: I am trying to saw some 1/4 oak for bending my coaming. . .

I'm not a big fan of those ripping guides. I prefer using a straight edge, and then running the edge of the saw's base along that straight edge.If your stock is too narrow to clamp a straight edge to it, then attach it to some wider scrap--a wide board or a piece of plywood will do. You can use small screws, brads, staples, or a couple drops of hot-melt glue to hold the oak in place.

I use my sabre saw for straight cuts often enough to invest the time inm making a dedicated jig to assist with the task.

I start with a piece of 1/4 inch plywood and freehand cut off a 6 to 8 inch wide piece from one factory edge. I use glue and brads or staples to attach that to a oiece which is roughly 12 inches wide. On my sabre saw the blade is about 1 3/4 inches from the left side of the saw base. With two of the rough-cut edges aligned, the factory-straight edge on the thinner piece is about 2 inches from the remaining rough edge.

I turn on the saw and slide it along this stack of plywood, guiding the base along the straight, factory edge of the plywood. I end up with a neat, straight, newly-cut edge parallel to that. The new edge is spaced exactly the same as the distance from the base to the edge of the sawblade. Now when I need to make a straight cut, I just lay the edge of my jig on the line I wish to cut, and I know that the guide strip is properly spaced.

Again, if I'm cutting material which is too narrow to clamp my guide to, I need to fasten the material to some intermediate base, and sometimes cut through both that base and the material I want.

Hope this helps

PGJ