cutting celotex/kingspan

[nickdsjnk]

Hi all,

Just wondering whether any of you have tips on the quickest way to cut 50mm celotex to size.

I have seen a few threads on here mentioning the subject but some of them mentioned using a serated knife which gave me the impression the suggestions were for people who had only one or two boards to cut!

I have 50 8x4 boards to cut to go between and under the rafters in my loft and so I don't want the cuts to take longer than necessary. The cuts need to be fairly accurate to avoid gaps between rafters so I can't go cutting the boards with an angle grinder!

I don't object to using a knife or hand saw if it really is the best way of cutting the boards but I would much rather use a power tool if they do an decent job.

I'm not too concerned about dust. I can imagine that a few hours hoovering up at the end of the job will more than make up for any time saved over cutting with my bread knife/desert spoon.

I have a circular saw (festool plunge), jigsaw and can borrow a reciprocating saw if necessary. Would any of these do the job? My thoughts were that jigsaw would work OK with a long fine toothed blade?

What do the pros use? I can't imagine a contractor putting up 400 new homes using a bread knife to cut the boards to size!

Thanks for your help,

Nick

 

[iamlee2002]

yep jigsaw works fine m8 alot quicker than struggling with a knife

 

[xdave]

I've always used a normal handsaw to cut them. It takes about five seconds to cut across a 4ft sheet, and sheets can easily be cut vertically while they are standing on the ground which is useful if you are fitting in an area with limited access. It would take me longer than that to cut it with a jigsaw, and the dust would go (and stick) everywhere instead of just falling to the ground.

 

[Alastairreid]

Ditto! handsaw.

 

[^woody^]

A bread knife or a normal wood saw

Wear a mask as the fibres are horrible to inhale

 

[nickdsjnk]

cheers guys. I'll try it with a handsaw and see how I get on.

 

[noseall]

I'm not too concerned about dust.

The dust these babies throw out is horrific, one lungful and you are feeling lousy.

Use a handsaw or if you are brave enough use a circ' saw then snap 'em.

 

[geraint]

there is no DUST... just a lot of mess....

 

[^woody^]

Where, between your ears?

In the right light, you can see the bits of fibre floating around, and the bits that stick on your clothes get into you lungs a bit later.

 

[geraint]

Where, between your ears?

In the right light, you can see the bits of fibre floating around, and the bits that stick on your clothes get into you lungs a bit later.

it is not fibrous...

 

[geraint]

Where, between your ears?

In the right light, you can see the bits of fibre floating around, and the bits that stick on your clothes get into you lungs a bit later.

you can see dust... but do you polish the site every hour...

 

[^woody^]

No, I delegate that

I have OCD

 

[geraint]

No, I delegate that

I have OCD

so you must be the unlucky one that takes the wife to work....

 

[^woody^]

I'm sure there are a few on here who are much more unlucky than me

 

[nickdsjnk]

I ended up using a fine toothed hand saw. It was extremely quick and speed was only limited but how quick I could walk along the board. The bread knife made less mess but was too slow and was hard work.

I had to adjust a few boards once in the loft and tried a jigsaw but as you guys said, it made a huge amount of dust and was no quicker. It also tore the foil on the back of the board. The circular saw was better but still made a lot of mess and didn't really have any advantages over using a hand saw.

Thanks for all your advice.