Cutting Guides' Review?

[radhak]

Recently (maybe couple of months ago) some woodworking magazine had a comprehensive review of all the 'cutting guides' in the market, from the pricey Festool to cheaper $30 ones (eg : http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16448) . Does anybody remember which magazine/issue it was? I am very sure I have that particular issue, but with all the mags I have accumulated, I am unable to dig it out !

I am hoping to buy something relatively cheap but somewhat reliable to rip 8' plywood. I currently use a home-made plywood edge, but am tempted by the self-clamping ability of most of these clamps in the market, instead of having to fiddle with clamps at each end.

I am hoping to see which of these guides allow for cutting a range of length from 24" to 48" to 96" with minimal deflection in the middle. I am not sure the rockler piece above allows for more than 50" (ie, by combining two such).

[LarryG]

WOOD Magazine, issue 165, from Oct 2005.

And no, you cannot combine two of the Rockler guides to get a longer cutting length (well, not unless you cooked up some sort of homemade bracket to join them together, I mean).

[radhak]

Wow, that was quick! Thanks, Larry. Yeah, I had suspected the Rockler had a fixed length, seeing that they are selling shorter pieces too. I shall hunt up that issue and check the others.

Oct 2005, huh! My memory playing with me, I think!

Btw, that was really fast retreival - so do you have a great memory, or do you have a superior way of cataloguing all magazine articles?

[Stormbringer]

Your reference to "recently" leads me to believe your referring to the Fine Homebuilding Oct/Nov 2006 which was on newstands at the end of August.

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...fh_182_092.asp

I can't agree with their review of the All-In-One by Emerson since they mentioned it only comes in 50" length and that there is flex midstream. They're wrong on both counts. I have all sizes up to 100" (there's one that goes to 144" and there is zippo flex. Maybe they hit 'em hard b/c they don't buy advertising from them? I think they are great for what they do.

Greg

[scorrpio]

Have to say, FHB gotta find a better search engine. 'circular saw edge guide' search yields the article in question - but 'circular saw guide' does not? Go figure...

[lcm1947]

I too have looked at various ones off and on and off and on, etc but never really felt they would cut any better then a home made one and that is free. Well more or less anyway. Now the Festool might be the exception but they cost as much as my 3100 TS cost. Well actually more since I paid $199.00 for it. Course I never have to cut a full sheet down either. Whoever I buy it from does that and I cut from how I had them cut it depending on what I'm building. Now I thought about having one to cut larger pieces like 2x4's since I still don't feel comfortable cutting that size on the TS but wonder if any of these edge cutting rigs could actually cut it straight enough or better then my home made ones. If so I would too love to hear which one or ones, besides the Festool that is. Anybody?

PS. Would it be worth paying to download the article above? In other words anything to make me change my mind?

[JimD]

I bought a copy of that Fine Homebuilding magazine largely to get that article but then decided, again, that my homemade guide is all I really need. A couple of pieces of luan glued together with one wide enough that when you use it the first time it cuts the guide right where the saw is - no measuring of offset. I have a couple for my 18V Ryobi for little stuff and 2 for my Milwaukee. 50 inches to cross cut plywood and 8 feet for long cuts. Maybe I could get a teeny bit more accurate with one of the better commercial guides but I mainly use them to break down sheet goods for final cutting on the BT3100. Even the $125 for the Hartville seems better put towards wood than a guide to replace a perfectly servicable guide I already have.

Jim

[radhak]

Your reference to "recently" leads me to believe your referring to the Fine Homebuilding Oct/Nov 2006 which was on newstands at the end of August.

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...fh_182_092.asp

I can't agree with their review of the All-In-One by Emerson since they mentioned it only comes in 50" length and that there is flex midstream. They're wrong on both counts. I have all sizes up to 100" (there's one that goes to 144" and there is zippo flex. Maybe they hit 'em hard b/c they don't buy advertising from them? I think they are great for what they do.

Greg

Ok, so looks like I have a choice of 2 reviews to look at. Lemme see if i have both. (yeah, i am a pack rat when it comes to magazines, and can never resist a good ebay offering of mags).

Good to have at least one personal opinion about one of the contenders. Thanks Greg. Many-a-times I have found reviews to be a bit 'detached from reality' to be taken at face value, though i have not thought of the motives behind it.

