Old cabinet maker told me to stop using sandpaper on MDF edges

I was in a shop outside Nashville last week and this guy in his 70s saw me sanding the edges of some MDF panels. He walked over and told me to just hit them with a quick pass on the table saw instead. Honestly I thought he was full of it but I tried it on a scrap piece. The edges came out way smoother with no fuzz and it saved me like 20 minutes per sheet. Has anyone else tried this trick or do you stick with sanding?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_fisher4922d agoMost Upvoted

Guessing he meant running them through the tablesaw with the fence set to just barely trim the edge, not the face. That would clean up the fuzz real nice without any sanding dust everywhere. MDF can be fussy but a sharp blade makes all the difference.

dixon.ryan21d ago

Old timer probably saved your lungs from all that MDF dust too, so double win. Guess I'll be dragging my table saw out of the corner where it's been collecting dust. Suddenly my sanding block looks real stupid.

riverowens21d ago

Couldn't believe it when I tried it myself. Always thought running MDF through a saw would just make it worse, not smoother. That old timer knew exactly what he was talking about.