Track saw for cutting shoulders on tenons.

[OrangeFive]

Hi. My question is could a track saw be used for cutting shoulders on 6”x6” timber? Let’s say I had 2 pieces of timber together - so 12” wide now, could I clamp the track saw to this to cut the shoulders? Thanks in advance

 

[pe2dave]

Yes.... at some risk?
A chop saw with cut depth limiter?
A hand saw?
Even a freehand circular saw?

I could see the tracksaw slipping quite easily? Assuming you want to nibble a few cuts in, prior to chiselling out,
you'd be moving the track often... more nuisance than help? How might you fasten it down for that critical cut?

 

[OrangeFive]

Thank you. You’ve answered exactly as I thought to be honest. I do them free hand with a 9” circular saw now which works well. Chop saw is fine but the 6”x6” oak is hard to move along a few mm at a time. It just popped into my head the other night and I thought I’d ask about the track saw

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I could see the tracksaw slipping quite easily? Assuming you want to nibble a few cuts in, prior to chiselling out,
you'd be moving the track often... more nuisance than help? How might you fasten it down for that critical cut?

Why would it slip quite easily? He'd have to make/alter clamps to handle that depth, though.
Why would the track need to be moved at all? There's only one line to cut on - any other cuts to get rid of waste don't need the track.

 

[pe2dave]

@Phil Pascoe - seems we make tenons differently.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Maybe. Can you tell me why the track needs to be set more than once to cut a shoulder?

 

[pe2dave]

Maybe. Can you tell me why the track needs to be set more than once to cut a shoulder?

IMHO
Cut against the shoulder of the tenon.
Move towards the end of the piece of wood (half an inch 'ish)
Make another cut
Repeat until at the end.

Why? Simply makes chiselling out the waste quicker / easier. More so with hardwoods.

 

[Doug71]

I would start at the end and move in!

Similar to if you were then using a router to remove the waste if you come in from the end you always have a flat base under the router (I know this doesn't matter as much in the track saw scenario).

 

[OrangeFive]

Shoulder cut first for me. Flat bed for everything then

 

[Phil Pascoe]

IMHO
Cut against the shoulder of the tenon.
Move towards the end of the piece of wood (half an inch 'ish)
Make another cut
Repeat until at the end.

Why? Simply makes chiselling out the waste quicker / easier. More so with hardwoods.

IMHO
Cut against the shoulder of the tenon.
Move towards the end of the piece of wood (half an inch 'ish)
Make another cut
Repeat until at the end.

Why? Simply makes chiselling out the waste quicker / easier. More so with hardwoods.

Yes, exactly how I would do it. But you don't need the track other than for the actual shoulder cut, that was my point.

 

[Doug71]

Shoulder cut first for me. Flat bed for everything then

I would generally do the shoulder cut first as working in from the end with the other cuts I have been known to overshoot the shoulder line

If I did the shoulder cut using the track I would also use the track for the other cuts, partly so the depth was consistent but mainly because I find it awkward using a track saw off the track. I know it goes against one of the main safety features of a track saw (how it snaps back in to the guard) but I do wish track saws had a button to press which locked it at a preset plunge depth, would make them much easier to use off the rail.

 

[Ollie78]

I sometimes use a hkc 55 for doing this on rougher type work.
The crosscut fence makes it very quick and easy. I normally cut all the shoulders, then move to the end and do cuts every 5mm moving back to my reference cut, to enable quick removal of waste with a whack of a hammer and a waft of the chisel.
I also use it for setting in fencing rails in the same way.

You could feasibly use a plunge saw but it would be more awkward, the problem being the need to plunge the saw before it is properly supported by the wood being cut. The hkc is more like a normal circular saw so the blade stays out where you set it.

Ollie

 

[mikej460]

You could try this technique (also alluded to above) but using a circular or track saw with depth stop. I've done this using a roofing square as a fence, but Paul demonstrates how to do it using a tenon saw and chisel.

The Paul Sellers’ Mortise & Tenon Method | Paul Sellers - YouTube

 

[johnnyb]

when I did this I much preferred my homemade crosscut jig and a 9 1/4 saw. it makes it very easy to align the shoulders as it one where the first cut trims the jig. just make it square and I screw it in place so it doesn't shift. just freehand the wasting cuts. biggest issue was the baseplates aren't rock solid on most saws and they can change angle if you lean one way . the big triton saw made some cuts easy as the laser was pretty accurate.