Finally tried a different way to cut my drawer fronts and it saved me hours

For years, I've been cutting all my drawer fronts on the table saw with a crosscut sled. It was fine, but I always had to clean up the edges with a block plane after. Last week, I had to make 24 identical fronts for a kitchen job. I decided to try using my track saw with a fine-tooth blade and a simple stop block setup on my bench. The difference was huge. The track saw left a much cleaner edge right off the cut, almost no tear-out on the plywood core. I didn't need to plane a single piece. What would have taken me a full afternoon of cutting and planing was done in about two hours. The track saw was just quieter and easier to handle for this one job. Has anyone else switched up their drawer front method and been surprised by the results?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry5971mo ago

I get the router idea, but that just adds another setup and a bunch of dust collection. For simple straight cuts on sheet goods, a good track saw is hard to beat. It's one tool, one cut, done. My table saw sled collects dust for jobs like that now.

jaken2327d ago

Track saws are gold for sheet goods. I switched to a track saw for drawer fronts a couple years back and never looked back. The key for me was a good fine tooth blade, like a 60 tooth, and using a fresh piece of hardboard under the work to prevent the blade from chipping out the bottom edge. I still use my table saw for small stuff but for long runs like that track saw is way faster.

richard5811mo ago

Nice! I switched to a router with a pattern bit and it was a total game changer for me too.