Start the cut by supporting the sheet so its guide edge is tight against the saw fence and its leading edge is flat on the table.

Stand at the left corner of the saw table as you advance the sheet along the fence. Focus on the line of contact between workpiece and fence, with an occasional glance at the saw cut.

Push the workpiece past the blade, then collect it by walking around to the back of the saw. Reposition the falling board for the next cut from the front of the saw.

A solid-wood spline the thickness of a saw blade — 1/8" — is effective. It should be made right on the edge of the joint and cut into the board no more than half the board thickness.

The “transom” top, which uses a stopped dado joint, has many applications in MSM furniture joinery. In making the dado joint, form shoulders a bit less than 1/8". The result is a crisper inside corner than trying to get the dado to equal the thickness of the entering board.

Because small shops typically are not set up to machine MSM as the material has been designed to be used (in industrial manufacturing settings), there is no true or traditional Critical Path as there is in solid-wood construction. But there are steps that must be taken to effectively make use of the products. While the following steps may need to be tailored to whatever tools are at the small shop’s disposal, they will take a maker a long way down a successful building path.

1. Cut the material.
2. Cover, or lip, the edges.
3. Veneer the parts.
4. Joint the parts.
5. Assemble the parts.
6. Apply a finish.
7. Make doors and drawers.

Because several of the steps are covered more broadly in other lessons, this lesson will focus on techniques for cutting MSM, treating the edges of MSM so that the inner cores aren’t visible in the final project and joints that work with MSM.

Cutting MSM

Because MSM has no grain direction and is dimensionally stable, it does not distort during the cut. Although the face veneer on plywood does not affect how you set up the saw, when sawing across its grain, there may be some tearout on the bottom side. A sharp carbide-tipped blade minimizes this problem. You can further minimize chipping the veneer by sawing with the best side facing up. And be sure your table saw’s fence is parallel to the blade: By far the most damage is caused by misaligned fences that allow the work to contact the rising teeth on the back of the blade.

A major challenge when sawing MSM is the size of the sheet. While it’s possible to feed a full sheet across the top of a contractor’s saw, it’s not advisable unless your saw is surrounded by extension tables. The alternative is to cut the sheet into manageable pieces using a hand saw, a jigsaw or a portable circular saw.

Always use the splitter and top guard when sawing MSM. The splitter keeps the workpiece and falling board from contacting the rising back teeth. The guard keeps your hands away from the saw blade. And, as with solid wood, use push sticks whenever the sawing operation would bring your hand closer than 9" to the blade. Use the miter gauge when making a square end on long sheet stock that is less than 12" wide.

Your initial stance at the saw depends on the size of the sheet you are sawing. Stand far enough to the left of the blade to get your right hand on the trailing edge of the sheet and your left hand on its left edge. The right hand advances the sheet through the saw, while the left hand presses it toward the fence. Both hands help support the sheet so it remains flat on the saw table. Focus your attention on the line of contact between the workpiece and fence, glancing only occasionally at the cut itself.

Enter the cut slowly, then speed up to a constant rate and complete it without pause or hesitation. Walk forward, moving the workpiece through the saw until you reach the left corner of the saw table. Remain stationary and advance the sheet along the fence with your arms to complete the cut. At the end of the cut, push both workpiece and falling board past the blade and onto an outfeed table.

Covering the Edges

One problem to be solved when working with MSM is the appearance of the long-grain edges, which reveal the inner cores. There are two solutions: One is to lip the edges with solid wood, then veneer over the lippings. Another is to veneer the edges — what industry would call edgebanding.

For best results with solid-wood lippings, color match is more important than grain pattern. The width of the lipping is also important: It need be only 1/4" wider than any molding you intend to put on the edge. If all you need is a square edge, then a 1/4" wide lipping is sufficient.

Be sure the substrate edge has been sawn clean, straight and square before you glue on the lippings. Biscuits or splines are unnecessary, but it does help to roll the glue lightly onto both surfaces instead of trying to squeeze a bead on only the MSM edge and spread it with a paddle.

Make the lipping flush with a trim router or a hand plane.

MSM Casework Joints

MSM is ideally suited to making casework. The challenge is to design the work so the joinery is sound.

How to join boards at their ends to make corners is well-established with solid wood. Two of these methods can be mirrored with MSM, as shown in the illustrations at left. One is a mitered corner held together by a spline or biscuits. The other is a transom joint where the top overhangs the side, which is held in place by a dado joint.