Question about spoil board
- Thread starter robgott1
- Start date
Nothing wrong with OSB. For myself, I lean toward foam because I can have a larger margin of error for a fraction of the weight. I'm hardly a hard-core track saw user...I lean more toward solid wood projects than plywood projects...so I've been using the same piece of 1" thick pink foam for 5 or 6 years and it hasn't even begun to show any appreciable wear. I'm guessing it weighs half what a sheet of 3/8" OSB would weigh, which at my age is more important than the fact I probably paid twice as much for it (around $20 6 years ago).
MikeGE
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- Apr 7, 2019
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- 669
robgott1 said:
I would not be concerned. The OSB becomes the sacrificial board and if you use it enough, it will be full of shallow grooves from the tracksaw. I've been using the same boards for three years. When the grooves start bothering me, I'll flip the boards over and use the other side until it's time to replace them.
robgott1 said:
Don't worry about your saw blade. It will be fine. Check your depth of cut every time you start cutting a different material and make sure you're just cutting through and barely grooving your sacrificial board. OSB is only slightly harder on your blade than foam and neither one is going to be significant compared to plywood and mdf.
bobtskutter
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I used OSB for a long time as a spool board. It works well.
Eventually when it was covered in lots of kerf marks the flakes of OSB would break off. They're quite sharp if they're small enough to get stuck in your fingers / hands.
I think she small chips of OSB would also get dragged into the cut line as I was using the saw and would leave tooth marks in the cut (the round scratch marks you sometimes get from the carbide saw tooth). I could match up a tooth mark on the work piece with an old kerf mark on the OSB, so I concluded the OSB was breaking off and causing problems.
I now use MDF as a spoil board.
regards
bob
Eventually when it was covered in lots of kerf marks the flakes of OSB would break off. They're quite sharp if they're small enough to get stuck in your fingers / hands.
I think she small chips of OSB would also get dragged into the cut line as I was using the saw and would leave tooth marks in the cut (the round scratch marks you sometimes get from the carbide saw tooth). I could match up a tooth mark on the work piece with an old kerf mark on the OSB, so I concluded the OSB was breaking off and causing problems.
I now use MDF as a spoil board.
regards
bob
Crazyraceguy
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- Oct 16, 2015
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- 4,887
I would say that it depends on what you are cutting more than anything. OSB is not the smoothest thing around and it may not give the best support for cutting veneered plywood, melamine, or 2 sided laminate, but for darn near anything else, it should be fine. Those delicate surfaces need better contact/support on the bottom side, to prevent chip-out. (especially with minimal penetration from using a thinner spoil-board.)
At work, I use a sheet of particleboard, but mostly because it is as much a pattern as a cutting surface, and it is 61" wide. (5 x 8 sheet) I also have someone to help me lift it in place and remove it too [big grin]
At home, 2" foam.
At work, I use a sheet of particleboard, but mostly because it is as much a pattern as a cutting surface, and it is 61" wide. (5 x 8 sheet) I also have someone to help me lift it in place and remove it too [big grin]
At home, 2" foam.
