Track Saw for jointing?

[transatlantic]

I've seen a few videos now where people are using tracksaws for jointing an edge of a long board due to it being to long for their jointer, and was wondering if anyone here has had any luck with it? To me, it seems like it would only work if the face you're referencing the track off is perfectly flat? Which means you'd need to joint it in the first place?

In the videos, they'll start off with rough sawn boards, pass them through the thicknesser to get the correct thickness, and then joint an edge with the tracksaw.

I guess if you have a bow, it's not really an issue, but any kind of cup or twist, it is going to be an issue?

Thoughts?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Well, yes, if the board is twisted then the track will want to follow the twist, But if the board is flat, then you can get a straight edge with a track. The biggest problem I've found is the blade. The standard TS blades are fairly fine, designed for cutting sheet materials. They are not designed for ripping and rip cut only very slowly, it's hard work on the saw.
You can get rip blades for them, and they are obviously more suited to the job, but they may not have the same kerf. Mine is wider and wrecked the zero-clearance rubber strip as a result.

 

[Nelsun]

Doing one edge at a time with a track saw is always going to offer "challenges" and likely rarely give you a spot on join.

That said, I've had good results doing kerf cuts where boards to be joined are hot glued side-by-side to the bench and then running the track saw along the join. That way, so long as the gap between the boards is less than the kerf of the blade, any variances in the cut itself are mirrored along the cut/join line. You do want your boards to be flat and have the top face referencing off your bench for best results.

Or use a plane and Jedi skills

 

[Distinterior]

I've done as Nelson described on a couple of occasions. It worked fine in both instances. On both occasions, the length of cut was over 2.4 mtrs.

 

[rafezetter]

Doing one edge at a time with a track saw is always going to offer "challenges" and likely rarely give you a spot on join.

That said, I've had good results doing kerf cuts where boards to be joined are hot glued side-by-side to the bench and then running the track saw along the join. That way, so long as the gap between the boards is less than the kerf of the blade, any variances in the cut itself are mirrored along the cut/join line. You do want your boards to be flat and have the top face referencing off your bench for best results.

Or use a plane and Jedi skills

I was going to suggest the "cut down the middle of both" as well, but you beat me to it. There's also the router version of the same trick using a thin cutter.

 

[katellwood]

Well, yes, if the board is twisted then the track will want to follow the twist, But if the board is flat, then you can get a straight edge with a track. The biggest problem I've found is the blade. The standard TS blades are fairly fine, designed for cutting sheet materials. They are not designed for ripping and rip cut only very slowly, it's hard work on the saw.
You can get rip blades for them, and they are obviously more suited to the job, but they may not have the same kerf. Mine is wider and wrecked the zero-clearance rubber strip as a result.

And in my humble opinion this is where the dewalt track saw comes into its own

as it uses both sides of the track (as opposed to festool, makita et al) one side can be dedicated to a ripping blade the other a crosscut blade.

for fitting doors that need more that a couple of shavings a track saw that can rip easily and a long track is worth its weight in gold