Difficulty finding *small* sheets (A4 size approx) of Formica or similar

[Andy Burns]

set your magnet into the back of the tray? You can get "slippy" HDPE cutting boards pretty cheap, might suit the job?

[MM]

It has to be flat and it has to resist wear from a tenon saw or Japanese pull saw. And my kitchen worktop has withstood 16 years of wear and tear (albeit not with saws!) and is barely marked. So I reckoned that that's the material to use. Just the thin hard plastic coating.

I thought of that, but I don't think the plastic of a typical CD case is very hard. I could experiment a bit, as I have many such old CD cases I can sacrifice.

I searched what you suggested and found several suppliers. But just how hard is polycarbonate sheet? My guess is not nearly as hard as the surface of a kitchen worktop, which would typically be Formica.

Another idea I had was to buy the end strips for finishing the cut ends of worktops.They are usually only about 40mm wide, but I could glue two pieces side by side.

MM

[Fredxx]

To my knowledge formic is pressed resin impregnated paper. Although the surface may be something more?

The closest I can think of is FR4, which is pressed resin impregnated fibreglass.

Try eBay. One hit:

There are others

[newshound]

They are not toughened or laminated, though. They crack just like "ordinary" glass so in principle they should score and snap. Alternatively I wondered if it would be possible to stick it down to an oversized piece of wood, then slit the glass with an abrasive disk in a dremel, and then cut/sand the wood back to size.

[nothanks]

Could you make the saw guide out of a piece of kitchen worktop, with the magnet sunk into the back of the worktop?

(BTW Japanese pull saws are the dog's danglies. I've been using a Dozuki, a flush cut and a something else (forget the name) for years and would not go back to a push saw for relatively fine work. The only minor downside is that the dust gets pulled onto your line, there's a puffer handle to get over this but I haven't bothered.)

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

No it will just end up looking like wrinkled skin. I'd have thought you need an offcut. In them old days shops used to sell them in racks. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

Blimey... Is it worth it?

Brian

[polygonum_on_google]

How about simply putting a layer of epoxy on the top? There are at least several YouTube videos of people achieving glass-like smoothness by doing so and blasting with a blowtorch while wet.

I have never done it but it appears to be straightforward.

(I prefer to avoid epoxy because of its potential impact as an endocrine disruptor - but that is my choice.)

[MM]

Interesting idea.

I wonder how long it will take to get used to sawing while pulling versus pushing. The YouTube videos I've watched certainly demonstrate a lot of enthusiam for Japanese saws.

MM

[MM]

Are you talking about the kind of very thin cutting mats I use in my domestic kitchen? I have plenty of those in several colours. I get them from Morrisons. But what does the designation "slippy" signify here?

MM

[Andy Burns]

about 5-6mm thick, slippy as in HDPE being a waxy/low friction plastic, ok it's not quite UHMW as often used for jigs, but probably good enough for sawing against, especially as you can set the magnet(s) into it to be close to the other surface (you'd need a flat endmill drill bit to avoid breaking through)

[tabbypurr]

In that case get a couple of thin sheets of bendy thin card, smear very thinly with epoxy and weight while it sets. If you need it dead flat, put it on polythene on glass. You get something fairly similar to FR3 PCB.

NT

[tabbypurr]

Ah. Formica, worktops, plastics, FR3-ish, none will offer any significant resistance to sawblade wear. Spring steel does.

NT

[MM]

Oh, the hard plastic cutting mats I buy from Morrisons kitchen department are only about 1mm thick. These are exactly they:

MM

[MM]

Maybe, but if I attach the "face protector" slip using e.g. spray mount, I could replace it with a new piece when it gets scuffed.

MM

[Clive Arthur]

I had about a dozen pieces of such surface coverings, each with a different pattern and about 2"x3" with a hole punched in the corner and held together with a small chain.

Samples from a kitchen unit supplier, like this...

Or type "Formica sample" into ebay...

Incidentally, 'Formica' was originally developed as a replacement for mica.

[Clive Arthur]

I had about a dozen pieces of such surface coverings, each with a different pattern and about 2"x3" with a hole punched in the corner and held together with a small chain.

Samples from a kitchen unit supplier, like this...

Or type "Formica sample" into ebay...

Incidentally, 'Formica' was originally developed as a replacement for mica.

[tabbypurr]

As you said. Why not be sensible and glue something on that'll last a while?

NT