Meeting people is the best part of any Woodworking in America. This past year I had the pleasure of meeting Craig Ursell of Affinity Tool Works. Affinity Tool Works represents the Tormek, Bora, Dtec Diamond Blades, Footprint Tools, Lynx, Pax and Fish Drill Bit brands. At Woodworking in America, Craig and his staff were showing off the Tormek sharpening system.
After Woodworking in America, Craig sent me a 50” Bora Clamp Edge Wide Track to try out.
Like the standard Clamp Edge, the Clamp Edge Wide Track works as a straight edge clamping tool. It’s designed to be used as a fence that clamps onto the workpiece. Then just about any cutting tool can be run along the Clamp Edge to create a perfectly straight line. The Clamp Edge Wide Track goes a bit further though, in that it adds T-tracks that accept ¼ x 20 bolt heads so that jigs and other accessories (such as the Bora Saw Guide) can be attached. Both the standard Clamp Edge and the Clamp Edge Wide Track have pivoting clamping heads that allow them to be clamped to a workpiece at anything from a 0º to 22.5º angle relative to perpendicular from the edge of the piece.
I put the Clamp Edge Wide Track to work on a few projects. I used it as a guide for cutting Lexan for the window well cover I recently made. Though not exactly what Bora had in mind, the Clamp Edge Wide Track workled very well for this task of guiding a utility knife. The only trick was to place a piece of wood underneath the Lexan before clamping it, as the Lexan sheet itself was too thin and flexible for the Clamp Edge Wide Track to properly bite too.
I also used the Clamp Edge Wide Track as a stop for setting the fences on jigs I was making. While working on the Tin Can Caddies I had to make a jig for holding the side pieces as I used the hole saw to make the can holes. The Clamp Edge Wide Track worked wonderfully for this, allowing me to set the Clamp Edge on the line, then just hold the wooden fence tight to the Clamp Edge while I screwed it in, without having to worry about watching the line and trying to keep the wooden fence perfectly set on the line while it was being screwed in.
As the Clamp Edge Wide Track clamped tight enough to be used as a fence setting reference edge without shifting, I’m sure it can easily handle the force of having a saw or router pushed against it to ensure a straight cut. It is certainly in this role, as a straight edge to guide a cutting tool, that the Clamp Edge Wide Track excels. It is straight & stiff and quicker & easier to install than any guide rail, short of one for a dedicated track saw.It is also in this role as a cutting tool guide that I have used it the least. For you see, I already owned a track saw. Any discussion of the Clamp Edge Wide Track would be remiss if it didnt mention track saws.
If ease of use & speed are the determining factors, track saws win out by a hair. However, if cost is included in the comparison, the Clamp Edge Wide Track is the much better value. For only $56.00 (amazon.com for the 50" model) plus a saw you already own, the Clamp Edge Wide Track will quickly & cheaply make your saw cuts much straighter.Overall, the Clamp Edge Wide Track is a great clamp-on straight edge and a great value. If you already have a track saw, it may take a little while to see its non-saw guiding value, but it is there. If you dont have a track saw, the Clamp Edge Wide Track will immediately be of tremendous use. Thanks Craig for letting my try out the Clamp Edge Wide Track. It’ll continue to see plenty of use in my shop.
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| The Tormek display at Woodworking in America (thats not Craig, Im sorry I forget who that is). |
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| The Bora Clamp Edge Wide Track |
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| These T-tracks allow Bora and shop made accessories to be used with the Clamp Edge Wide Track. |
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| Cutting this Lexan sheet, the Clamp Edge Wide Track was a great help. |
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| The stacks of wood are to become a fence screwed to the sheet of MDF. I used the Clamp Edge Wide Track to align the fence as I assembled this jig. |
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| Once the adjustable head is moved snug with the piece your clamping to, just through this large handle and the Clamp Edge Wide Track grips the wood tenaciously. |
Here you can view the handle as its shaped to design paper template. Some rounding to the handle as well as the inside of the finger hole has also been completed. I prefer to drill and fit the saw screws very early into the work. 
The 12" x 3" saw plate shaped and fitted within the handle. 
To help me mark the harback mortise within the handle I prefer to use a spare length of hardback which is fitted to the toothline. The use of upper and lower hardbacks locks the external saw plate in the same parrallel alignment to that within the handle. A good method to use if you want to keep the saw plate nice and straight along the toothline. 
To clean out the hardback mortise on the handle I like to use a variety of hand tools that also include planemaker floats. 
In this photo you can see that the brassback has been cut to length, rounded off at the toe, and secured to the handle. The bottom line of the saw plate is also nice and straight. 
The shaping of the handle is also nearly completed. 
Hear you can see the final stages of sharpening the saw teeth. I chose to go for a 12 tpi. rip tooth for this backsaw. The saw vise clamping length was modified from its original 9 " to a new 23.5 " 
The final look of the backsaw. The Tas.Tiger Myrtle chosen for the handle came up a treat. I only use 0000 steel wool between each coat of wood sealer and shellac. Another unique saw to add to my collection. Regards; Stewie 
The slitting blade I was using was hss 75mm o.d. x 0.5mm thickness. The o.d. gave me an effective cut of 45mm outside the top flange of the slitting blade holder. The 0.5mm was slightly under gauge to the 0.020 inches saw plate I normally use for my backsaws. As it ended up this was ideal as I was able to slide the saw plate within the kerfed cut without having to open it up any further. I chose to use an old discarded backsaw handle for the trial and cut 2 slots well achoice from the original slot that was cut in the handle, flipping the handle over as I went. Heres the end results. 
On each side of the handle I completed 3 passes to achieve an optimum outside penetration of the area I wanted slotted. It felt quite safe to run the handle through the slitting blade while guided the handle by hand. But I would not recommend likewise to others unless you have a high quality mounting for the router, a failsafe depth adjustment lock, and a means of slowing down the operating speed of the router. Continuing on: 
The 2nd pass in the correct feed direction. 
The 3rd and final pass in an opposing feed direction. I could not feel any obvious signs of heat build up on the slitting blade after completing all 3 passes.
The final step was to insure the slot was cut to the full and proper depth to allow the saw plate correct seating within the handle. This was done by hand using a dedicated high tpi backsaw thats had the set removed. As mentioned the results were excellent with the handle slots spot on to the horizontal plane of each of the handle faces. 