Why serious Woodworkers need track saws

[Ole Anderson]

Actually, you need oxygen. The nitrogen comes along for the ride.

My $0.02? Have both a Festool track saw and a Sawstop table saw. Both have their place, I use both.

Same here but on a budget with a Grizz G1023 and a Grizz track saw.

[Julie Moriarty]

IMO, anyone one who thinks breaking down sheet goods with a tracksaw is faster or easier than a good table saw or slider either doesn't know how to handle materials or is operating under some sort of handicap.

Handicap? Space. To cut a 4x8 sheet on my TS I have to rearrange half the tools in my shop. Then I have to crawl under the plywood to get around the TS. My other handicap is strength. At 64, I now need assistance bringing a 3/4" sheet down the basement stairs and into the shop. It was always a struggle but now it's just not in the cards. So if I can break down the sheet goods in the garage, I can manage getting it into the shop. What I liked about the tracksaw, when I had it, was I could make cuts just as good as I make with the TS, clean, straight and right on the cut line. And when it came to making cuts other than 90 degrees and parallel, the tracksaw excelled.

What I didn't like was the cost. After you buy the saw, you need their track. Festool makes couplings for their track but they can come out of alignment if you're not careful when moving the track. The solution, of course, is buying longer track. And the cost escalates further.

[Prashun Patel]

[steps up on soapbox]

These kinds of threads always puzzle me. I can't yet understand why there is a need to crown a best method for what we do. As long as we can be safe, productive, and happy, why's it need to go any further?

Crowning a winner means the everyone else is on some level a loser. The rest of my and my childrens' day is filled with that kind of ranking.

[steps down from soap box]

[Ken Fitzgerald]

[steps up on soapbox]

These kinds of threads always puzzle me. I can't yet understand why there is a need to crown a best method for what we do. As long as we can be safe, productive, and happy, why's it need to go any further?

Crowning a winner means the everyone else is on some level a loser. The rest of my and my childrens' day is filled with that kind of ranking.

[steps down from soap box]

I couldn't agree more, Prashun!

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Prashun. Perhaps the best thing is to modify things such that "every woodworker should consider adding a track saw" to their bag of tricks, rather than "need one". I find it useful to have. Other's don't. And that's just fine.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Most of us are hobbyists. For me at least, the point of a hobby is to have fun. If a track saw helps you do it, great! It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks because nobody else can tell you what you enjoy.

[michael langman]

When I first started posting to websites like this I was not totally aware of how I was communicating to all of the people that read my posts.
I ended up upsetting some people because of the blunt way I said things and have since learned to be more subtle in my choice of phrases and points of view.
So I have learned that not all people are aware of that the way they say things can be misleading and cause controversy.

It is us prolonging the negativity of the post, and not the original poster.

[Ole Anderson]

Julie, you shouldn't have taken that first sip of the bright green Kool-Aid. There really are other less expensive alternates! I drink from the dark green pitcher.

[Roy Harding]

[steps up on soapbox]

These kinds of threads always puzzle me. I can't yet understand why there is a need to crown a best method for what we do. As long as we can be safe, productive, and happy, why's it need to go any further?

Crowning a winner means the everyone else is on some level a loser. The rest of my and my childrens' day is filled with that kind of ranking.

[steps down from soap box]

Absolutely agree. There IS, indeed, a "Best method/tool" - but it's a "best" for the particular individual making the decision. And that decision is influenced by many, many, many things - cost, space, individual strength, individual method of work, type of work being done, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum.

I enjoy threads which discuss the merits of a particular tool or method, I always learn something and sometimes come across a better method/tool for doing something - but YOUR "best" may not be my "best".

[Jim Dwight]

I was deliberately a bit controversial in the title, trying to get people to think about it. I didn't mean to offend, hope I didn't. I realize that many of you make more sawdust than I do and have worked out good systems that work for you. I did more before I got my track saw than I have done since, mainly due to time but also other priorities (our old house requires a lot and not all things involve making sawdust). I don't think my work was worse before I got the track saw, I just think it's easier with it. I was surprised with the accuracy and the way it gives you to do work differently. I hope maybe a few of you will try it and are similarly pleasantly surprised.

[Prashun Patel]

Now I've gone and done what I exactly did not want to do: discourage the OP.

I was just voicing a personal opinion. Some may argue (read, have argued) that I might need a thicker skin. I'll take that.

In fact, I've learned a lot on this thread. Don't feel the need to apologize, Jim; I respect your challenge.

[Britt Lifsey]

Think of it this way...with all of the other "serious Woodworker" threads popping up, you have started a movement! Arlo Guthrie would be proud

[Mike Cutler]

Now I've gone and done what I exactly did not want to do: discourage the OP.

I was just voicing a personal opinion. Some may argue (read, have argued) that I might need a thicker skin. I'll take that.

In fact, I've learned a lot on this thread. Don't feel the need to apologize, Jim; I respect your challenge.

Prashun Patel

Nothing wrong with any of your post's. In fact, I don't believe I have ever read anything you have posted that could be anything other than helpful and insightful

Everybody has different needs, and different work environments. The tool for one person may not be the best tool for another, and as we get older we just can not do the things we could do when we were younger, and then tools and techniques will change. It's life.

Do I have a track saw? Yes I do. I have two of them. A set of EZ rails for my Makita 7 1/4" and 8 1/2" Milwaukee worm drive, and I have the Festool TS-75.
The EZ rail and base "steals" about 3/4" of depth of cut form a saw. the Festool does not. Which is why I have both.
Do I need them? Not really, I've known how to make a guided edge for a circular saw for a long time now. Not as elegant, efficient, or easy to use, as either of the tracks I have, but fully functional. The TS-75 has been very handy on multiple occasions. I have limited time to work on projects, and find that I no longer want to spend hours, or a full day making jigs. The track saws buy me time.
Why do I have them? One reason is that my house was built in 1921. The studs and joists in this house are rough cut 2x's, and they are 2" thick and 4",6",8" and 10" wide. No "nominal", standard, 2x's for me. I cannot buy a 2x at a box store, I have to buy the next size up, and rip it to width. My garage and barn are the same way.
Another reason is that I do not have the luxury of a second set of hands, and my shop space is limited. A track saw bridges these gaps safely for a person that works alone.
I can easily see that a professional, that runs a shop for a living, would have limited use for a track saw, but for a person working alone, in their garage, it opens up possibilities. ( I had a 2" thick, 17' long, long, 36" wide slab of Padauk I was working with. Having a track saw definitely made it easier and safer for me to work with material this size alone.) I tend to start with big, long, heavy boards, and mill from there. A track saw allows me to control more of the material aspect of a project.

I don't consider myself a "serious woodworker", just a guy that has some talent, and like to push things a bit.

[Jim Dwight]

Prashun,

You did not discourage me even a little nor was my last post in response to yours. You expressed a sentiment that others have expressed, if anything, more forcefully. I just felt like I needed to be clear I'm not in a position to talk down to anybody, but I found something out I think will help others.

I found this document interesting - hope the link works. This guy makes furniture for a living, mostly of solid wood, and really likes using a tracksaw. Often to guide his router. Works against the mindset that a tracksaw is mainly or only for breaking down sheet goods:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...94455598,d.b2w

If the link doesn't work, try googling something like "getting the most out of your MFT".

[John Sincerbeaux]

I had been a WW for many years when I heard a great quote from a "Serious Woodworker".
"There is an inverse relationship between the size of the tool and the size of the wood". I think the utility of a track saw illustrates this perfectly.