Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - How many teeth on my saw blade to cut plywood ?

I'm going to be cutting pieces of 1/4" plywood to reface my cabinets and I was wondering what type of saw blade I should use on my circular saw ? Is 40 teeth good enough or should I have even more teeth for a smoother cut ?

Generally, the more teeth, the finer the cut. There are blades specifically designed for plywood. Some of them have better than 80 teeth. For cabinet work, I would reccoment using a table saw instead of a circular saw. You will get much more accurate results. Good luck!

I'm using a rip guide with my circular saw so that should keep me pretty neat in my finished cuts. I don't have a lot of cash now so if I can make it look good without spending the dough on a table saw, I'm gonna do it. Money only goes so far...

You mean a straightedge (clamped to the work) rather that a rip fence (attached to your saw), don't you.

It'll be something like a 7-1/4" 140-Tooth Steel Hollow Ground Plywood Saw Blade:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004RH4I/qid=1029333512/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-3750175-8582257?s=hi&n=507846

But even with a square and appropriate feed rate, I wouldn't expect the result to be an exposed/finished edge.

Good luck.

No, I mean a rip fence attached to my saw.

It will probably be a lot easier to make a neat straight cut if you clamp a straight edge (4'level, straight 1 X 4, angle iron, etc.) across your wood for your saw to follow rather than trying to use the small rip guide which came with the saw

cfd323
Just be sure to cut with good side of plywood facing down away from saw. Use the finest-toothed blade you can find. I agree that you should use a straight edge. I have an 8' aluminum door guide for closet doors--only about 8 bucks at home depot.
chuck