What you need to know to cut from plywood

Cut the plywood

This procedure is performed using several methods. The easiest and most accessible is to use a hand saw. However, since the plywood sheet is quite dense, even when compared to a regular spruce board, cutting the plywood will require a lot of effort. For this reason, this method is only suitable for thin sheets of plywood. An electric circular saw can act as a substitute for a hand hacksaw. In domestic conditions, this option is quite effective and makes it possible to cut both thin and thick sheets of plywood without much difficulty. The disadvantage of this method is that it cuts only in a straight line. When cutting with such a tool, you get a lot of chips.

When it is necessary to carry out figured cutting from plywood in a large volume, then you should pay attention to specialized equipment. Lasers and milling machines make it possible to obtain a high-quality product.

Some tips:

Sawing should only be done on dry material. High humidity levels cause increased resistance of plywood. As a result, excessive force may cause the veneer to delaminate or the file to break.
It is necessary to replace the saw or cutting blade immediately after detecting signs of dull teeth
When cutting with a jigsaw to create clean and even ends, the main cutting lines should be placed along the line of the veneer grains
A rune jigsaw is more convenient when working across the grain. Although there are slightly more chips this way, the risk of the file being pinched and moving away from the drawn line is reduced.
When transferring a pattern for cutting onto a workpiece, you need to place the stencil in such a way that the parts to be removed are located in areas with imperfections, for example, knots, chips.

Cutting Features

Material selection

As you know, plywood is a multilayer material that consists of several layers of veneer. This makes it great for creativity.

Example of the surface of different types of plywood

The only thing is that you need to choose the right type of plywood. To do this, you need to pay attention to the following parameters:

Options	Optimal material type
Thickness	To cut out plywood yourself, you should not use sheets that are too thick, as this will complicate the work. At the same time, the material must be strong enough. Therefore, the optimal thickness is 8 mm.
Brand	The brand indicates the type of adhesive used to glue the veneer together.

It depends on things like:

material price;
its moisture resistance;
environmental friendliness.

To make decor that will be used in a residential area, you should use environmentally friendly brands of plywood, for example, FC. If the product is made for outdoor use, it is necessary to use moisture-resistant sheets, such as FSF.

What to cut

As a rule, people who encounter this kind of work for the first time are interested in what can be cut out of plywood?

There are a lot of options - these could be:

patterns for decorating furniture or other interior elements;
panel on the wall;
decorative inscriptions;
all kinds of figures, toys for children, etc.

Advice! You can also make functional carved objects from plywood, for example, boxes, candlesticks, napkin stands, lamps and much more.

Decorative carved sleigh

Of course, you should start by cutting out the simplest products in order to “get your hand.” After gaining experience, you can take on work of any complexity.

Cutting process

After preparing the workplace and materials, we proceed directly to the cutting itself.

Instructions for doing this work look like this:

First of all, you need to make an image of the future product. You can make them yourself, or find them on the Internet and print them. It must be said that templates must be prepared even before cutting out words from plywood with simple contours, as this will greatly simplify the work and improve its quality.

You can also prepare templates of simple geometric shapes of different sizes in advance so that, for example, you can quickly cut a circle or square from plywood;

then the images should be transferred to cardboard, for example, using carbon paper;
now you need to cut out templates from cardboard;
Next, the prepared templates need to be placed on a plywood sheet and outlined with a pencil. If the design is large enough, it can be fixed with tape or even glue;
Now let's start cutting. If you need to beautifully cut the edge of plywood, giving it smooth shapes, you can use a jigsaw. More delicate and complex work, for example, small openwork patterns, should be cut out with a hand jigsaw.

Shaped cutting methods

Procedure for using a jigsaw:

first of all, you need to print out drawings or stencils, which are transferred to the workpiece using carbon paper
to create through sections it is necessary to make starting holes with a thin drill
a file or jigsaw blade is inserted into the resulting holes, the free edge of which must be secured using a mounting screw or clamp
After this, the cut is made along the intended lines. At this time, you need to press the workpiece tightly against the workbench.
Upon completion of cutting, you need to remove excess parts and process the finished object with a file or sandpaper.

