How-to

How to Cut Notches in Wood

Making notches in wood is one of the essential elements if you are constructing a house made of wood. A good notch describes the firmness in your dream log cabin and makes it look as if it is professionally done. The parts of the wood should be cut in a way that nothing remains wasted and the remaining wood logs can be used for building chairs, tables, and other small wood furniture for your log house. For cutting notches in wood, you need to practice the art of cutting in a groove area. The thin wafers that are fine cut can be scrapped later. Most people make use of saw for cutting notches in wood, however for making frames, you need to use chisel and drill. Go to check all essential tools which you need to cut notches.

Items needed to make notches in wood:

Make a sketch and shape the notch with the help of a tri-square before you begin cutting. You need stationery like ruler and pencil to note the length, width, and depth of the notch. Once you have sketched the design, wear your safety gloves.
Use a saw to start making a notch. It would be wise to use a butter knife to cut the lines. Be careful about grain as it is most likely that the process of cutting may pull you along the grain. Put little pressure at first step and gradually increase your pressure slowly.
Use your saw blade on the desired depth of the wood log. Your slices must be perpendicular to the grain without affecting the shape marked. Professionals use a circular saw as it helps to cut the slices straight across the board by making the lines beautiful to the grain.

No matter how better is your tool to make the notch, you would still need a chisel and a hammer for the final touch. Hammer and chisel are used together to have cutting-edge boundaries that make the notch clean and straight in its looks. While using the hammer, learn the level of pressure you need to put. The right amount of pressure will help you to avoid any accidents or injuries. The more you practice this art, the finer your log cabin will turn out. If you have any other queries related to the process of making a notch in wood, follow the site and leave your feedback.

Cutting Notches in Plywood

Plywood makes the construction of larger items much easier due to the sheer size of plywood sheets (8’ x 4’; or 125 x 250 cm in Europe). Sheets may be cut to appropriate size readily on a table saw or with a skil saw using a straightedge guide clamped to the wood. However, there are some cuts on plywood that are difficult (if not dangerous) to make due to the intricate nature of the cut. Notches in plywood comprise a special class of cuts that pose unique challenges in executing them properly. There are several tools and techniques one may use to cut notches in plywood, and all of these methods have benefits and drawbacks. The following will focus on the cutting of a notch in plywood on the bottom of kitchen cabinets to clear a space for your feet. The average size of the plywood sheet is about 3’ x 3’ (90 x 90 cm) and the notch is approximately 4” x 4” (or 10 x 10 cm).

Using a table saw

The first method of cutting a notch in plywood would be to use a table saw. A sufficient notch may be cut using a table saw, but the circular nature of the sawblade means there would be overcut on the bottom of the cut. If you cut to the line, then the blade will cut more of the plywood below the line. To minimize this overcut, the operator could extend the blade to its maximum height. This, however, exposes the operator to the maximum amount of exposed (spinning) sawblade and also increases the risk to the operator. Another way to avoid the undercut would be to (again) maximize the blade exposure to the depth of the cut and hold the plywood vertically with the ¾”/20 mm side resting on the table surface. This introduces an awkward handing of the material (short of building a complicated jog to help hold the piece safely). Due to these complications and safety concerns, the use of a table saw is not recommended for a simple notch cut in plywood. Resources: