Squaring boards with TS 55

[mcooley]

Hi,

Any tried and true methods people like using for efficiently squaring boards on the TS 55? I've got Curly Maple 4' long by 9" wide at 1 7/8 thickness. Surfaces are planed while edges are still rough. I do not currently have a jointer.

Thanks

 

[Nick C]

The TS 55 can handle that depth of cut. Barely. Still, that's a deep cut, in hard wood. Definitely use the 12-tooth ripping blade. Squaring? Assuming you have at least a guide rail, rip a reference edge first, square one end, rip the parallel edge, and crosscut as needed. If you have an MFT, you can use the holes for the 90deg reference. For a board this wide, I usually just clamp a guide rail to the board directly with the help of a 12" square, which is why you need that first reference edge.

 

[Tinker]

Altho I have not done it with my TS 55, I have done it using my old ATF 55 after getting both faces parallel and flat.  I always made a couple of trial cuts first as the ATF would sometimes go out of square a little more often than my TS 55. For some projects, a little out of square cut is not a disaster, but any time to pieces have to be glued together as with bookend resaw, the cut has to be dead on.  As long as the two faces are parallel before you make the rip cuts (or even cross cuts)and  the saw is squared, the boards can be squared up in all dimensions.

Tinker

 

[mcooley]

Good, thanks guys. I think I will go ahead and use the 12 tooth blade.

 

[Worm Drive]

Just a heads up, the cut quality of the 12 tooth blade isn't all that great. You will need to resurface the edge of the board after ripping.

 

[tjbnwi]

You may want to make the cut in 2 passes if you use the stock blade or the 28 tooth blade.



Tom

 

[mcooley]

Thanks again for all the info.