Large Scale Central

How to rip things

Tools and Tips
#1

… remember that 2x6 TREX in 16 ft lengths I ordered. Well guess what, time to rip the strips of those puppies. Question was: HOW without moving the table saw to the house? Soooooooo I thought about the basic problem a) the strips need to be uniform (within reason :wink: ) b) the job should be a one man operation c) as little additional tooling as possible. Then it was EUREKA! Instead of a fence on the table saw I’d install a fence on my circular saw and the rest would be history. Only additional part required two extra saw horses. There is always enough use for them. the fence is 3/4" from the blade

Mark accordingly, easiest done by using a 3/4" board as a spacer

Attach a 1x1" Alu-angle profile

Mark, drill the holes, insert screws, lock washers and nuts. Time to test run!

SWMBO noticed all the waste material; one look, one comment: perfect woodchip loads for the gons. How do you like that, eh!?! :wink: :smiley: :wink: Oh yeah, I’ll’ need to pick up a new blade tomorrow, I believe I used the old one for scoring concrete to get precise splits with my masonary chisel. Done that on flagstone, too. Old carbide blades are pretty good for that, but not much use after. :lol:

#2

Get two or three blades. TREX chews up blades pretty fast, too.

#3

Didn’t your circular saw come with an adjustable rip fence? Your fence is probably more accurate because of the length, but I have pretty good luck with the stock fence on mine.

#4

H-JM, why didn’t you put the fence on the other side of the blade so you would have the extra stability? IMWTK??

#5

I mounted it on the side where the construction of the base plate was sturdier. Snugging the alu-angle up against the material i.e. no gap on top, provides nicely square conditions. :wink: :slight_smile:

Follow-up on the inexpensive carbide sawblades: went to HD to get two more of the $8 items, hmmmmmmm so what are these and what’s the price? “These” are 7 1/4" sawblades, 24 carbide tipped teeth made for HD under an obscure name. Went for the price check: $ 2.99 each. Bought three, that to me is a better throw-away price than the $8. What remains to be seen is how well they stand up on the next order of TREX.

#6

Neat idea! I’ll file that away for future reference – could be handy since I don’t have a table saw.