TO ROUGH OUT square holes, start cuts in the middle of a board or plywood by resting the saw on the front edge of the foot plate, raising the guard and slowly lowering the spinning blade into the wood. Start in the middle of your intended cut, cut to one end, then lift the saw and turn it around and cut to the other end. For rough holes, slightly overcut the holes and the piece will fall out. For cleaner holes (like around outlets), finish cutting the corners with a jigsaw.
CUT DADO GROOVES BY DRAWING both sides of the dado on the wood and setting the saw blade to the proper depth. Make edge cuts first, then make a series of cuts spaced 1/4 in.		REMOVE UNCUT PORTIONS with a sharp chisel. For more accurate dadoes, clamp a straightedge to the wood for edge cuts and space the removal cuts closer.

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Circular Saws • Buying A Circular Saw • Techniques: Straight Rip Cuts & Cross Cuts Techniques: Specialty Cuts • Blade Tune Up & Change Out How To Keep All 10 Fingers

Features • Techniques: Specialty Cuts • October 1999
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