Creating a round hole on a milling machine:

the standard ruler, which is part of the milling unit, must be secured in the center of the circle using a self-tapping screw
if the ruler is not long enough, then you should create a simple bracket from a metal profile or wooden planks
by rotating the cutter along a fixed radius, a groove is selected along the circumference, resulting in an almost perfectly smooth hole
When calculating the diameter of the circle, it is necessary to take into account the dimensions of the working cutter. More precise numbers are contained in the instructions for the device.

This device is great for cutting circles, as well as individual arcs - for example, for creating grooves for furniture brackets. The milling machine is perfect for working with thick sheets of plywood. A complex pattern cannot be cut out with such a device, but a circle or arc can be cut with ease.

What you need for cutting

First of all, let's consider what tool you will need for this. It should be said right away that expensive equipment for cutting out plywood is not required. Therefore, anyone can do this kind of work.

The only thing you need to prepare is the following tool:

In the photo - a manual jigsaw

In addition, you will need various consumables, such as:

sandpaper for sanding cut areas;
tracing paper;
pencils;
glue;
varnish;
acrylic paints, etc.

In addition, it is necessary to prepare a workplace. Since working with any wood materials involves the presence of sawdust and unnecessary trimmings, it is advisable to set up a workplace not in a living room, but, for example, in a garage.

The workplace itself is a table. It is advisable to attach a jigsaw stand to it, which can be made from a plank. It is also necessary to ensure good local lighting of the workplace.

Carved plywood

Decorative wooden panels are a true classic, they give nobility and are considered a sign of excellent taste. Wall carved plywood panels are an affordable and durable material for creating a unique interior. The plywood sheet is the basis for applying natural wood veneer of valuable types of wood, for example, oak, ash and others. Such products are distinguished by their attractive appearance, low cost, strength, flexibility and ease of processing. In addition, this material is resistant to chipping and damage during cutting out designs.

Why use plywood to create carvings?

This wood material is chosen for the following reasons:

moisture resistant;
temperature changes do not have a negative impact;
quite low cost;
ease of learning to cut with a jigsaw;
low weight of products.

It is also necessary to choose plywood of the 1st and 2nd grades for crafts. The rest are not suitable for creativity: the surfaces have cracks with knots and chips (unless they can be used for internal substrates). Birch plywood (3-10 mm thick) is most suitable for cutting.

At the present time, this material is divided into a fairly large number of subspecies - each for specific purposes.

Experts and folk craftsmen advise using sheets produced using a urea-formaldehyde composition. Such material is marked “FC”. This type of plywood can be bought “clean” or coated, for example, with varnish. It is most convenient to transfer the drawing to untreated plywood sheets for cutting with a jigsaw.
Plywood marked “FOF” is intended for furniture production, and is often produced over 12 millimeters in thickness.
The FB brand was originally developed as a boat material, which is why its cost is high (but if it is possible to use it, then it is suitable for cutting with a jigsaw).
But masters do not recommend purchasing FSF. Although attractive in appearance, it is toxic because it is made using a composition of phenolic resins.

Artistic cutting with a jigsaw: drawing, stencil and work

Let's get to know the devices

A jigsaw is a toolkit that is designed for working on different contours. The device includes a blade equipped with teeth small enough to cut the working material, practically without forming burrs or chips.

Manual

The “founder” of the genus is, of course, the manual jigsaw. Everything ingenious is simple: a metal U-shaped arc, and a working blade is stretched between the ends, which is secured with clamps. They hold the files during operation, and with their help, its tension is also adjusted. The handle for convenient operation is located on one side of the frame. The tool clamps can be rotated, thereby creating a different plane for carrying out work, providing opportunities for carving plywood with a jigsaw of increased complexity.

When creating with a hand-held device, you must be extremely careful: the design is quite fragile, and with intense pressure, the blade sometimes breaks and needs to be replaced. Every novice craftsman should stock up on additional working files.
When working with a jigsaw, it is convenient to use an auxiliary board: it protects the table and solves problems with the convenient location of the plywood workpiece.

