snipper for plywood

[Graven Water]

Is there some kind of snipper that will work to roughly cut 1/4" plywood? thanks Laura

[Don Phillipson]

Metalworkers tin snips may supply your need. Home Hardware (Canada) is currently advertising a new gadget that might do (but most TV commercials show it snipping carrots for cooking.) If you own no tin snips, better browse a tool shop.

[Vic Smith]

Never heard of one. Don't think wood shears well, especially plywood, which can delaminate. That's why they have all kinds of saws. But maybe I'm wrong.

--Vic

[Graven Water]

The plywood is scrap. I don't care if it gets damaged.

Laura

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] (Graven Water) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

a SAW is the usual tool for that job. even a hacksaw will suffice. I've got a coping saw,an X-Acto razor saw,a Japan-style rapid-cut pull saw,and a hacksaw.Plus the usual power saws.(jigsaw,circular saw)

Or you could use a Dremel,router base,and a router or carbide-cutter(Roto- Zip) bit. You'd need a guide for that,if you want a stright line.

Then there's the "oscillating multi-function tool" (Fein Multimaster,etc.) with a saw disc.

Harbor Freight is a good place for inexpensive tools; they may have a local store in your area.

[aemeijers]

Why are you trying to cut it? Not being nosy, but it affects the suggested answers. If it is just to make it small enough to fit in the trash cans, I'd just leave the whole stack out there 24 hours ahead of time- the curb fairies will usually spirit it off. If it is to make walking strips to use in the garden, go to Harbor Freight and get a cheap saw.

Most of us on here, if the wood is unused, will try to squirrel it away somewhere. Ya never know when you will need it. I had some luan (sp?)

1/4 ply scraps from a new floor in a bathroom, and I've been rough-cutting them with a junk skilsaw and a dull blade, and using them to make 'temporary' patches for woodpecker holes in the siding. Even unfinished and out in the weather, they are holding up better than the siding they are screwed to.

[Jim Elbrecht]

I'd use a sheetrock knife first. Why do you want to snip it? [i.e. why not saw it?]

Jim

[mm]

Put one end on the step and another on the sidewalk, and step or jump on it. If you can't break it that way, get someone fatter. If even a thin person can't do it that way, no snipper will cut it.

If fact no snipper will cut 1/4" plywood except teenie little parts at the edge, if you were trying to make a nice close fit around something.

[Tony Miklos]

Score with a razor knife and snap it like drywall.

[aemeijers]

Well, I knew it looked wrong the way I spelled it, so do I get half credit?

Don't know if it is the wood or the glue squeezed into it at the factory when they made the old-floor-overlay product, but I am amazed how well the woodpecker patches are holding up to SW MI weather, totally naked. Whenever I go up to add another one, I rap on all the old ones I can reach, and they all ring solid. No wonder they used to make shipping crates out of it. (I REALLY gotta get this place resided one of these days...)

[David Nebenzahl]

On 3/27/2011 10:15 AM aemeijers spake thus:

It's lauan, since you asked. Very common misspeelling. (The word is Tagalog, since it's a Philippine tree.)

[Graven Water]

Since all sorts of people are wondering why I would like to snip plywood, this is a horribly moldy underlayer to the vinyl floor in my bathroom. I do not want to expose the whole thing all at once. 1/4" plywood is bendable but not very easy to break.

So I was thinking maybe I could fit some kind of big snipper blade with a lot of leverage under the plywood and cut it.

I do have some tip snips. I checked, they'll cut 1/4" plywood but only very slowly. If snipping more leverage would be needed. I don't know if cutting a lot of plywood would damage a snipper.

I haven't checked on what kinds of giant snippers there are.

I have a reciprocating saw but I don't know if that has enough control to score the plywood enough to snap it, without damaging the subflooring.

Laura

[aemeijers]

Okay, now it makes a lot more sense.

Hate to say it, but your plan to pull it up a little chunk at a time will only prolong your exposure. What is under the 1/4" plywood- the actual subfloor, or a previous layer of finish floor? Is this a small area (like around toilet, or where floor meets tub), or most of the floor? Have you pulled the vanity and toilet already? Presumably you aren't worried about it enough to call in an abatement company, like some on here will recommend.

