Cutting Fiber Board.

[chiangrai]

I bought some fake wood planks from the hardware shop.I don't know what there called in English.

I going to make a fascia board out of it which I think is what it's actually meant for.

So I marked out a beautiful curved line long ways on it,put a metal cutting blade in my electric jig saw and started cutting.

The blade got blunt after a few minutes and when I looked at it all the teeth had vanished where it was cutting.

Am I using the wrong blade.I thought you should use a blade for metal with this stuff.

There were 2 types of metal cutting blades in the shop.The one I bought was Bosch Basic Metal.I think the other type was Bosch Stainless.

What am I doing wrong.

[tifino]

sounds more like you have a slab of that extra-dense 'Craftwood' stuff

even Router bits have a hard time fighting it

Edited July 26, 2016 by tifino

[Crossy]

Do you actually have ConWood / Shera? (both are cement based and very tough on blades)

You need a diamond blade for that.

[eyecatcher]

I first experienced the density of the sherawood decking planks 5yrs ago. I thought a nice funky sweeping curved step arrangement would look great. These were pukka 22mm deck planks.

I used a jigsaw. it was very very slow going.

Firstly you need to use metal cutting blades, and secondly really you need to have an adjustable speed on the jigsaw so you can slow the travel right down....no need for diamond cutting at all.

By no means easy; I had about 4m of curve to do and it took probably 2 hours.

The way to cut sherawood is with a grinder, the thin stuff is easy to cut.

if you are wanting to cut a frilly edge along a fascia, i would make some form of template first and clamp it or screw it to the fascia and then quickly run the grinder along it...its buggeration in my book.

why not by the purpose made eaves filler profiles as the tin roof and turn it upside down,many do that already...........not my cup of tea but it works

Or better still just go and buy some fancy wooden eaves fretwork from global or suksawad and gun it onto your fascia and look like you really mean business with the Thais!

[weegee]

A common blade for cutting Tiles in your 4 inch grinder....is all you need. Those bosh blades you used are not meant for and will not do the job.

[chiangrai]

I now have an 8ft long straight cut to make.

If I do this with my circular saw will I ruin that blade.

It's the one that came with it.There is nothing readable

on it now.

[manfredtillmann]

i tried to google 'sherawood' but nothing came up.

it appears you are trying to cut a fibre - cement board longitudinally and introducing an undulating shape at the same time?

to my knowledge there are no good tools to facilitate this.

however - the hard way - score and break - has been used since the old asbestos board days. buy a box cutter, the sturdier the better, and a 10 pack of blades. and a large box of band - aids!

clamp your board down on a hard surface using soft - jaw clamps and start scoring your 'beautiful curved line'. once, twice, thrice... take particular care of penetrating deep at start and finish.

when done, shift your board to the edge of your underlay to have all of the cut overhang, clamp again and do a VERY GENTLE bend down. there is a minimal margin between success and failure - and little warning given.

you should feel a complete lack of resistance.

not good yet? shift everything back on the underlay and give it 2 more...

the sharpness of the blade is of no importance, it sort - of keeps itself sharp enough. the blades will brake but if you apply too much pressure doing the curves (that's when you will probably need the band - aids).

it takes a lot of time but it can be done.

clean up the broken edge with a small piece of concrete or rock that has a 'natural' recess in it already. it will soon acquire the correct shape. wear a P2 dust mask when you do it and keep the kids and pets away - just in case thailand has not fully caught on to the non - asbestos thingy.

let me know after.

cheers

Edited July 27, 2016 by manfredtillmann

[manfredtillmann]

for straight cuts with no dust these are the tools:

(shown for some reason up side down)

Edited July 27, 2016 by manfredtillmann

[sandyf]

I now have an 8ft long straight cut to make.

If I do this with my circular saw will I ruin that blade.

It's the one that came with it.There is nothing readable

on it now.

In a word - yes.

As Crossy said the material is cement based so you are effectively cutting concrete. In real terms you cannot 'cut' concrete as wood or steel it has to be ground away.

The most common method is a diamond blade on an angle grinder or you could look into the possibility of an abrasive disc for the circular saw.

An 8ft cut is not going to be easy. If you have a Global House nearby I would suggest you go and have a look at the widths available, they have quite a selection and sell it by the piece.

If you have to drill it at all, I would suggest you get a 'universal' drill bit the size you want, works much better than the dedicated drill types for concrete or steel.

[sandyf]

This is how they did the fascia on my house, 2 different widths of bevelled board and put one on top of the other. Simple but does the job.

[chiangrai]

The circular saw flies through it.I've been using it for cross cuts(9 inches).

Is this ruining the blade like it does the jigsaw blade.

[sandyf]

The circular saw flies through it.I've been using it for cross cuts(9 inches).

Is this ruining the blade like it does the jigsaw blade.

You have had a warning with the jigsaw blade. The circular saw is dicing with death, I have seen a circular saw blade explode and take from me it can be very messy. A lot less risk if you are using a segmented blade,

As the Thais say 'up to you'.

[phoneguy702]

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=hardie+board+saw+blade&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=4161255552&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6wtc7mdlvf_b

Here are some examples of the blades you need or just do a google search for Concrete fiber board blades and up they come.

[casualbiker]

When I cut some fiberboard I used a diamond blade in a 4" grinder.. if I had a circular saw I would have used that with a diamond blade.. available from Global Thaiwatsadu etc

[wayned]

I either use an old carbide tipped blade in my 7" circular saw (never to be used again to cut wood) or a diamond blade in the 4" grinder for straight cuts. I've nevr tried to do any fancy scrolling. Shera does make pre-cut decorative fascia board.

[cooked]

On 28/07/2016 at 10:45 AM, casualbiker said:

When I cut some fiberboard I used a diamond blade in a 4" grinder.. if I had a circular saw I would have used that with a diamond blade.. available from Global Thaiwatsadu etc

This is the best solution. Of course it is not easy to cut a straight line with a grinder but it can be done. I don't try to cut all the way through in one go, I do at least three passages. If you try to do it in one passage you will discover what 'kickback' means and possibly damage the surface of the board. I had to cut along the whole length of a three meter board and it took about 10 minutes.

For curves I cut as near to the curve as I can with the grinder and then use the edge of the disc to grind the remaining unwanted material away. Very dusty, you need protection.

I also use the grinder to round off the edge of the boards when needed.