Traditional work holding vs. MFT
I have a bench with 2 vises and work holding jigs such as bench hook, etc. Typically I build furniture with hardwood and so the bench has worked well when I need to do hand tool work. I’ve been building new kitchen cabinets for our house and invested in a Festool tracksaw for breaking down sheet goods. Excellent purchase as this has greatly simplified the task. I need to build a new tablesaw outfeed and assembly table and am considering making the top similar to Festool’s MFT. I’ve also seen YouTube examples of tables with T-tracks or dovetail tracks. I see this table primarily being used with my tracksaw but also for assembly. I’m interested to hear peoples experience with the MFT style table and T-track table. Would you now do anything different. Thank you!
Replies
There is nothing keeping you from having both t-tracks and MFT style holes both offer a number of versatile clamping and alignment options. The toughest choice may be deciding between 20mm or ¾"holes check out the accessories you think you may want before you decide.
Thank you for your comments.
I've built several Paulk style benches with both dog holes and dovetails for Matchfit clamps. I love the setup. Two go on top of sawhorses and 2 smaller ones are on small miter saw stands. One of these has a wood vise fitted. They are robust enough to hold work for planing so (I doubt if I will ever build a traditional bench) while still easily transportable for working on a house. For using a track saw, I just throw a sheet of ridgid foam on top. The first one had a T-track as well but I very seldom use this feature.
Thank you.
My current workbench set up and way of working sounds similar to yours. I have a good friend who for a living makes lots of cabinets and is quick about it and high quality. He really likes the MFT setup and is transitioning over to it. If I were making kitchen/household plywood cabinets, I would likely get an MFT for the cabient work. I would not get rid of or alter my current workbench though. Maybe related, when talking to my friend, he spoke highly of Peter Miland (spelling may be off) on YouTube regarding cabinet work. I haven't looked it up on YouTube yet but wanted to pass it along.
The YouTuber is Peter Millard. He's British and has an interesting take on cabinetmaking.
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