Seven things worth knowing before you cut
These are written when we have something to say rather than on a schedule, which is why the dates run from 2014 to 2026 and there are seven of them rather than seventy. Between them they cover every setting in the application and most of the reasons a cutting plan goes wrong.
The seven guides
In the order they were written, which is roughly the order the questions arrived.
Kerf, and why it matters
The width the blade takes out, why four parts become three, and how to measure your own saw rather than trusting a number on a box.
Read itGrain direction
Which way grain runs on a sheet, when a part must not be turned, and what locking it actually costs in board.
Read itTrim allowances
Sheets are not the size printed on them and the edges are not always square. How much to give away, and when to give away nothing.
Read itReusing offcuts
Why the pile against the wall never gets used, and the small amount of discipline that turns it into stock.
Read itReading a cutting diagram
Every line on the printed sheet, what it means, and the four checks to make before the saw is switched on.
Read itCutting order on a panel saw
Rips before cross cuts, why a layout has to be guillotine cuttable, and how to make the first cut the one that makes the sheet manageable.
Read itEstimating sheet counts for a quote
Area divided by sheet area is always wrong. What yield you can actually expect, by kind of work, with the numbers from six real jobs.
Read itWhere to start
If you read one, read the one on kerf. It is the setting that most often turns a layout that works on paper into a sheet you have to buy again.
These are not marketing
Nothing in the guides depends on owning Cut Solver. The arithmetic on kerf, the rule about grain on veneered sheets and the cutting order on a panel saw are all true whether you lay out your sheets in software, on paper, or in your head.
If they are useful and you never buy anything, that is a perfectly good outcome. See the examples for what the software adds on top of knowing all this.
Read on
Where the guides come from, and what they look like applied to real work.