Preventing Chipping

• A laminate flooring board can be cut with a circular saw, a jigsaw or a table saw, and there are several strategies to avoid chipping the surface when cutting. The easiest way to do this is to turn the board over and cut from the back, but this can lead to confusion when you have to keep track of the board's orientation to the rest of the floor. Another way is to lay masking tape along the cut line. This adds a lot of time to the job of installing the floor, though, and doesn't fully prevent chipping. A third way is to use a plywood cutting blade on your circular or table saw. This type of blade has more teeth than a regular one and is designed to prevent chipping.
  
  Once you have settled on an effective way to prevent chipping, an angled, or mitered, saw will not give any advantage. In fact, it might create a problem by weakening the edge of the board and rendering it vulnerable to breakage from foot traffic.
  
  

Cutting Boards and Joining Them

• Cutting laminate boards along edges that will be joined to another section requires special techniques, Whenever you have to cut away the locking mechanism, you have to make modifications in the bottom layer of the board so that it can be glued to the board next to it. Sometimes you have to cut off the tongue, and sometimes part of the groove. This is often done with a utility knife, but you can also do it with a circular saw or a table saw.
  
  There is no advantage in using a mitered blade for this procedure. As long as you make a straight cut when you are cutting the board to fit, a 90-degree edge will create a tight seam as well as a mitered one. A mitered edge may in fact be weaker and subject to breakage. A mitered blade will not help when you make modifications to the lock mechanism, either. It will just complicate them.
  
  

The Best Saw Blades to Use

• Carbide-tipped blades will last the longest when used in a circular saw or table saw to cut laminated flooring. A blade with 60 teeth is ideal, because it will produce less chipping than a standard-duty 40-tooth blade. Keeping the angles set to 90 degrees will not only prevent breakage, it will eliminate the confusing calculations that come with cutting angles.
  
  A metal cutting blade can help reduce chipping when used on a jigsaw, but the cut will take longer. You can save time by using a standard wood-cutting blade, and taping only along the cut lines of notches that will be especially visible. Angling the blade will not produce significantly better results, and the increase in complexity will cost time.