Tools for cutting laminate, LVT and engineered wood
10 July 2026
Every floor needs exactly four kinds of cut (cross-cuts, rip cuts, notches and holes), and each has a right tool per material. Match the table below to your cut list and you'll know the complete kit before starting, instead of discovering the missing tool mid-floor.
The four cuts and their tools
| Cut | Where it appears | Laminate | Rigid LVT | Flexible LVT | Engineered wood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-cut (to length) | end of nearly every row | guillotine cutter | guillotine cutter | score & snap (knife) | mitre saw / circular saw |
| Rip cut (to width) | first & last rows | jigsaw / circular saw + guide | jigsaw | knife + straightedge | table saw / circular saw + guide |
| Notch / L-cut | doorframes, corners | jigsaw | jigsaw | knife | jigsaw |
| Hole | radiator pipes | spade/Forstner bit + drill | spade bit | knife (or bit) | Forstner bit |
The workhorses, briefly
Laminate guillotine cutter. A lever blade that shears the board: no dust, no noise, no cord, a cut per second. If the room is mostly straight rows (a random stagger or running bond is about 90% cross-cuts), this does almost the whole job. Limits: cross-cuts only, and board-width capacity, so check yours fits before renting or buying.
Jigsaw. The all-rounder: rips, notches, curves, and cross-cuts in a pinch. Use a laminate-specific (down-cutting) blade with the decor face up, or a standard blade with the face down, to keep chips on the hidden side. Slower and rougher than dedicated tools, but the one saw that does everything.
Circular saw or mitre saw. For engineered wood (real wood wants a real blade) and for long straight rips where the jigsaw wanders. A clamped guide rail turns a cheap circular saw into a straight-line machine. Fine-tooth blade (40T+), decor face down for circular saws, face up for mitre saws.
Utility knife. The whole toolkit for flexible LVT: score along a straightedge, snap, done. Also the underlay tool for every material.
Angled patterns change the mix
A herringbone or chevron floor replaces most wall cross-cuts with angled cuts, so the guillotine cutter mostly sits out, and a mitre saw (or jigsaw plus an adjustable bevel for marking) becomes the main tool. Factor that in before choosing the pattern: the tooling is part of the pattern's real cost.
The minimal kit for one room
- Guillotine cutter or jigsaw (both, ideally, since they cover each other)
- Circular saw + guide if the rips are long, else the jigsaw copes
- Drill + spade bit sized for pipes (20 mm over the pipe; see the pipe technique)
- Tape, square, pencil; spacers for the expansion gap; pull bar and tapping block for the last rows against walls
Renting the cutter and saw for a weekend is routine and cheap; what makes the weekend enough is knowing every cut in advance. That's the cut list's job: count the rip cuts and angled cuts on it, and the tool decision makes itself.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best tool to cut laminate flooring?
- For cross-cuts, a laminate guillotine cutter: silent, dust-free, instant. For rip cuts and notches, a jigsaw with a laminate blade or a circular saw with a guide. Most rooms need both a cutter (or jigsaw) and something for the rips.
- Can you cut laminate with a hand saw?
- Yes, with a fine-toothed saw and the decor face up, but the coating blunts hand saws quickly and edges chip more. For more than a few cuts, a guillotine cutter or jigsaw is worth it.
- How do you cut LVT flooring?
- Flexible LVT scores and snaps with a utility knife. Rigid-core (SPC/WPC) LVT cuts like laminate, with a guillotine cutter or fine-blade jigsaw. No dust either way, which is LVT's quiet advantage.