pcoffin59 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Hi, The front and rear slabs of my bench are laminated and have been run thru the planer. I am ready to trim the ends of the slabs square. I thought I was going to use my 10 inch sliding miter saw to saw half way thru then flip the slab to saw the rest of the way. But much to my dismay only about 3.75 inch of wood will fit under sliding head of my Makita saw. So my remaining options include an old circular saw, router, hand saw or buy something like a fancy track saw. Any suggestions? I have not had great luck accuracy wise with the circular saw. How did you trim your slabs to length? Thanks for the advice. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Have you seen Marc's workflow? He carefully scribes a line around the slab and uses a track saw... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 If you have a circular saw, you can make a guide for it. Marc has described this a few times in project videos. Here's a video by someone else that shows how to make the guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 Since you don't have a track saw, are not comfortable with your circular saw, how about a hand saw? If you're slow and careful you could get a good clean cut. I like the circular saw options above tho, with careful planning and execution, you can get a nice result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 +1 Hand saw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 ==> +1 Hand saw I'm an OK sawyer... Not great, but passable... Don't know what his slab material is, but I did mine in Hard Maple... If I hand sawed the slab, It would have taken me quite a while for clean-up... If budget isn't an issue, I'd use the bench as an excuse to get a track saw... Or upgrade the SCMS... Although, I usually wait for a honey-do project to make the, "But I needed it for your project"* excuse... *Note the use of the past tense... I'm from the, forgiveness better than permission school of relationship management... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cochese Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 As long as your circ blade is parallel to either side of the base, a simple shop-made guide will work. Anything that gets you to 90° of the long side and allows you to cut through the entire depth. Saw not true? Time to upgrade down a path of your choosing. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 I used my 10" miter saw, flipped it and cut from the other side, making sure I was a hair proud of the first cut. Then I used a flush trim bit in the router to clean up the rest. Only Spagnuolo could get two cuts from opposite sides with a track saw to line up that perfectly. We humans can't do things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMarshall Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 I also used the miter saw approach, though mine was a thinner top slab. Sounds like that's not an option for the OP. My advice: Don't buy a tracksaw just for this. Use what you already have. I'd put my largest diameter straight bit into my router, and set up a fence to get a nice 90 degree cut. Work down as far as you can from each side. If you can't get through all the way, I would roughly cut away the leftover "tenon" as close as possible to the final surface. Within 1/16" or 1/8" should be possible, with a circular saw or hand saw. To get rid of the remaining material, I'd shoot the end with a jack plane or smoother until the whole surface is flush. Throw the slab on a pair of sawhorse, with a flat piece of plywood underneath the end. Flip the plane on it's side and run it on edge. Depending on how much wood is left after the routing, a nice sharp wide chisel could also work to get rid of that last bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobcrosley Posted December 16, 2013 Report Share Posted December 16, 2013 In his budget Roubo series, Jord from Jord's Woodshop made a double-sided fence that slipped over the end of the slab and clamped down. Then he could run his saw along one side, flip the slab and run it down the other side. Here's a short video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSirIX2VUzk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I have one of the new Bosch 12" Glide Arm saw's . It cuts like a dream, dead straight and YES you can fit each slab under it and saw all the way through! Boy has that saw made my life so much easier as it takes up 1/2 depth on my track saw bench and has a HUGE cut height & depth. Bosch Power Tools - GCM12SD Glide Miter Saw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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