cutting bamboo flooring

[patl]

Hi,

Does anybody have any experience of cutting something as fibrous as bamboo flooring with a mitre saw. I'm kind of thinking that a standard crosscut blade is likely to tear a lot and wondering whether to get a blade with a higer toothcount. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Pat.

 

[Anonymous]

I cut some bamboo blinds down to size on my mitre saw. First try was a bit of a disaster with it splitting and breaking. Second try with lots of masking tape around it went much better. Had to go very slow though.

HTH

 

[skipdiver]

Bamboo flooring is very hard and brittle but a mitre saw with a decent sharp blade will sort it cutting slowly.

 

[bluezephyr]

Ray mears does quite well cutting bamboo with a machete when ive seen him on dave channel.

Would a jigsaw with a metal blade reduce the breakout?

 

[floorman]

use a jigsaw with a laminate ,fast and clean.
gary

 

[floorman]

forgot the blade after laminate. first post

 

[patl]

For what its worth, in case anyone else needs to know, an SCMS with a 40T freud blade cuts perfectly with no breakout as long as you cut the boards upside down.

 

[krismusic]

Excuse my ignorance but what is an SCMS saw?

 

[Rich]

It's not ignorance Kris, I had to ask the same question when I first started out on the woodworking trail, SLIDING COMPOUND MITRE SAW, ask away mate, you won't feel embarrassed on this site.
Regards,

Rich.

 

[krismusic]

Thanks Rich. You are right, this does seem like a very friendly site. 8)