Warning: I was cutting all my plywood with the good face down for years...

I was making a set of kitchen cabinets for a client in Springfield and kept getting tear-out on the top edges. My helper finally asked why I didn't just flip the sheet over before cutting. I'd been putting the factory-finished side against the table saw surface, thinking it was safer... but that meant the blade was exiting through the good face. I lost about $200 in material on that job alone from the damage. Now I always double-check the blade path. Has anyone else had a basic setup habit that was actually backwards?

3 comments

3 Comments

tessa_hart182mo agoMost Upvoted

Feel your pain lol. I started marking the good side with a big X in pencil before any cut, saves my dumb brain every time.

cameroncarr2mo ago

Actually, @tessa_hart18, I mark the bad side with an X so I don't cut into it by mistake.

angela_allen531mo ago

Wait, you mark the bad side with an X? Isn't that exactly what you're cutting into? I'd be so paranoid I'd still end up cutting the wrong side somehow.