Thanks for the compliments, JSands... especially for the first video I shot, back when the little red light made me forget everything
I'd have to re-watch it to see what exactly I said, but it should have been that I feel it is superior for
edge jointing. With S2S stock, it is easy to place the rail exactly where you want the edge and run it. Usually this is the one time I use the clamps since taking, say, half a kerf off the side of hard maple does try to pull the rail along with the saw to the outside of the cut. In my case, I usually then hit the edge with a plane to clean any machine marks off. Maybe that process isn't faster for a shorter board, but I'm thinking aircraft carrier jointers to joint a 6'+ board require at least 12' front to back clearance. That's a boatload
of space.
I read your question earlier, but thought to post a picture or two to explain the other benefit of the tracksaw for edge jointing. Here's a piece of QS Wenge I got this week for a project:
[attachimg=1]
Notice the QS grain doesn't go parallel the edge at all. Sure you could edge joint this to get a straight edge, but it does nothing to the skew of the grain. For this project, I need the grain dead straight to the edges. Here, the straight edge shows the angle I'd put the guide rail to rip a straight jointed edge parallel to the grain. That I think would be tricky on a jointer, even by hand planes.
[attachimg=2]
The jointer is still hugely beneficial for face jointing boards to make that S2S stock in the first place. In my case, for bad stuff, I use a planer sled. Other stock gets hit with the Jack plane until the bottom face would fully register on my planer bed, then I run it on the planer to get the top face flat, flip repeat (truthfully, I flip the board often skip planing down to keep the moisture equalized, eh, details)
