Articles & Guides
Practical guides on stock cutting, kerf, nesting, sheet yield, and reducing material waste — for woodworking, glass, metal, and CNC.
Fundamentals
What Is Stock Cutting?
A plain-English introduction to stock cutting, the cutting stock problem, and how optimization saves material and money.
Read more →6 min readWhat Is Blade Thickness in Stock Cutting?
Blade thickness (kerf) silently eats into every cut. Here is why it matters and how to account for it in your cut list.
Read more →5 min readUnderstanding Kerf in Panel Cutting
Everything you need to know about kerf and how to measure and apply it for accurate panel cutting.
Read more →5 min readHow to Read a Cutting Diagram
Turn an optimizer’s cutting diagram into accurate cuts at the saw with this quick guide.
Read more →5 min readTrim Allowance and Edge Banding Explained
Two finishing details that quietly change your part dimensions — and how to plan for them.
Read more →5 min readWhat Is a Cut List?
A clear, practical explanation of cut lists — what goes in them, how they are organized, and how they drive cutting optimization.
Read more →Optimization
How to Reduce Material Waste in Sheet Cutting
Seven proven tactics to squeeze more parts out of every sheet and shrink your scrap pile.
Read more →7 min readCut List Optimization Best Practices
A checklist of habits that consistently produce tighter layouts and less waste.
Read more →5 min readHow to Calculate Sheet Yield
The simple formula behind material efficiency — and the factors that move it up or down.
Read more →6 min readHow to Minimize Offcuts and Scrap
Turn your scrap pile into savings with offcut tracking, batching, and tighter layouts.
Read more →6 min readLinear Cutting Optimization: The 1D Cutting Stock Problem
How to cut the fewest bars, pipes, and profiles to length — the one-dimensional cutting stock problem explained.
Read more →5 min readHow Many Sheets of Plywood Do I Need?
A practical method to estimate plywood sheet counts using part area, sheet area, and a yield allowance.
Read more →5 min readMaterial Utilization Rate Explained
What material utilization rate means, how to calculate it, and how to push it higher with smarter layouts.
Read more →Algorithms
What Is the Bin Packing Algorithm?
A friendly explanation of bin packing and how it underpins modern cutting optimizers.
Read more →6 min readGuillotine vs. Nesting Cuts
Understand the two main cutting strategies and pick the right one for your saw or CNC.
Read more →6 min readThe First-Fit Decreasing (FFD) Algorithm
A clear walkthrough of the First-Fit Decreasing heuristic and why sorting largest-first improves packing.
Read more →Woodworking
How to Optimize Plywood Cutting
A step-by-step guide to squeezing maximum yield from 4x8 plywood sheets without sacrificing quality.
Read more →6 min readHow to Cut MDF Sheets Efficiently
MDF cuts differently from plywood. Here is how to plan layouts and cut it cleanly with minimal waste.
Read more →5 min readWhat Is Grain Direction in Panel Cutting?
Why grain direction can override pure material efficiency, and how to handle it in your cut list.
Read more →7 min readHow to Create a Cabinet Cut List
A step-by-step method for turning cabinet dimensions into an accurate, optimization-ready cut list.
Read more →5 min readHow to Calculate Board Feet
The board-foot formula explained with simple examples, plus how it relates to estimating and cutting lumber.
Read more →5 min readRip Cut vs. Crosscut
The difference between rip cuts and crosscuts, and why cut direction matters for grain and sheet optimization.
Read more →Glass
CNC
Workflow
How to Import Cut Lists from Excel
Format your spreadsheet correctly and load hundreds of parts into the optimizer in seconds.
Read more →5 min readHow to Export Cutting Layouts to PDF and DXF
Get your optimized layout off the screen and onto the saw or into your CNC with the right export.
Read more →