If it was me, I'd expose entire subfloor and get it over with. Only way to be sure how far the mold has spread. Pull fixtures and vanity, remove transition strip at door, and start prying away, using appropriate personal protective gear. (Gloves, filter mask, goggles) I'd work the material slightly wet, using a bleach solution in a spray bottle, to keep the dust down. Snap the wood into chunks small enough to put in a doubled trash bag, For a space as small as a bathroom, I'd just use a couple of Stanley Wonder Bars, but if you don't want to get that up close and personal with the mold, Harbor Freight has floor scrapers (actually designed for roofing) that will peel 1/4" ply easily. If it is glued down, the work gets a lot harder, and you may have to replace parts of subfloor. May be more than a DIY job at that point, unless you have seen it done. Once subfloor is exposed, go over entire floor with an ice pick and/or bounce a metal prybar on any funny-looking spots. You need to make sure the moisture didn't rot out any of that layer. Rotted wood won't resist ice pick very well, and sounds different when you thump it. The whole process is pretty similar to fixing a roof.

Don't lose any sleep over minor scoring of subfloor. Reciprocating saw is wrong tool for this job, unless you do need to remove the subfloor down to the joists. Harbor Freight has cheap circular saws that are 'good enough' for this kind of work.Set circular saw to expose 1/4" of blade, and score between the nail heads. And like another poster joked, if you need to cut in tight places like around the door or the toilet flange, one of the vibrating multipurpose tools can be very useful.

Can you post photos someplace with a link back here?

(I know, you asked what time it was, and we told you how to build a watch...)

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] (Graven Water) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

a chain saw will "roughly cut" plywood.

[Jim Yanik]

"Don Phillipson" wrote in news:imo42g$cph$ [e-mail]:

SHEESH,tin snips?? she wouldn't get anywhere with those.

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] (Graven Water) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

you use a CIRCULAR saw,and set the cut depth to less than 1/4 inch,do a "plunge cut".(needs a lot of room,though) Or a Fein Multimaster type of oscillating power cutter. that works in tighter spaces. Or a Ryobi cutout tool or trim router with a 1/8" cutout bit. (set for shallow cut depth) you can probably rent them if you don't want to buy.

Or maybe you should leave this to professionals,like a handyman who will have the proper tools and knowhow.

[Graven Water]

Subflooring. The plywood isn't glued down, just nailed or screwed. I do plan to do just a section at a time, the whole thing is too big a job to do at once and might make me feel very, very sick. The circular saw idea would work ok, I think.

I think a bolt cutter would cut 1/4" plywood easily? Would cutting plywood harm a bolt cutter? That is one thing I was wondering. Would it kill a bolt cutter to do this?

I have pry bars of various sizes. I got off the top layer, which was laminate flooring, with a big prybar. I pried up the floor with the right-angle end of the prybar, stood on the other end of the prybar, and stomped my other foot down on the flooring, and it broke into pieces ok.

I don't know if this will work with plywood, which is a lot stronger. And it might damage the subflooring. There are sections of subflooring that aren't supported by floor joists on one end, like where the heater vent comes in, and I don't want to put a lot of stress on them.

Actually, the subflooring needs to have a layer on top because of those unsupported ends. I'll put tile backing board over it so it can be walked on without damaging it.

The subflooring is exposed underneath by the way. Underneath it isn't rotten.

Yes, I tried cutting 1/4" plywood with my tin snips and it can be done but it would be a lot of work!

I haven't yet started to tackle the vinyl floor layer, I'm just scoping out the situation before I tackle that. I'm cleaning mold out of the bathroom walls now.

I did a neat thing to get the vanity out of the way. I took the front of my old vanity, which has nice wood doors, chopped off a section on top and a section underneath, replaced the sides, refinished it and mounted it on the wall studs. So now I can use my bathroom sink, and there's 10" free space under it to work on the floor. It looks very cool :) (yes, it is very securely mounted)

Yes, I'm doing the whole bathroom floor, which is about 5' by 5'. I haven't decided what kind of new floor to put in yet.

Eventually I'll have to deal with the horrors of the toilet, I've haven't been exposed to the business end of one before, just watched the gory videos online.

thanks, Laura

[Graven Water]

Also, if I got a cheap circular saw and it ran into a nail, would that be dangerous?

I wouldn't know where the nails/screws are, unless I take off the vinyl top layer, soften a lot of mastic. That seems like a lot of work. So maybe the snipping idea is better.

Laura

[David Nebenzahl]

On 3/27/2011 10:15 AM aemeijers spake thus:

It's lauan, since you asked. Very common misspeelling. (The word is Tagalog, since it's a Philippine tree.)

[mm]

She may be thinking of what they used during the French revolution to kill people with.