Paid my obligatory visit to the Toronto Woodworking Show out at the
International Centre yesterday.

In particular, I focused a great deal of attention on the DeWalt and Festool
track saws. I *was* gratified to see one vendor demonstrating Festool
machinery considering the (to date) apparent lack of Festool attention on
the Canadian market. And, as I was told, there are more vendors about to
offer Festool products in Canada.

Since both vendors had sample pieces of veneered cabinet grade plywood on
hand, I asked for and received demonstrations of crosscutting with both the
DeWalt and Festool track saws. Both produced decent tear out free edges (90°
+ 45° cuts) with what I'd call finished edges equal to anything I could do
on my tablesaw with a 60 tooth carbide tipped blade. As to comparison, I'd
say they're pretty well matched capability wise. The main differences would
be the much higher price of the Festool products. Conversely, the benefit to
the Festool line is that it's an entire system with many of their tools
being able to work together. So, it comes down to price versus convenience.

More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the works
when I'm building something. So, the convenience and versatility of a track
saw often comes to mind more frequently as I progress. Aside from a few
functions like dados and such, I'd offer up that a track saw with suitable
lengths of track, negates the need for a table saw and even more so with a
panel saw. A big side benefit is that a track saw with the use of a
connected vacuum, products much less mess than any tablesaw. The only thing
a track saw really does need, is suitable table space to use it.

Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.

Upscale wrote:

More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the
works when I'm building something. So, the convenience and
versatility of a track saw often comes to mind more frequently as I
progress. Aside from a few functions like dados and such, I'd offer
up that a track saw with suitable lengths of track, negates the need
for a table saw and even more so with a panel saw. A big side benefit
is that a track saw with the use of a connected vacuum, products much
less mess than any tablesaw. The only thing a track saw really does
need, is suitable table space to use it.

Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.

Recently my el-cheapo Skil circular saw got together with an Emerson cutting
guide, and even without using the mounting plate which really locks the saw
to the cutting guide I trimmed the edges of some laminated pine so straight
and so clean that with a bit of sanding and some stain I had a wooden
bookmark less than a 16th" thick for my wife, stamped her name into it too,
big bonus points. If such a primitive setup can produce results like that,
the mind boggles at what Festool's track saw setup can do.

On Mar 1, 1:39*pm, "Upscale" wrote:
Paid my obligatory visit to the Toronto Woodworking Show out at the
International Centre yesterday.

In particular, I focused a great deal of attention on the DeWalt and Festool
track saws. I *was* gratified to see one vendor demonstrating Festool
machinery considering the (to date) apparent lack of Festool attention on
the Canadian market. And, as I was told, there are more vendors about to
offer Festool products in Canada.

Since both vendors had sample pieces of veneered cabinet grade plywood on
hand, I asked for and received demonstrations of crosscutting with both the
DeWalt and Festool track saws. Both produced decent tear out free edges (90°
+ 45° cuts) with what I'd call finished edges equal to anything I could do
on my tablesaw with a 60 tooth carbide tipped blade. As to comparison, I'd
say they're pretty well matched capability wise. The main differences would
be the much higher price of the Festool products. Conversely, the benefit to
the Festool line is that it's an entire system with many of their tools
being able to work together. So, it comes down to price versus convenience.

More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the works
when I'm building something. So, the convenience and versatility of a track
saw often comes to mind more frequently as I progress. Aside from a few
functions like dados and such, I'd offer up that a track saw with suitable
lengths of track, negates the need for a table saw and even more so with a
panel saw. A big side benefit is that a track saw with the use of a
connected vacuum, products much less mess than any tablesaw. The only thing
a track saw really does need, is suitable table space to use it.

Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.

****! Was that this weekend??

Robatoy wrote:

On Mar 1, 1:39Â*pm, "Upscale" wrote:
Paid my obligatory visit to the Toronto Woodworking Show out at the
International Centre yesterday.

In particular, I focused a great deal of attention on the DeWalt and
Festool track saws. I *was* gratified to see one vendor demonstrating
Festool machinery considering the (to date) apparent lack of Festool
attention on the Canadian market. And, as I was told, there are more
vendors about to offer Festool products in Canada.

Since both vendors had sample pieces of veneered cabinet grade plywood on
hand, I asked for and received demonstrations of crosscutting with both
the DeWalt and Festool track saws. Both produced decent tear out free
edges (90° + 45° cuts) with what I'd call finished edges equal to
anything I could do on my tablesaw with a 60 tooth carbide tipped blade.
As to comparison, I'd say they're pretty well matched capability wise.
The main differences would be the much higher price of the Festool
products. Conversely, the benefit to the Festool line is that it's an
entire system with many of their tools being able to work together. So,
it comes down to price versus convenience.

More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the works
when I'm building something. So, the convenience and versatility of a
track saw often comes to mind more frequently as I progress. Aside from a
few functions like dados and such, I'd offer up that a track saw with
suitable lengths of track, negates the need for a table saw and even more
so with a panel saw. A big side benefit is that a track saw with the use
of a connected vacuum, products much less mess than any tablesaw. The
only thing a track saw really does need, is suitable table space to use
it.

Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.

****! Was that this weekend??

Over at 5pm tonight, you better hurry.
;-)
--
Froz...

2 feet longer than a d00tchie.

On Mar 1, 4:23*pm, FrozenNorth
wrote:
Robatoy wrote:
On Mar 1, 1:39*pm, "Upscale" wrote:
Paid my obligatory visit to the Toronto Woodworking Show out at the
International Centre yesterday.

In particular, I focused a great deal of attention on the DeWalt and
Festool track saws. I *was* gratified to see one vendor demonstrating
Festool machinery considering the (to date) apparent lack of Festool
attention on the Canadian market. And, as I was told, there are more
vendors about to offer Festool products in Canada.

Since both vendors had sample pieces of veneered cabinet grade plywood on
hand, I asked for and received demonstrations of crosscutting with both
the DeWalt and Festool track saws. Both produced decent tear out free
edges (90° + 45° cuts) with what I'd call finished edges equal to
anything I could do on my tablesaw with a 60 tooth carbide tipped blade.
As to comparison, I'd say they're pretty well matched capability wise.
The main differences would be the much higher price of the Festool
products. Conversely, the benefit to the Festool line is that it's an
entire system with many of their tools being able to work together. So,
it comes down to price versus convenience.

More often than not, I have 4x8 sheets of plywood somewhere in the works
when I'm building something. So, the convenience and versatility of a
track saw often comes to mind more frequently as I progress. Aside from a
few functions like dados and such, I'd offer up that a track saw with
suitable lengths of track, negates the need for a table saw and even more
so with a panel saw. A big side benefit is that a track saw with the use
of a connected vacuum, products much less mess than any tablesaw. The
only thing a track saw really does need, is suitable table space to use
it.

Most definitely, they're worth the money in my opinion.

****! Was that this weekend??

Over at 5pm tonight, you better hurry.
;-)
--
Froz...

2 feet longer than a d00tchie.

Even the Bi-Turbo can't handle that. ;(