Source: Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers
We’ve all been there – you start a woodworking project and measure all your boards, cut them all, start to assemble it, and for some reason everything is ¼” too short. “How did I screw up measuring everything by a quarter-inch? I must not be good at this!
” Nope, you just didn’t account for kerf.
Kerf is the material that a cutting tool like a saw or a router bit removes from your material. We all grew up using scissors or shears to cut things — these shear the material, resulting in no material lost. But many cutting tools remove material. Think about it: saws make sawdust but scissors don’t make paper dust.
So how can you ensure you leave enough room for kerf?
SAW — With saws it’s easy. For starters, don’t measure all your pieces at one time. Measure, then cut, then measure, and so on. Don’t cut on your line; cut to the far side of it. The kerf will be removed from the unmeasured section and your board will be the correct length. Once you get good at it, you can measure the width of your saw blade’s teeth (some teeth angle outward so they’re wider than the body of the blade) and add that width into your board lengths, knowing it will be removed.
With digital fabrication tools, the best way to handle kerf is to plan for it in your design. In general, make holes smaller and joint…
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