I like the ones that say 'after using the saw for cutting 2 panels, my arm felt tired enough for me to need a break'. Makes me feel the reviewer actually used the tool.

[radhak]

Having now re-read both the reviews (referred above), I have to agree that I do not feel an urge to rush out and buy any of the guides. The inbuilt clamps still beckon, but by the time I am done buying the bases for the Circular saw and the Router, I would not be able to justify the total money spent. (Allow me to correct myself - I do feel the urge, but my cold, hard wallet stops me )

So lemme try and fix my current 'edge guide' :

My only beef with the home-made plywood-guide is that my CS has an irresistible tendency to wander. Each time I end a cut with just a minor 'wander' from the straight line, I heave a sigh of relief. What do you guys do to get an absolute straight cut?

Is it my technique, or do I need a more stable cutting table? (I lay a couple of 2x4s on the ground to support the plywood - not always succesfully)

[LarryG]

What do you guys do to get an absolute straight cut?

Concentrate. There's also a special way you need to hold your mouth.

Circular saws are carpentry tools, not fine woodworking tools, and as such they are not as accurately manufactured as a woodworker would generally like them to be. It's not at all unusual for a circular saw's base to have a relationship to the blade that is only vaguely related to parallel ... which means that the very act of using the saw will induce it to wander since you're constantly fighting the blade's tendency to pull the saw off course. Sometimes you can easily correct the base's alignment, sometimes not.

My CS (a semi-antique Skil 77 worm drive) cuts pretty straight but even so, I virtually never try to break down sheet goods into panels of actual, finished size. Instead I cut them oversize and take them down to final size by other means (table saw, flush-trimming with a router, etc). In the rare instances I do have to break down a sheet directly to its final size, I use a router and a 1/4" straight bit.

[radhak]

Concentrate. There's also a special way you need to hold your mouth.

And your face - the one rare occasion LOML was watching, I put mine too close to the CS (to monitor the cut's progress) and was inundated by sawdust

... I use a router and a 1/4" straight bit.

I have heard of that - so is it easier to tame the router from wandering?

[LarryG]

I have heard of that - so is it easier to tame the router from wandering?

That's part of it, yes. The bit is rotating in a horizontal plane rather than vertical like a CS blade. Given the proper feed direction, the rotation of the bit will always be trying to pull the router tighter against the guide ... IOW, it'll actually be helping you maintain a straight cut. Also, the circular base on most routers means you'll only be holding the tool against the guide at one point. (This, incidentally, is why I dislike routers with flat sections on their bases. They look like they'd be easier to guide accurately but they're actually more difficult.)

Another reason I'll sometimes use a router is because a good sharp bit will typically yield a smoother cut than the average CS blade (or maybe I should say, the average CS blade that I am likely to have laying around). This is usually a side effect of needing to take the panel directly to its final size. As stated, I usually break down 4x8 sheets into smaller panels that I can handle on the table saw. If the cut-down panel will still be too large for me to deal with at the TS -- either because I almost always work alone, or because of the limited room in my little shop -- I'll use a router to cut it down directly to its final dimensions. A 1/4" bit wastes about twice as much material as a saw blade but if you consider that I might rough-cut a panel using the CS anywhere from 1/2" to 1" oversize, I actually come out ahead.

[radhak]

A beaut of a 'mini-class'. Thanks for the detailed explanation, Larry.

[scorrpio]

My only beef with the home-made plywood-guide is that my CS has an irresistible tendency to wander. Each time I end a cut with just a minor 'wander' from the straight line, I heave a sigh of relief. What do you guys do to get an absolute straight cut?

Is it my technique, or do I need a more stable cutting table? (I lay a couple of 2x4s on the ground to support the plywood - not always succesfully)

Looks like your baseplate edge is out of parallel with blade. When front of blade is further from edge, the saw will keep pulling away from guide. If back is further, the saw will pull into the guide - shifting it if not clamped real tight, or either binding or making a ragged cut. Tune the saw to parallel. My old Rockwell CS baseplate attaches with screws, and can be adjusted. If your plate is not adjustable, you might need to sand the edge till it is parallel to blade. Or, you can make a sub-baseplate.

[siliconbauhaus]

There was a nice cross cutting jig in the latest shop notes which I could be tempted to build. It doesnt help on ripping though