Saw guide: Eurekazone puts a new spin on cutting straight

Tools of the Trade, May-June, 2005 by Tom O'Brien

If you've ever used a site-built shooter (or shoot) board--a saw guide made of plywood for straight cuts in sheet stock with a circ saw--you know they're easier and often better than using the table saw. Eurekazone's E-Z Smart Guide 100-inch SGS-1 is a 21st century extruded aluminum version of that classic jig. I've made dozens of shooter boards over the years, but the best of them never lasted more than a few months and they couldn't do what the E-Z Smart Guide does. Nor could they do it as well.

The E-Z Smart Guide works with a sub-base that you screw with included hardware to your circ saw's shoe. The grooved sub-base then rides on rails on the guide and you're off to the races. When you're done, you can remove the base from the saw. To make the SGS-1 a full 100 inches long, you spline the two 50-inch guide pieces and secure them together with Allen screws. They hold tight and the guide is dead straight. My only complaint is that I wish there was onboard storage for the wrench, which I've already lost. You also can use the 50-inch pieces individually for shorter cuts, say across a sheet or for trimming doors.

Sheet Stock. Assembly took more than an hour, mostly because the directions were confusing, but once 1 was set up, the E-Z Smart Guide saved me from having to sub out parts of a trim job, which included built-in shelves, custom doors, and other panel work. Without the guide, getting good cuts on wide pieces of MDF in the field on a portable table saw would have been brutal. Instead, I heaved the MDF onto saw horses and quickly ripped them to size. Using the outermost of the two grooves on the sub-base also enabled me to make dead-straight bevel cuts on any shelf stock--both along the end or for full-sheet rips. And even though I used a high-quality 40-tooth trim blade, I didn't expect the cuts to be as silky smooth as a cabinet saw's--but they were darn close. Where appearance really mattered, a quick pass with a portable planer was all it took to polish the edge.

The guide's biggest advantage over a homemade shooter board is the undermount clamping system. The clamps ride in a channel on the bottom of the guide. Simply slide each clamp until it reaches the end of the workpiece, give the oversized wing nut a few easy turns, and the guide stays put. This is a smart, well-designed system.

Doors. If all I did was hang doors, the E-Z Smart Guide would pay for itself simply as a tool for trimming the bottoms. For the solid-wood doors I installed on this job, all I had to do was clamp the guide in the right place and cut. The zero-clearance blade slot prevented tear-outs. The company also makes an offset attachment that works with routers. * Eurekazone, SGS-l: $179. 732-259-9984. www.ezsmarttools.com. Circle #204.

Tom O'Brien is a carpenter and a writer in New Milford. Conn.