Just finished ripping some 12x20 stock. That should hold me over for a couple of projects.
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Can be a process lol.
Sorting the good, bad, and ugly piles.
Cleaning for mask on good.
Great way to kill an afternoon but cannot beat the materials pricing.
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Yeah, the 4x8 3mm MDF was $8.50 a sheet. I got 16 12x20" and 1 15x48" out of each. I decided to not rip down the end cuts for now in case I want to give the pass through a go.
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That’s a good price on MDF. Well hunted!
Will you tape these sheets for the GF or use without? Do you get much over burn with MDF if you don’t mask?
I primarily use the MDF for things I’m going to paint or don’t expect to look good so I don’t bother with masking. I haven’t really dialed in specific settings and tend to over power things sometimes. Even so I’ve not had an issue with the MDF charring but it does get some smoke stains on the surface. Paint covers that up with no problem.
If I need to mask something I have a 12" roll of the paper transfer tape. It works really well. I’ve used it on both leather and the Home Depot MDF whiteboard.
The biggest issue I’ve seen with MDF is it cuts a bit dirty. I’ve got quite a bit of buildup in the forge that needs to be cleaned up soon.
Of yesterday’s new stock I used some of the .18" finished plywood. I didn’t mask it and have some smoke and flashback but I plan on painting it. I used the ply instead of MDF in this case for the stability against moisture as it will be going outside.
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Thanks for the reply and great info @lairdknox I haven’t forged yet and this will help immensely. All made perfect sense.