Plywood surface lifting.

[Insane Dust Maker]

Hi there, after a three month break from scrolling, I’m back in front of the scroll cutting again, I decided to do a cutting which is out of character for those who know my work, I cut the pattern on Prime Plywood Grade B/B, I just did this get the feel back again. On completion and peeling the Blue Painters Tape off there were bits of of the surface fibers pulled off with the tape which has left the surface a little rough, I will give it a sanding and see how it looks (I did not want to use my Baltic Birch Stock for this) is there away to prevent this should I cut on this Plywood again.

[Wichman]

There seems to be this issue with recently manufactured plywood.

One solution is to use a shellac wash after a light sanding. If you are planning to stain the wood, do so prior to the shellac wash

[Insane Dust Maker]

Wichman do I apply the shellac before I put the Blue Tape on, this is probably only the third or fourth time I used this wood for ant cuts more practice etc.

my wood of choice is Baltic Birch for my patterns.

[BadBob]

Plywood isn't the only wood that blue painter's tape will pull fibers from. Sometimes it will pull chunks out. I have almost stopped using it because of this. 

[Wichman]

2 hours ago, Insane Dust Maker said:

Wichman do I apply the shellac before I put the Blue Tape on, this is probably only the third or fourth time I used this wood for ant cuts more practice etc.

my wood of choice is Baltic Birch for my patterns.

Before, I say a wash because the shellac should be diluted (if using the shellac from a can) at least a 1 to 1 with denatured alcohol, the idea being to lock the wood fibers in place with the shellac and give the tape something to stick to besides the wood. 

[BadBob]

If you use dewaxed shellac, you can apply another finish over the top when you are done.

[Dan]

I've had that happen years ago. I found that the longer the tape sticks to the wood the more likely it will pull up little fibers. For all my plywood projects I've been using clear adhesive shelf liner instead of blue tape. Works great for me.

[Fab4]

Hi Don:
Check out the thread in this forum titled Baltic Birch by Tom Gi
It covers what your problem is with lifting fibers
Fab4

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

As mentioned the longer the tape is on a surface the stronger the bond becomes and will lift fibers. May want to switch to a less tacky tape such as purple. 

[Insane Dust Maker]

Thank you all for you great responses, I do I think Dan nailed for me I prepared this cut awhile ago and I put it aside to do the other wood work, so the tape was stuck to the wood for a few weeks, that’s on me stupid mistake.

[barb.j.enders]

6 hours ago, Insane Dust Maker said:

Thank you all for you great responses, I do I think Dan nailed for me I prepared this cut awhile ago and I put it aside to do the other wood work, so the tape was stuck to the wood for a few weeks, that’s on me stupid mistake.

You could use a hair dryer/hot air gun to soften up the glue.

[Insane Dust Maker]

So as promised below is my practice cut after sometime away from the scroll saw, happy with cut ( forced on me by my grand daughter) but I just can’t believe how stupid I was in leaving the pattern for quite awhile which resulted in the surface being lifted when removing the tape.

It was a lesson learnt but the object of the exercise was just to get the feel back, I’m one of those scrollers who keep the finger tips close to the blade, by doing this my finger tips fees the cut of the blade and I can tell when the blades starts losing its edge. So now onto some serious cutting this week.

 

[Sycamore67]

That is a wonderful practice cut.

[Insane Dust Maker]

Thank you.