Cutting Thick! Phenolic Laminate

[wrenchone]

I have some 1.5" thick brown phenolic/cloth laminate I want to use as the end pieces for an amp I'm building. When polished to bring out the embedded cloth, the material has a sort of snake skin look to it which is pretty striking. I'm looking for the proper 10" circular blade to make a smooth cut. Any ideas?

[infinia]

Bandsaw... sounds too tough for a 10" circular saw
or if you have access to an industrial table you could buy a good 80 tooth carbide blade and go slow, but would be heII on it.

[wrenchone]

I'm getting a very good (Freud) 80-tooth blade with carbide inserts, so it may do the trick. I was thinking of backing off to a 60-tooth blade, though. The phenolic is fairly hard, but it's not gummy, and has no abrasive filler that I know of, unlike glass epoxy. It also doesn't melt under frictional load like plexiglas, though it will soften a bit. Fortunately, I only need to make two cuts, then I can do the rest of the shaping with a router and belt sander

[infinia]

Sounds like a plan. maybe even for the 60 tooth. When I hear embeded cloth I was thinking of Fglass

[wrenchone]

Nope- we're talking linen or cotton canvas, depending on the laminate grade. You get the glass cloth usually with epoxy (and sometimes silicone laminates). I scored some silicone-glass laminate rod (high temperature to machine some tube caps.