Jigsaws

This device operates using electricity. It is a housing where the mechanism is located, and the control handle is also located there. The sawing element is located at the bottom of the device at the front. The blade is protected, and this allows you to cut along the contour very smoothly, without deviations. Professional models of equipment have many attachments that greatly facilitate the work process, for example, leveling the edge of the material. Jigsaw blades can also have teeth that vary in shape and size. They should be selected in accordance with the material for the saw to avoid damage to the plywood sheets during operation.

Household electric jigsaws for non-production purposes are usually of low power (from 350 to 500 W). For beginners, this is the most common option when you are just learning to cut out crafts and figures from plywood (usually of small thickness). It is quite safe to operate such a device, especially when it is equipped with protection.
A professional jigsaw is intended for industrial purposes, has a power of more than 700 W, high speed and cutting accuracy. It can cut sheets over 10 cm thick, aluminum, and thin steel.

Video: simple jigsaw:

Templates and diagrams are not problems

It is better to make templates yourself. Firstly, it’s not difficult, and secondly, you can make templates for your own and a new drawing when you get tired of repeating other people’s ideas. Note that there are a huge number of children's applications for crafts made from colored paper, which are quite easy to cut out of plywood.

The easiest option is to apply the design directly to the plywood. Moreover, if you had an A in drawing at school, it is not at all necessary to copy what has already been done.

Otherwise, you should apply a grid on the drawing you like with a pencil. Then the same grid is drawn on a sheet of material with a pencil. All elements of the design are transferred to plywood “in squares”. Conveniently, the squares in the drawing and the workpiece can have different sizes, that is, the drawing can be transferred to any scale.

The most convenient and modern way to do the work is to use a computer, which is what we did. Almost everyone has a Microsoft Power Point program, where you should copy the picture you like. The program presets the sheet size for printing on a printer to 29.7x21cm.

We have a piece of plywood measuring 57x77 cm, and we set the size of the pattern based on the availability of material. You must understand that the program takes into account the size of the entire image.

Some information

Today you can make completely different crafts from a piece of plywood. Here everything will depend on your preference. For example, you can build:

mail boxes,
flower containers,
bird feeders,
cute decorative fences.

And in order for your crafts to please you with their beauty for a long time, you should choose a high-quality sheet of plywood that has not been spoiled by excessive moisture and other factors.

While working, you will need not only plywood, but also acrylic paints, felt-tip pens and a jigsaw.

How to make bright and funny figures from plywood to decorate your summer cottage.

Draw images on the prepared piece of plywood.
After which, the images should be cut out using a jigsaw.
Then the resulting figures should be painted in bright colors. It is also worth drawing the faces of these animals on the figures.

As you can see, everything is simple here. And if you already want to do something original, then we will offer you interesting ideas that you can easily implement in your life.

But such a funny and bright cat can decorate the fence of your summer cottage.

And to create this cat you will need some decorations. For example, you will have to find wire and a bow. If we talk about the progress of work, then everything is done very simply. The finished cat figurine is painted, and then when it dries, it is decorated with decorative elements.

Original flower bed made of plywood.

A practical decoration for the garden - this is such a functional flower bed. However, for such a flower bed you will need high-strength plywood, which must first be processed and painted brown or another color. You should cut holes in such a piece of plywood and then insert pots of petunia or other flowers into them.

You can also make such flower beds. For this purpose you will need figurines and empty pots.

Finally

Here you could see plywood crafts for the garden, which you can easily make with your own hands. You should just look at photos of ideas for such crafts in order to be charged with an interesting thought.

In general, choose an interesting idea for yourself. Create funny figures that can decorate your garden and make it attractive.

Plywood figurines are an original and budget-friendly decoration for the garden. How wonderful it is to stroll through a cozy shady garden, enjoying the fresh air, the aromas of flowers, and the singing of birds. I want to decorate my own garden, give it individuality, so that every guest understands that the garden plot has a soul.