January 2007

PRESENTS TIPS, TRICKS & EXPERT ADVICE

ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO

TABLE SAWS

TUNE it, TWEAK it CUT like a

PRO

19 SIMPLE STEPS to a SUPERIOR TABLE Saw JIM TOLPIN’s

MAGIC

Rip Fence

BONUS: COMPLETE

7-Chapter Guide to Table Saw

MASTERY US $5.99

Cuts Tenons, Patterns, Curves!

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CAN $7.99

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Essential Guide to ON THE COVER We’ve collected 98 pages of the best stories we’ve published about table saws during the last decade and put them all here in one informationpacked issue.

Photo by Al Parrish

Table Saws

CONTENTS Getting Started: 12 19-Step Tune-up With a little elbow grease and a few dollars worth of measuring tools, you can turn your table saw into a powerful and precise cutting machine. by Paul Anthony

20 Accurate & Safe User’s Guide Armed with these techniques for clean, accurate, and – most important – safe cuts, you’ll be ready to cut with confidence. by David Thiel

Woodworking Essentials: This series of articles from a veteran woodworker and teacher covers all the bases of table saw use. From choosing and setting up your first saw to making intricate and complex joints, this guide will give you a good start and keep you headed in the right direction. by Nick Engler

12 25 Chapter 1: Intro to the Table Saw Learn what to look for when purchasing a saw, and how to choose the best saw to match your needs. Plus, discover how to set up your new saw so it runs at peak efficiency.

33 Chapter 2: Using the Saw Blade Choosing the right blade makes a tremendous difference in the ease and quality of your work. Here, you’ll discover how different tooth configurations and geometry affect the cut, as well as the details of how to make the most common cuts.

41 Chapter 3: Basic Joinery Your saw is for more than just cutting material down to size; it also excels at making joints. Engler shows you the table saw secrets to successful miters, rabbets, dados and grooves.

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continued on page 6

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contents continued from page 3

49 Chapter 4: Customize Your Table Saw Get expert advice on rip fences, featherboards, crosscut sleds and other must-have saw accessories.

57 Chapter 5: Advanced Joinery 49

Learn pro tricks to cut compound miters, plus tips for creating lock joints, finger joints and even through dovetails.

65 Chapter 6: Special Techniques With these smart setup tricks you can use your saw to make mouldings, raised panels and tapered legs.

71 Chapter 7: Advanced Techniques Discover how to make cove mouldings and cut odd-shaped parts, and make curved components for furniture.

get the most from your table saw: 81 Favorite Accessories Our editors and contributors share their alltime favorite ways to soup up their saws.

84 Tenon Jig This easy-to-make jig is a terrific way to turn out accurate tenons on your table saw. by Bill Hylton

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88 Universal Rip Fence Jim Tolpin literally wrote the book on using the table saw. Here, he shares plans for a simple fence that greatly expands the capacity of your saw. by Jim Tolpin

98 What You Must Know About Motors The secrets manufacturers won’t tell you. by Christopher Schwarz

102 Stop Rust Now Fighting rust is an ongoing battle, but these tips will help you win the fight. by Michael Rabkin

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

107 What’s New in Table Saws Discover the latest in table saws – what you can get now, and what’s on the horizon. by Popular Woodworking staff

from the editor

Passing it On May the carbide circle be unbroken. Learn all about the table saw from experts who know.

M

y father and grandfather weren’t woodworkers, but they knew how to work with wood. My grandfather was a tool and die maker, and in the 1930s, he moved a half-completed house to a lot he owned, and finished the interior, including the trim, kitchen and stairs. My dad was a chemical engineer, and in the 1950s, he added two bedrooms and a bathroom to our ranch house. Once we all had a place to sleep, he added a breakfast room and redid the kitchen. So in my mind, a table saw is a standard fixture in any basement – as important and as typical as the furnace or the washing machine. I learned how to use a table saw and other tools from my dad and granddad, as well as in the required shop classes I took in eighth and ninth grades. I was pretty typical of young men of my generation: People worked on their own houses and cars and were familiar with tools and how to use them. I learned to appreciate the vast number of tasks the table saw could perform, and in every woodshop I have worked in, one or more table saws were the heart of the shop. The world today isn’t what it was then. As we’ve gone service-based and hightech , we’ve lost this common connection to cutting things up and making useful stuff from the pieces. Those of us with an interest in woodworking don’t always have someone to look over our shoulder and show us how to do things. Without this guidance, it’s easy to fumble around, miss simple solutions or do something that isn’t safe. I learned from the experi-

