I just got some Baltic birch and was wondering if it’s necessary to mask both the front and the back. Is it okay to just mask the front when cutting it?
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Depends, will the back be visible in your project? If it is, will that be a problem?
I just did a project where the back was the visible surface, and I only masked that side.
Also, in some cases where the visible surface is really small and the cutout it huge, I don’t mask at all, instead I cut and then sand the residue off the wood.
Shapes like this:
The large center area would just be wasted masking, so I tend to just cut these unmasked and then sand them.
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Also, worth mentioning that if you’re worried about significant flashback damage to your wood, you’re probably overpowering the cut.
I would suggest dialing in your settings using #6:
If you’re using the right power/speed flashback should be minimal.
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One of my regular runs looks just like this - I use plain old painters masking tape on the front and back for these rather than mask the whole sheet.
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Yeah that’s definitely doable. They also make thinner masking rolls, if you wanted to go with medium tack stuff. I have some rolls of 6" and 12", but the issue is labor time here. I have a really good sanding setup so I can easily remove the residue more quickly than I can carefully align the mask/unmask.
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Agreed - although sometimes I still mask both sides (especially when cutting 1/8" hardwoods) because even dialing it in sometimes leads to cuts not all the way through, so I power it a little more and if I get flashback, the tape’s got me covered. Easier than ruining a piece of wood that costs a fortune now a days.
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I’m more likely to mask both sides if what I’m cutting is tiny or fiddly - if it’s a big flat area it’s easy enough to clean, but I’m more likely to break fiddly bits than not so I err on the side of caution!
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Do you like flashback on your projects?
If the answer is ‘no’, then you’ll want to mask the back.
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