In practice… well, most did just that and none strayed dangerously. Ideally, the guide will stay in perfect position no matter how much you abuse it. There were also quicker options available which we quite liked with the good brands but felt a bit unsteady with a couple of the budget options we tested. Some of these were definitely harder to work than others when it came time to clamp them to the workpiece. They weren’t always 100% connected but we noticed that heavier rails tended to move around much less than the ultra-light options. We sought to balance the weight with their tendency to stay put. Unfortunately, in the real world, we found this to not be the case. Ideally, a rail would be ultra-light and stay exactly where you put it down. With clamps, you can work out to the limit of the rail with no problems and even move the rail along for extra-long cuts in most cases. We found out something unfortunate quite quickly: without clamps, the bigger circular saw guides are hard to use on smaller pieces of wood. We took into account all of the following during our decision. We compiled a list of eight different guide rails and ordered them and began to come up with the testing process we’d later use. Once we had a decent list of brands and sizes that people recommended for home use, we began to take a closer look and see, which of them people complained about the most online. If you have the ability to do metalwork in your workshop then you’ll find we cover the process to make a simple one further down. The usual answer was to build your own, but we felt that wasn’t the best option for everyone. Instead, we covertly added a couple of posts on woodworking forums asking about them. When it came down to it, we couldn’t really tell the difference with just pictures in many cases. In the end, it depends on the model you purchase, but they all have the same general line of thought behind their construction.īasically: if you want to make precise, clean, repeatable cuts then a guide rail for your saw is an excellent idea. They’re not a compensation for skill, instead, they’re something which can enhance the skill of someone who’s already good. Lastly: even a skilled woodworker is going to get a smoother cut with a good circular saw guide. We found that our reviewers who were nervous about their circular saws liked them quite a bit, they make safer positions for the hands a little bit more intuitive. They also make the saws a bit safer to operate, since there’s no danger of them pitching off to the side where the rail is located. If you’re ripping, for instance, 16” wide sheets of MDF then you’re probably used to having to make a line for each, double-checking it, and then going for each cut individually.Īnd left hoping there’s not too much deviation.Ī clamp-on guide makes repeated cuts easier. For instance, making repeated cuts of the same width becomes very easy with many of the guides that we used. In practice, the best rail guides allow for a ton of utility. We thought much the same way, but we like to pick up and check out anything we can so when it got tossed on the table we decided to go for it. And if you’re a steady hand with a circular saw anyways you’re probably used to laughing at people who think of circular saws as leaving unclean cuts. C50 50-Inch All-In-Oneīora WTX Clamp Edge and Straight Cut Guide for Circular Sawsįor many people, the use of a circular saw guide rails can seem unnecessary. 10 Straight Cuts, Easier Assembly, Why Not?Į.8 Making Your Own Rail System for Circular Saws.5 Our Testing on Circular Saw Guide Rails.2 The 5 Top-Rated Circular Saw Guide Rail.