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

ence of those before me, and their teaching kept me from learning from my own mistakes. With this in mind, this special issue is focused on the table saw, and we’ve included what we consider a great collection of information both for the beginning woodworker and for those with more experience. The “Woodworking Essentials” part of this publication, written by Nick Engler, was originally p u bl i s h e d i n seven installments, and is printed here in its entirety for the first time. Nick is an experienced woodworker, author and teacher. He knows his subject in a practical way, and does an excellent job of passing on his vast knowledge. Other authors in this issue include Jim Tolpin, whose book “Table Saw Magic” has been a favorite for years and is now in its second edition. Jim explains how to make and use his special rip fence that makes his saw safer, more accurate and more versatile. Bill Hylton, who shares his favorite tenon jig, is another prolific and popular author. Paul Anthony, who shows us how to tune a saw for maximum performance, has edited our “Tricks of the Trade” column for several years and pursued his own woodworking. You may not have grown up with an old-timer to show you the ropes and keep you out of trouble, but in these pages you’ll find the combined experience of many. PW

® January 2007 popularwoodworking.com Editorial Offices 513-531-2690 Publisher & Group Editorial Director Steve Shanesy Editor Christopher Schwarz ext. 1407 • [email protected] Art Director Linda Watts ext. 1396 • [email protected] Senior Editor Robert W. Lang ext. 1327 • [email protected] Senior Editor Glen D. Huey ext. 1293 • [email protected] Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick ext. 1348 • [email protected] Associate Designer Susan L. Smith ext. 1058 • [email protected] Photographer Al Parrish Contributing Editors Adam Cherubini, Nick Engler, Bob Flexner, Don McConnell, Troy Sexton F+W PUBLICATIONS INC. David H. Steward, Chairman & CEO Barbara Schmitz, VP, Manufacturing Eric Svenson, Group Publisher, Interactive Media F+W PUBLICATIONS INC. MAGAZINE GROUP Sara DeCarlo, VP, Consumer Marketing Tom Wiandt, Business Planning Sara Dumford, Conference Director Deb Westmaas, Group Circulation Director Cristy Malcolm, Newsstand Sales Supervisor production Vicki Whitford, Production Manager Katherine Seal, Production Coordinator advertising Don Schroder, Advertising Director 331 N. Arch St., Allentown, PA 18104 Tel. 610-821-4425; Fax 610-821-7884 [email protected] Advertising Production Coordinator Nancy Miller, Tel. 513-531-2690 ext. 1228 [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Subscription inquiries, orders and address changes can be made at popularwoodworking.com (click on “Customer Service FAQs”). Or by mail: Popular Woodworking, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Or call toll-free 877-860-9140 or 386-246-3369. Include your address with all inquiries. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. NEWSSTAND DISTRIBUTION: Curtis Circulation Co., 730 River Road, New Milford, NJ 07646 ATTENTION RETAILERS: To carry Popular Woodworking in your store, call 800-894-4656 or write Magazine Retail Sales, P.O. Box 5014, Iola, WI 54945-5014. Back issues are available. Call 800-258-0929 for pricing or visit popularwoodworking.com. Send check or money order to: Popular Woodworking Back Issues, F+W Publications Products, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Please specify publication, month and year.

SAFETY NOTE Robert W. Lang Senior Editor

Safety is your responsibility. Manufacturers place safety devices on their equipment for a reason. In many photos you see in Popular Woodworking, these have been removed to provide clarity. In some cases we’ll use an awkward body position so you can better see what’s being demonstrated. Don’t copy us. Think about each procedure you’re going to perform beforehand.

19-step

Tune-up For little money down and a few easy installments of elbow grease, you can turn your table saw into a powerful and precise cutting machine.

by Paul Anthony Paul Anthony is a 10-fingered woodworking author and teacher living in Riegelsville, Pa.

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PHOTO BY AL PARRISH

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o you suspect that your table saw isn’t producing the kind of quality of work that it should? Are you getting rough, burned cuts that aren’t perfectly straight or square? Does your saw vibrate or bog down? Do you suffer from “kickback anxiety?” If so, you’re not alone. The truth is that most table saws are not operating as well as they should. In fact, many miscuts and accidents are caused not by operator error, but by poorly setup, ill-equipped machines. We’re not talking about just old ones – you can’t trust a brand-new saw to be tuned up and aligned properly. But not to worry: Tuning up your table saw isn’t difficult, and it can make a world of difference in the quality and enjoyment of your woodworking. In just a few simple steps, you’ll learn how to fine-tune your saw to bring out its maximum potential. All the adjustments described here apply to portable benchtop saws, contractor saws and cabinet saws.

You might not need to perform all the adjustments we talk about in this article because you may find that in some cases, no fix is necessary. But to be on the safe side, you should perform all the checks to determine where you may and may not have problems. And please be sure to unplug your table saw before you start.

