and 5mm uncut.
Avoid twisting the hand-grip of the saw. Preferably, lock
on the trigger with the trigger strap, control the power via
the switchbox, and push the slide chassis rather than the
saw.
Avoid using knotty, or short-grained material. Ideally use straight grained material with a high
moisture content. After cutting, use great care in handling kerfed pieces. Do not bend them
backwards. Always close up the cuts. Perhaps make the bend in stages by pinning, clamping or
tying it in a gradually tightening radius. Consider using steam to assist bending.
Strengthen a kerf if necessary by filling the cuts with two-pack epoxy, epoxy putty or tinted body
filler. For decorative purposes, it generally does not need to be filled, just well glued on the inside
face using a high quality PVA glue.
For evenly spaced cuts, make a pencil mark the width of
the blade on the sub-fence or on a packing spacer .
Make a cut, move the wood sideways until the cut is
lined up with the pencil mark, and make the next cut,
and so on.
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Tightly lock the blade height adjuster. Keep your arm
and wrist rigid. The saw will want to “climb” on your
work. You must control it firmly.
You may find that 14 cuts, say, gives you less than a
right-angle, and 15 cuts gives you more. If you want 90˚,
try making the first and fourteenth cuts a little wider than
the rest, by making a shaving cut beside the normal cut.
It will effectively give you 14
1
/
2
cuts, unobtrusively.
Reference mark
on packer
1
2
3
Keep your wrist
and arm rigid
3
1
Spacers
