New Woodworker - silly question

If all you do is flatwork, wood that thick would mostly be used for table legs and other parts like that. As a rule, 8/4 doesn’t show up in my shop very often at all.

-- Our village hasn't lost it's idiot, he was elected to congress.

Legs, rails on bookcases, cut to 6/4 for bed rails or just bought because it was a good deal. It is nice to have when needed, but I often glue up some 4/4.

For me it would just be for table legs or for turning. Even then most of the time it would be a glue up to reduce costs. What tools are you concerned with overbuying on?

If all you do is flatwork, wood that thick would mostly be used for table legs and other parts like that. As a rule, 8/4 doesn t show up in my shop very often at all.

- Fred Hargis

Thanks for the input. Does anything LARGER than 8/4 ever show up (even after glue up) and need to be trimmed?

For me it would just be for table legs or for turning. Even then most of the time it would be a glue up to reduce costs. What tools are you concerned with overbuying on?

- RobHannon

A track saw. :) Expensive, looking at Festool TS75, but a lot of folks are concerned with the extra heft of it. I wonder if a TS55 or Makita SP6000J will be fine for like 99% of my stuff. But since I am new, I don’t really know what “stuff” I might encounter in the future.

I wouldn’t want to be without the ability to cut over 8/4. You may not use it often but then again, you may. And even if you only need it for one project, you need to be able to cut it.

Just my $.02 ;-) YMMV

-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!

I wouldn t want to be without the ability to cut over 8/4. You may not use it often but then again, you may. And even if you only need it for one project, you need to be able to cut it.

Just my $.02 ;-) YMMV

- HokieKen

But….for that one project, couldn’t you just use your regular Circular Saw and a straight edge?

If you are doing a lot of thick solid mantle pieces you may need the extra depth, but there are always other ways to get a cut done. I have the SP6000J and the only complaint I have with it so far is every time I am ready to pull the trigger on more rails they seem to be on backorder everywhere that has a reasonable price.

Dunno what your primary focus is but I suspect the 2” cutting depth would be sufficient for the vast majority of cuts.

If you are doing a lot of thick solid mantle pieces you may need the extra depth, but there are always other ways to get a cut done. I have the SP6000J and the only complaint I have with it so far is every time I am ready to pull the trigger on more rails they seem to be on backorder everywhere that has a reasonable price.

Dunno what your primary focus is but I suspect the 2” cutting depth would be sufficient for the vast majority of cuts.

- RobHannon

I truly do not mind paying good money for great quality products. Obviously, Festool makes excellent products. My concern is this….if I was considering the TS75 (which is only $70 more than the TS55), would I ever really use the extra 0.8125” (13/16ths) of capacity?

With the track the TS55 cuts 1-15/16” deep and the TS75 2-3/4”. The Makita is spec’d to cut 2-3/16” (not 100% sure if that is with or without the track). The Makita with short track is $419, the Festool TS55 with short track is $690 and the TS75 with medium track is $820. If the costs were closer this would be a no brainer. :) Thoughts??

Only you can answer the question. If you’ll work primarily with sheet goods then no you don’t likely ever want for more saw. I’m not familiar with them but I assume the bigger saw has more power too so it would cut dense hardwoods more easily.
As with anything you have to strike a balance of cost and convenience. Sometimes a smaller tool is better, for a track saw I doubt you’ll be trying to fit it into cramped quarters and I’ve never wished a tool had less capacity outside of trying to fit into a tight spot.

I wouldn t want to be without the ability to cut over 8/4. You may not use it often but then again, you may. And even if you only need it for one project, you need to be able to cut it.

Just my $.02 ;-) YMMV

- HokieKen

But….for that one project, couldn t you just use your regular Circular Saw and a straight edge?

- PresidentsDad

Oh absolutely :-) My point was simply that I wouldn’t want to be strictly limited to stock that was less than 8/4. If you have a circular saw and straight edge and are comfortable doing it that way, I think you can live with the smaller tracksaw :-)

-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!

I have the SP6000J and the only complaint I have with it so far is every time I am ready to pull the trigger on more rails they seem to be on backorder everywhere that has a reasonable price.

- RobHannon

Where abouts do you live? I live about 45 minutes from Makita’s Georgia Plant.

Almost positive the Makita depth of cut spec without the track. The Makita and Festool tracks are nearly identical. The Makita Blade is 5mm larger than the Festool, but if you ever replace the blade you may lose those 5mm because the 160mm blades are a bit more common. I can’t think of any projects I have made where a top was thicker than 1 1/2” and any hardwood I needed to rip thicker than 2” I would either do with a tablesaw or a wormdrive circ saw and then clean up on the jointer. With a sled could easily clean up on a planer as well. If it is for a counter-top you will likely need to scribe it anyway. Tracksaws are amazing tools, but far from a shop essential. Sometimes working with the tools you have can teach you a lot more than using the best tool for the job will teach you. Now if you are making a living with these tools, get the best, right tool for the work you are doing. For a hobby you have much more flexibility to learn from mistakes.

I don’t think you are looking at this with all the considerations. You will certainly use the track saw on a lot of stuff that’s not that big….and find for that frequent use the larger saw ( the 75) is more than you really want to be handling for the job. Heck, it might even be too big for some stuff you want/need to do. I have a 55, and have never wished I bought the larger one.

-- Our village hasn't lost it's idiot, he was elected to congress.

I can justify buying extremely thick lumber (like 12/4) for cutting relatively QS drawer box sides. I have never bought 12/4 lumber for this but I think I should. The ideal board width is as wide as you can get it. The wider it is, the more straight-line grain you’ll have, and then you can cut the slab down to manageable size and then slice from the sides and there’s your QS drawer sides. You wouldn’t need anything unusual for that, any decent bandsaw would be fine.