Establishing first straight rip with bark

[Brian Holcombe]

He’s saying that if you have a sliding table saw, you can clamp the board on the trolley and cut a square edge. If you don’t own one or have no plans to buy one than it’s probably neither here nor there.

[Jim Becker]

:-) you explained the bit I understood... The part I didn't get was "unless you have a sliding table saw with a minimum of about 2100mm/80" of cut stroke."

"As long as the wagon on the saw you use has a cutting capacity of at least the length of your board(s), you can rip a straight edge easily and safely"...ie, the saw has to be large enough/long enough to do the cut on the entire board.

[Allan Speers]

Try this type of jig


https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodwor...ge-cutting-jig

Or a miter sled, plus clamps, which is basically the same idea.
I no longer have my Unisaw, but I used to use this Incra model & loved it:

https://www.incra.com/miter_gauges-miter5000.html


A tracksaw is also a good idea, but you'd want to make the top & bottom surfaces as flat as possible, first. otherwise (obviously) you won't get an even 90º cut.

[Dave Cav]

Try this type of jig


https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodwor...ge-cutting-jig

If you just have a few boards you can take this idea and simplify it by just nailing a long, straight board or piece of plywood to your stock and put the board against the fence. Don't overthink it. The chalk line idea works fine, too.

[Tom Bender]

Yes, nail (or tape) a straight board on top and run it thru the saw. This also helps with the unflatness issue and doesn't commit you to storing a dedicated jig.

[Rod Sheridan]

"As long as the wagon on the saw you use has a cutting capacity of at least the length of your board(s), you can rip a straight edge easily and safely"...ie, the saw has to be large enough/long enough to do the cut on the entire board.

Sort of😀

I have an 8 foot piece of ply with the “T” moulding underneath to fit the sliding table on my saw.

It increases the straight line rip capacity from 50 inches to over 8 feet......Rod.

[Pete Staehling]

It depends on the length of the piece and my mood at the time. I often use a jig like Doug mentions for shortish pieces. I have used a chalkline and bandsaw or circular saw, sometimes run over the jointer afterwards or touched up with a hand jointer plane.

I also have a nice aluminum two piece saw guide/straightedge that is 8' long that I inherited from my dad. It works great for jobs like that when used with a circular saw if i remember to use it. Most often I forget it is there.

[Jim Becker]

Sort of

I have an 8 foot piece of ply with the “T” moulding underneath to fit the sliding table on my saw.

It increases the straight line rip capacity from 50 inches to over 8 feet......Rod.

Yes, that's an option for shorter stroke sliders.