Melamine-coated particleboard is a great material for storage, basement, garage, home office, and kid’s room projects. It’s less expensive than plywood and has a much cleaner finished look than painted MDF or fiberboard. Unfortunately, the plastic resins in the coating are prone to chip when cut with a spinning saw blade. They make special (read: expensive) saw blades just for the task, but with a bit of care, you can get perfectly clean, factory-like edges with the circular or table saw blade you currently have.

This technique will also work when salvaging old particleboard furniture from secondhand stores or garage sales.

1. First, measure your cut line and use a straight edge, utility knife, or box cutter to lightly score along the line on both sides of the board.

2. Next, set up your table saw or circular saw blade to cut 1/4″ into the material. You are not cutting through the material here, you are simply creating a clean cut in the bottom face of the melamine. Since most chips occur when the teeth that are not actually removing material come in contact with the surface, this 1/4″ deep scoring will help prevent tear-out during the final cut.

3. Now, set your blade height or cut depth to just above the gullets of the blade (the standard height to prevent kickback), then…

Turn on the saw and make your final cut.

See? No chips, and no need for a special $150 laminate cutting blade.

For more on sawing and techniques, consider:
Quick Tip: Table Saw Techniques
How To: Cut Straight Lines With a Circular Saw
Why Every DIYer Needs a Thickness Planer