How do I cut Maxituf plastic lumber?

You can use any standard wood and metal cutting saw with good results. In general,  wider tooth spacing (less teeth per inch) works better since there is less heat build up with power tools. The same rule applies when you use hand-saws. The  issue here is not so much heat build up - but saved elbow grease. Band saws, table saws, radial saws, reciprocating saws all provide good results. For fast turning wood cutting saws, carbide tipped blades are certainly an improvement and will result in longer blade life as well as clean, crisp cuts. Should you  encounter plastic build up on the sides of your blade reduce the feed rate.  Very accurate parts can be produced by means of laser and water jet cutting. Please note: Be careful when you cut any plastic lumber material to length. Let me illustrate : Imagine a warm summer day. It's about lunchtime and Joe is getting ready to  install Maxituf plastic lumber boards on his new deck. All that is left to do  before the actual installation begins is cutting the boards to length. So he  walks over to his stack of plastic lumber, picks up a board from the top, which  feels pleasantly warm to the hand, marks and cuts it. He notices that the boards  in the next layer of the stack are considerably cooler than the ones from top  layer. Later in the afternoon, as the day grows cooler he discovers, much to his dismay, that he has four boards that are 3/16 of an inch shorter than the rest. What happened? The four top boards of his stack had been sitting in the hot sunlight and therefore  expanded more in length than the remaining boards in the stack. Hence, when the temperature dropped - they shrank and now were too short. After consulting the installation notes provided by the manufacturer, Joe found out, that he should have done two things. First move the boards into the shade or cover them with a tarp to ensure consistent temperature throughout the stack and secondly  read the installation notes before installing the product.

 

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