Right blade for laminate flooring
- Thread starter Keitai
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D
Deleted member 174758
The sharpest one with the highest tooth count. For example, for a 165mm saw that means something like a 48 to 54 tooth blade, for a 216mm it would be an 80 to 100 tooth (and posdibly negative rake).
That fine tooth blade you have there needs a good cleaning in something like aqueous solution blade cleaner, i.e. have all the resin removed. Turps can often do the job, but it takes a lot longer, 24 to 48 hours immersed soaking, and it is smelly and a fire hazard. Because of the state it is in it probably isn't that sharp either - so get it sharpened, or buy another blade and keep that specifically for laminate work. Laminate is hard on blades and needs a sharp blade to avoid spelching. Same goes for jigsaw blades - if you need to do notches round door linings, etc buy a few laminate specific blades (e.g. Bosch T01BIF and T101AOF). Fortunately you can hide bad cuts a lot of the time - but not all the time
That fine tooth blade you have there needs a good cleaning in something like aqueous solution blade cleaner, i.e. have all the resin removed. Turps can often do the job, but it takes a lot longer, 24 to 48 hours immersed soaking, and it is smelly and a fire hazard. Because of the state it is in it probably isn't that sharp either - so get it sharpened, or buy another blade and keep that specifically for laminate work. Laminate is hard on blades and needs a sharp blade to avoid spelching. Same goes for jigsaw blades - if you need to do notches round door linings, etc buy a few laminate specific blades (e.g. Bosch T01BIF and T101AOF). Fortunately you can hide bad cuts a lot of the time - but not all the time
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Doesn’t really matter as none of the cuts should be visible .
D
Deleted member 174758
Well occasionally you do need to finish against a rough brick wall (with a scribed gap and something like Compraband to fill the gap), or against cast concrete again with a scribe cut, or even to a metal window frame - all of which will leave a cut/scribed edge which cannot be hidden by undercutting or by using a quadrant bead. Not common, but they do happen
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I would not scribe cuts with circular saw, and doubt Keitai understood any of that .
D
Deleted member 174758
Straight line scribe to a metal window, a concrete wall or a polished plaster wall? What about scribed to the bottom of stairs (especially with a rounded end bottom step)? Or even whete your last plank ends up.being a ripped cut. There are times you do need a circular saw to make a straight cut. As for the language, sorry but how else can I describe those circumstances?
In any case it's always good practice to make your cuts neat and accurate...
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its also worth noting, you can use a jigsaw blade board upside down[underneath] and you will get a neat cut with zero to perhaps 1.5mm chip even up to perhaps 3mm chip but in general well within the around 8-12mm overlap off the trim -----
20 years ago most laminate i laid was with a jigsaw and never any problems just new blade every 40 or so cuts but off course accurate freehand cuts where essential as perhaps a 5mm deviation would restrict your perhaps 8mm overlap meaning visible chipping now in practice this never happened as overlap and accuracy was was closer to to 2mm plus or minus
20 years ago most laminate i laid was with a jigsaw and never any problems just new blade every 40 or so cuts but off course accurate freehand cuts where essential as perhaps a 5mm deviation would restrict your perhaps 8mm overlap meaning visible chipping now in practice this never happened as overlap and accuracy was was closer to to 2mm plus or minus
Use a guillotine for all cuts that will be hidden (99%); no dust and very quick.
For the 1% visible cuts, use a mitre saw with a new blade with at least 48 teeth.
Lightly score the visible face first and then cut fully.
For scribing around door frames, use a dedicated good quality jigsaw blade, although I have used bosch wood blades and they don't chip anything.
But as mentioned, 99% if not 100% of the cuts should be hidden.
Not rocket science.
For the 1% visible cuts, use a mitre saw with a new blade with at least 48 teeth.
Lightly score the visible face first and then cut fully.
For scribing around door frames, use a dedicated good quality jigsaw blade, although I have used bosch wood blades and they don't chip anything.
But as mentioned, 99% if not 100% of the cuts should be hidden.
Not rocket science.
The last laminate floor I laid, I used a jigsaw and a brand new Japanese saw. The Japanese saw was used primarily for the boards to be glued to the steps in the hallway
The (£30?) blade is now completely blunt.
D
Deleted member 174758
Oh well, and that's the only criteria? For your information, once you use a cutter of any description on a hard material it won't cleanly cut anything softer. Examples include files (once you file steel with them you can forget about using them effectively on aluminium or brass), and saw blades used on cement board. An we all know you used that blade on cement board...
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D
Deleted member 174758
I should have added "Don't be a tight wad, buy a laminate blade and keep it only for that purpose". But I thought I'd already done so...
Forgot to mention: if you weight less than 200lb/90kg, you'll struggle with the guillotine.
Get someone heavy to do the cuts for you.
I have never used a flooring guillotine. That particular model (and style of model) does have some pretty poor reviews with regards to the quality of cut though.
To be fair, it is at least six times cheaper than trade model though.
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