I just bought an expensive piece of oak veneer plywood at the lumberyard and stupidly asked them to cut it in half on the panel saw. I watched in horror as the saw left 48′ of splinters on both pieces. After I got home, I remembered how to avoid edge tearout on plywood. First I set the straightedge saw guide to the right place,then set the circular saw blade to only penetrate approx. 1/8 of an inch. I make the cut, then set the saw to cut through the piece. The second pass leaves almost no splinters. I guess i won’t forget the next time. Tom Connolly
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If the dork running the saw knew what he was doing it woudn't have been nearly that bad. Though I'd never expect such a cut to be finish grade -- don't even expect that of the factory edges.
You can also put a piece of masking or painters tape down the cut line to reduce tearout.When cutting plywood with a circular saw always put the worst graded side up.