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Just realized the guy at the Bellingham wood show was right about cheap plywood
He told me my $32 birch ply would blow out on the edges and I laughed it off, then lost 3 cabinet doors to tearout last Tuesday. What are you all sealing yours with before you cut?
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the_seth4d ago
Sealing the edges with glue size or shellac helps a bit but it's not really what's causing the tearout in birch ply like that. The real problem is the feed direction and blade choice, plywood has grain running both ways so you're always cutting against it somewhere. A zero clearance insert on your table saw and a fresh 80 tooth blade will do more for you than any sealer will. Also that $32 stuff is likely big box birch which has super thin face veneer, so even a tiny chip shows up huge, while real cabinet grade ply costs way more and has a thicker face. Tape your cut line with blue painter's tape and score the line with a knife before cutting, that trick saved a lot of doors for me. Sealing is more for paint edges and mdf, not stopping blowout on ply.
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