# Forum Forum Help Desk Introduce Yourself  Tips on cutting hardwood benchtops?

## garryballard

G'day, new to the forum, doing some renos for my kids. I'm an ex brickie but have also worked in building and building management in the past too. Currently putting in a bathroom and kitchenette under my daughter's house to make a granny flat. Looking for tips on how to cut hardwood bench tops with a roll formed edge.

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## Gaza

Tape 
Circular saw with good blade lots of teeth
Straight edge and couple clamps 
Or buy a festool track saw    
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## garryballard

Thanks, I'll look into the track saw, are they expensive?

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## David.Elliott

Alternate plan is to cut a bit, say 5mm, oversize and use a router with a straightedge and a straight cutting bit...easy as...
For my money I have never been able to get a good result, regardless of teeth, even an 80 in my big circ, to get a really good edge. 
My 12" sliding panel saw works with the scribe blade, but I cannot take that on site...!

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## garryballard

I've never used a router, I've seen them used with a jig to do mason's mitres on YouTube but not straight cuts. Would you use a plain straight edge to guide it?

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## phild01

> I've never used a router, I've seen them used with a jig to do mason's mitres on YouTube but not straight cuts. Would you use a plain straight edge to guide it?

  A router will likely give you what you want but if you have not done this before you need to practice as the final trim of the run can chip the vertical edge.

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## OBBob

> Would you use a plain straight edge to guide it?

  Yes, just clamp a straight edge to the work to run the router along. Same as any powertool, don't try and remove too much material at once, don't stop (burn marks), and as Phil said ... be aware of the direction the tool is spinning so you can avoid break-out of the timber at the ends.

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## David.Elliott

> Alternate plan is to cut a bit, say 5mm, oversize and use a router with a straightedge and a straight cutting bit...easy as...
> For my money I have never been able to get a good result, regardless of teeth, even an 80 in my big circ, to get a really good edge. 
> My 12" sliding panel saw works with the scribe blade, but I cannot take that on site...!

  I clamp a piece of scrap at end of the cut, flush with the board end to support the edge when routing up to the edge...that means that you need to cut from the rounded edge to the square one..sometimes this means you need to work from the underside of the benchtop, depending on edge and bit rotation...This (clamping scrap) is also a great way when using a guided router bit with the bearing on to ensure you don't go "around" the corner...

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## phild01

> I clamp a piece of scrap at end of the cut, flush with the board end to support the edge when routing up to the edge...that means that you need to cut from the rounded edge to the square one..sometimes this means you need to work from the underside of the benchtop, depending on edge and bit rotation...This (clamping scrap) is also a great way when using a guided router bit with the bearing on to ensure you don't go "around" the corner...

   :What he said:

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## garryballard

Thanks everyone. I've bought a 1/2 inch router as well as a 60 tooth blade for my circular saw so I will practice on some old timber first. I'm feeling more confident now so I'll post again when I've finished.

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