Straight Cuts
Straight cuts are done with either a utility knife or a saw.
Using a utility knife
When cutting drywall with an utility knife, you don’t try to cut all the way through the drywall with the knife. Utility knife cuts are done by scoring the drywall (cutting with the razor knife about 1/3 or 1/2 way through the drywall thickness), then snapping the drywall back from the cut along the scored line, then finishing the cut with the razor knife from the backside of the drywall.
Tips
1. Use a new knife blade, dull blades will tear the paper as well as skim and skip across the cut line.
2. Mark the drywall with a pencil, don’t use a pen for sure, as it will bleed through the prime and paint. You probably won’t be using a chalk line for the typical drywall repair.
3. When using a straight edge for cutting, keep your free hand away from the cutting knife, if it skips or slips, you will cut yourself.
can see inside the wall, and know what is behind the cutting area, then you can adjust the depth of the knife a bit deeper..
Cutting a piece of drywall for sheetrock repair will require making two cuts - length and width. Make your first cut along the whole width (or length) of the drywall, then cut your piece to size. See diagram below.
Using a saw
You can use a saw to cut the drywall if you don’t want to use a knife. Sawing creates a lot of dust, whereas cutting with a knife does not. One instance where a saw works better than using a razor knife is where you are cutting off a “sliver: piece of less than an inch or so. There are different saws used with drywall:
Keyhole or Jab saw.
Used to cut out holes (as well as for general cutting). This tool is about 12” long, and the blade comes to a point which is used to penetrate through the drywall to begin the cut out. The keyhole saw works well for circular or radius cuts.
General hand held saw:
There are manual, hand saws made for drywall cutting. Most of these saws will cut in both directions of the sawing stroke - up and down. Wood cutting saws on the other hand, are designed to cut only in the downward cutting motion.
Rasps
If you need to shave off a very small (less than half an inch) amount off a piece of drywall, a rasp will do a good job. A rasp is used if you need to shave off a portion of the length of a cut, where you may not have cut the drywall squarely, or the hole you are fitting it into is not quite square. You can rasp off a part of the length or width and get the drywall to fit. Rasping creates a lot of dust, so limit it to just portions of the cut, to tweak the fit..
Circular cuts
Circular or radius cuts can be done with a keyhole or jab saw. You can trace out the radius (or circle) using a compass or a pencil attached to string and thumb tack (big radius cuts).
Circle cutting tool
The circle cutter is really a compass that uses a “blade” instead of a pencil. This works very well for circular cut outs. The circle cutter will not cut the hole all the way through, you will need to finish the job with a utility knife.
Rotary cutting tool
The rotary cutting tools are used on new construction almost exclusively for electrical outlets and cutouts. When using these tools, turn off the electrical power to the room(s) and be very careful to avoid nicking / hitting any wires with the tool. You don’t want any cut or bare wires that will short out later when the power is restored to the box.
Ideally, when used on new home construction, the wires are not live and without switches or electrical outlets in the box yet, the wires in the box at that stage of construction, can be pushed to the back of the box, the rotary cutting tool depth is set to go just through the drywall and no deeper, making it possible to cut the openings without the risk of nicking or cutting any wires.
Notes:
1. If you can’t finish the cut from the backside of the drywall, you can finish it from the front. Cutting from the backside minimizes the possibility of tearing the paper, but if you are careful with cutting from the front side, you should not tear the paper.
2. When cutting out a drywall section from a damaged wall, set the knife blade depth to the thickness of the drywall - no deeper. This will prevent you from blindly cutting wires (or whatever) on the inside of the drywall cavity. Once you
Another very good video on how to use the rotary cutting tool
A very good demonstration of straight cutting methods
Our "terms of use" governs your use of our website; by using our website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of our "terms of use", do not use our website.
 | ||||
How to Cut Drywall or Sheetrock
For Drywall Repair
Search This Site
| ||||
Custom Search
| ||||
The
Concourse eStore
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
SM
Painting Tips and Advice
| ||||
Painting and Decorating Concourse
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
Sanding Attachments
Hepa Filters
Dustless Drywall Sanding
| ||||
