A track saw (also called a plunge saw or rail saw) is a handheld circular saw that runs along a guide rail clamped to the material, rather than being guided freehand. The rail keeps every cut dead straight, and because the blade plunges into the material rather than only entering from an edge, a single saw handles both straight-line breakdown cuts and internal cutouts. It's the standard tool for breaking down full sheets accurately on site, without needing a table saw.
Breaking sheet goods down to size, ripping solid timber, fitting doors, and plunge-cutting sink and vent openings into benchtops and floors, all with a straight, splinter-free edge. Different Festool track saw models extend that further into cement sheet, aluminium panel, and even mild steel cutting. It's a core tool for carpenters, joiners, cabinet makers and shopfitters working across a wide range of materials on site.
The two names describe different parts of the same tool, not two different tools. "Track saw" refers to how it's guided: the saw runs along a track, or guide rail, which Festool invented in 1964 and pioneered as a system. "Plunge saw" refers to how the blade enters the material: rather than only starting a cut from the edge of a workpiece, the blade can be lowered, or plunged, into the middle of it. That's what makes it possible to cut a sink opening into a benchtop or a vent out of an existing floor, cuts a standard circular saw can't start cleanly. A Festool TS-series saw is both at once: a plunge saw because of the blade mechanism, a track saw because of the guide rail it runs on.
Five Festool track saw models cover everything from mobile site work to solid timber and mild steel up to 70mm thick. The TSC 55K packs down for site work, the TSV 60K is built for laminate and joinery, and there's a model suited to almost every trade in between.
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Blade size depends on the saw: 160mm for the TSC 55K and TS 55F, 168mm for the TS 60K and TSV 60K, 210mm for the TS 75. Beyond size, Festool's colour-coded system makes material matching straightforward: yellow for wood, red for laminate, blue for metal and aluminium.
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Joiners, kitchen fitters and cabinet makers use a track saw for exactly this: plunge-cutting sink and tap openings into benchtops, trimming laminate and melamine panels to size, and breaking down sheet stock without marking the surface.
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Rail types and lengths, adhesive pads for walls and delicate surfaces, self-aligning connectors for longer cuts, angle stops, and which saws and routers run on the rail. Everything the FS system covers, in one guide.
See the guide rail system explained →
