Why serious Woodworkers need track saws

[Tom Giacomo]

I thought I was serious.

[Andrew Hughes]

Sam Maloof probably did have a track saw since manufactures would just send him stuff.He joked about the things that would show up that he didn't order.
I have a porter cable saw boss that I use for plywood here and there.They stopped making the saw boss because everyone like it too much.Aj

[Ron Teti]

I'm new here, and I am a track saw fan. Reading this post briefly .

I think that whether to use a track saw or not is personal preference.

I have a complete Festool system including the saw module for the CMS.

now as to whether the old masters used track saw etc, IMO they used whatever the most modern equipment was available at the time or whatever they were comfortable using.

more then likely they used hand tools for the majority of their work.

im sure when the shakers invented the table saw, they had a similar discussion.

[Ole Anderson]

OK, fair enough, but dados are best done with a router, IMO (esp if you have a router attached to your track system.)

Allan, I am glad that you added "IMO". I do dados (and rabbits) with my TS and on my router table and have even used a jig with my handheld router. Each has it's place. Personally I prefer a TS where you can tweak the dado width with shims or in my case with a dial-a-dado. And the blade isn't trying to pull the bit to one side as with a router, nor does the sawdust get packed in the slot and you are working on a CI table top.

[Julie Moriarty]

I thought I was serious.

Seriously?

[Glenn Clabo]

There's not a serious bone in my body...life is too short for that...but I do use a track saw because I like it.

[michael langman]

I never saw a track saw before I bought a piece of mdf at Home depot and I had them cut it for me. I thought it was a good idea, but never seriously thought of owning one.
A good blade on my skil saw and a straight edge have been all I have ever needed to cut a nice square piece of plywood.
I guess it's all a matter of preference and economics: unless I had a business of cutting plywood and mdf .

[Art Mann]

Is this good enough that I could call myself a "serious" woodworker, or does it have to be green? http://www.historic-house-restoratio...._2012_025.JPG This is the page on my website that I pulled that picture off of: http://www.historic-house-restoration.com/Woodwork.html

Actually, I would call that carpentry work rather than wood work. Whatever you call it, I used to do some similar work and I loved the challenge. I would really like to see before and after pictures of the project when it is all finished. I don't know whether a track saw would have helped you on this project but I have done restoration work where a track saw would have speeded the work considerably. Unfortunately, I only discovered track saws a couple of years ago.

[Robert Engel]

Seriously,

WW'ers do not need a $800 track saw, they just need to break down the materials, then cut their panels to exact size on the TS.

I do not own, nor will I ever own a track saw because I can spend that money in better ways.

IMO there is no reason to spend all that money when you've already got a tool that will do it.

I've built quite a few cabinets and there is no track saw made that will square up a plywood panel.

[Sam Murdoch]

Seriously,

WW'ers do not need a $800 track saw, they just need to break down the materials, then cut their panels to exact size on the TS.

I do not own, nor will I ever own a track saw because I can spend that money in better ways.

IMO there is no reason to spend all that money when you've already got a tool that will do it.

I've built quite a few cabinets and there is no track saw made that will square up a plywood panel.

"WW'ers do not need a $800 track saw" - I AGREE - as I understand there are some good less expensive alternatives to the FESTOOL out there.

Having said that, I otherwise completely disagree. The track saw is a wonderful alternative to muscling 3/4" thick (and other thickness) sheet goods and properly set up, one can parts out an entire kitchen worth of cabinets - square and true with relative ease. The Table saw in this case is a helper - not the primary tool. All well and good to be so dogmatic if you have the luxury of a sliding table saw and a fully functioning cabinet shop but if you are an occasional cabinet maker (or even a professional like me who build and installs cabinets regularly and has scaled down from a full function professional shop to what most would describe as a garage shop), using sheet goods, working out of your garage or a small shop with a unisaw or smaller table saw, a track saw can be indispensable.

[Bill Orbine]

My shop is well equipped, including table saw and panel saw...... I'm a serious WW and I do not need a track saw! The system I now have is far more productive and accurate than a track saw!


However, the track saw would be convenient for, say, if I had to do on field cutting or, if in shop I need to cut diagonals on sheet goods. Such system is worthy if I do this often. It does not happen too often to justify the purchase. It'll be sitting in the corner of shop gathering dust.

[Larry Edgerton]

Really? Serious woodworkers must have a track saw? Did Sam Maloof, James Krenov, Tage Frid or George Nakashima have a track saw? Are you SERIOUS?

Best answer!

Larry

[Matt Day]

I never saw a track saw before I bought a piece of mdf at Home depot and I had them cut it for me. I thought it was a good idea, but never seriously thought of owning one.

I think you're confusing a track saw with a panel saw.

[Tom M King]

Tom, I'd be interested in knowing how you used the small router to allow you to remove nails. Also, what is the purpose of the small rectangular routed areas that appear to straddle board seams?

Nails were located with a metal detector. The jig that the Bosch router sits in routes out around each nail. The middle part left in the "small rectangular routed areas" is popped out with a beater chisel, and the nail sunk below harms way of the big milling router. The original floor is over 1-1/2 inch thick. Windows were out of that house for 30 years, and resulted in the tops of the Heart Pine floor boards rotting out, but the rot didn't go deeper than 3/4", except in one spot. We milled off the top 3/4" of the full 20' length of the affected boards, and replaced it with grain matching Heart Pine 20 footers. Underneath, in the basement, look up and it's all original.

[sebastian phillips]

Never understood the myth of "wrestling plywood" onto a table saw. Unless you have your sheet goods delivered onto the floor, and process them on the floor, you have to "wrestle" them unto something, whether you're cutting them with a track saw, chainsaw, or table saw.
I own a festool tracksaw, and love it for fitting laminate tops, scribing panels and such on installs. There is no way, however, I would build a kitchen with it when I have a cabinet saw in the shop. I can't imagine ripping face frame and door stock, 100's of lin. ft. ranging from 1.5" to 3", with a track saw. Just silly.
I never wrestle with plywood either. It comes into the shop vertically, and is stored vertically. There is a piece of blue tape on the floor about 7' in front of the blade. The vertical sheet is set on that line and lowered to the saw(resting on the table in front of the blade). I pick up the rear of the sheet and rip away.
Very fast, accurate, and safe. I never lift a whole sheet of 3/4 ply in my shop, and I seldom use the track saw in the shop, only odd tapers and such.