stacking

[shutterbugdm]

I have tried 1/4" birch and 1/4" pine (too soft) to stack a pattern (such as Steve"s "veteran plaques" with poor success. What would be a recommended
wood to use where I can stack 4-6 pieces of wood to make one pattern cut?
Also, would you use double sided tape or brad nails to hold together? or combination thereof?

[mrsn]

there is some good info on stack cutting in this thread.  personally I use packing tape around the stack to keep it all together.
http://stevedgood.com/community/index.php?topic=5256.0

If I wanted to have a stack of 4-6 pieces I would use material 1/8-1/4 inch thick. I try to keep the stack to a total of 1" or less. (with 1/8" the total stack would be 1/2-3/4" with 1/4 1-1.5", if I did the math right.) I find that if the stack is too tall I loose time fighting with turns and slow cutting that I could have cut a smaller stack twice. I also tend to push the blade more causing the blade to not be perpendicular to the table causing the bottom piece to be different size. (extreme cases of this can cause pieces of the final picture to be missing)

If I was going to cut 4-6 of steve's veteran plaques I would use 1/8" baltic birch plywood and put an 1/8" baltic birch backer on the piece. I would stain one of the pieces, probably the plaque. But remember, just because it is the way I would do it, doesn't make it right.

[dgman]

Katie has given some excellent advise! For me, I would use 1/4" hardwood for Steve's veteran plaques. For crisp details, I would stack only two layers of 1/4".
If you are going to apply the piece to a thicker board, then you can use 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood. I wouldn't go any thicker that four layers of 1/8".
To stack the boards, I would use either clear packing tape or a hot glue gun to glue just the edges of the stack.

[Danny]

Personnelly I prefer when stack cutting to cut my blanks bigger than the pattern and mostly GLUE to corners and clamp or apply the pattern to the top blank and brad nail the unit together in the throw away areas.  I prefer using PAINTERS TAPE on the top layer.  Spray glue the painters tape and bottom of pattern.  There are many ways to keep the stacked layers together.  This is just my way....  Danny  :+}

[shutterbugdm]

Thank you all for the helpful info. One last question. You all have the same way of holding the stack together. However, as you cut away the waste areas, which way do you keep the pattern stack together until all waste is cut out? I have tried double sided tape but breakage occurs in delicate areas when separating.

[julief]

Instead of cutting from the outside, make a blade entry hole and take out the center of your design leaving a border of waste.  All will stay together until the final cut.

[dgman]

Instead of cutting from the outside, make a blade entry hole and take out the center of your design leaving a border of waste.  All will stay together until the final cut.

That's excatly what i do!