Are these saw guides any good?

[ss]

[John Rumm]

At that price, certainly worth a look....

[David Lang]

All you need is a 'sawboard. Much better and costs next to nothing.

GIYF.

[Dave Liquorice]

1

You need to know the offset of the blade each side of the kerf so you can get it in the right place. It also looks as if the edge is raised a distance above the work so aligning it to a mark on the work won't be straight forward. With the guide bar on the top of the work the handle points down so the work needs raising up by at least that much but perhaps the locking handle can be rotated to it locks above the work (and get in the way of the saw...).

Things that the D-I-Y saw guide (board) doesn't suffer from:

The saw board is specific to a single saw but that probably isn't a big issue for the DIYer. Doesn't have to be 8' long I have one about

3'. Clamping the saw board is not as simple as it could be, I wondering if one of these could be combined with the lower part of a saw board.

[stuart noble]

I would want it to be at least long enough to crosscut an 8x4 sheet.

My solution has always been a home made T-square and a couple of c-clamps because mostly I don't mind the saw base running on the workpiece. I quite often just grab a length of contiboard for long cuts. Main thing is to have a spacer about your person that is precisely the distance between the saw base and the blade (in my case that is a 6" piece of white hardboard that I've somehow managed not to lose).

[David]

Bought a similar one years ago but found it to be of little use.

Mainly, I think, because it clamped to the edges of the sheet which didn't give much purchase, especially on thin flexible sheets.

IIRC there was some interaction between the offset on the saw teeth and the metal of the clamp, but I haven't tried to use it for a while.

Mostly I use a straight edge of wood, clamped to the surface of the piece to be cut, and then use a circular saw. Even with a hand saw, clamping to the top/bottom of the work piece is far more effective than clamping to the edge.

Looked a good idea, but didn't suit me.

YYMV

Cheers

Dave R

[newshound]

+1 for sawboards. I have a pair, 4 foot and 8 foot.