Popular Woodworking January 2007

Arbor, Bearings & Flange The first thing to check is the integrity of the blade arbor and bearings. Firmly pull up and down on the arbor shaft, then try to push it in and out. There shouldn’t be any play in the shaft, nor should there be any clunking sounds. Also, turn the arbor slowly by hand while listening for any grating sounds that may

indicate worn bearings. A loose arbor or worn bearings are unlikely except on old saws. But mistakes can, of course, happen. If your saw has this problem, you’ll have to replace the bearings to correct it – a fairly major repair. There’s little sense going ahead with the tune-up until that is fixed because you’ll get rough cuts from the resulting

ing enough pressure against the flange to ensure it will maintain contact throughout rotation, as shown on the previous page. To measure the runout, turn the arbor slowly by hand while watching the movement of the dial needle. If the runout is excessive, sorry about your luck – it’s not a simple repair. You’ll have to either live with it or replace the arbor, which is a lot of work.

Align the Blade & Table Slots For clean, accurate crosscuts, your workpiece must travel exactly perpendicular to the blade. Otherwise the front and rear teeth attack the piece at an angle – a condition called “heeling,” which results in rough cuts that may be out of square. To correct this, the miter gauge slots must be aligned exactly parallel to the blade. The easiest and most accurate way to check the parallelism is to use a dial indicator screwed to a simple shop-made, cross-shaped jig that rides in the miter-gauge slots (see “Check-

Step photos by the author

slop in the mechanism. Once the arbor is OK, check the arbor flange for “runout” (wobble caused by a flange that isn’t flat). Whatever runout exists in the flange translates to increased runout at the blade’s perimeter. For example, .001" of runout at the edge of the flange can result in several thousandths of an inch of runout at the rim of the blade. No flange is perfectly flat, but you’ll want to make sure yours is within acceptable limits. The best manufacturers aim for less than .001" of runout. To check the runout, you’ll need a dial indicator and some way to secure it in place near the flange (See “Dial Indicators” on page 15). The easiest way to do this is to use a magnetic base, but you also could screw the indicator to a length of wood clamped to your table. Remove the saw blade, then crank the blade carriage to 45°. Use steel wool to clean any crud from the flange, then position the dial indicator near the perimeter. “Pre-load” the plunger by apply-

None of the tools needed to tune up your table saw are expensive. Here I’m checking the parallelism of the fence to the miter gauge slots using a $13 dial indicator.

ing Parallelism of Blade to Table Slots” below). The jig consists of a 3 ⁄ 4"-thick crossbar glued to a hardwood runner that fits snugly

in the miter gauge slot with no side-to-side play. Wax the runner, because it needs to slide to take the mea-

checking parallelism of blade to table slots

1 Mark the blade and rotate it fully forward to pre-load the dial indicator plunger against it. Then zero out the dial indicator.

2 Rotate the blade mark to the rear, then slide the dial indicator back until the plunger rests against the mark.

3 As a low-tech alternative to a dial indicator, you can use an automotive feeler gauge to check the gap between the blade and a screw driven into the jig.

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19 -step tune- up

Ill

INTERNAL MECHANISMS OF A CONTRACTOR’S SAW Regardless of the type of table saw, the internal mechanisms are basically the same. The blade carriage consists of a pair of tilting trunnions and an arbor bracket that raises and lowers the blade. On contractor saws and benchtop saws, the trunnions attach to the saw table. On cabinet saws, they attach to the cabinet.

ustration by mary jan orit av ef e

surement. If you’re one of the lucky few whose stock mitergauge bar fits snugly in its slot, screw the dial indicator to a stick clamped to the miter-gauge’s head. Then position the dial indicator on the crossbar so the plunger is slightly pre-loaded against the blade. Raise the blade all the way. Make a mark on the blade body behind a tooth. Rotate the blade so the mark is 1" above the table. Place the plunger against the mark and zero out the dial indicator by rotating the dial face to align the “0” increment with the needle. Rotate the saw blade so your mark is 1" above the table at the opposite end of the insert. Position the dial indicator against the mark there and note the difference in measurement from the first location. The reason for rotating the blade like this is to eliminate any blade warp from the equation. A low-tech alternative to using a dial indicator is to use a roundhead screw and an auto-

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motive feeler gauge. Drive a 11 ⁄2" x #8 roundhead screw into the end of the crossbar, which should extend to within about 3 ⁄4" of the blade. Adjust the screw in or out so it’s about .005" from the blade. Using the feeler gauge, measure the gap, positioning the screw at two points as you did before. If the difference exceeds .003", you should adjust your saw for parallelism. To make the adjustments on a contractor saw or a benchtop saw, you’ll need to change the position of the trunnions, which are bolted to the underside of the table. Loosen all four trunnion bolts, leaving one of the bolts in the front trunnion snug but not tight. This is your pivot point. Next, use a plastic or rubber mallet to tap the rear trunnion bracket right or left as necessary to bring the blade in alignment with the miter gauge slots. Use a

Popular Woodworking January 2007

dial indicator to check the alignment as you go. Making the adjustment on a cabinet saw is easier because the trunnions are attached to the cabinet itself. Therefore, all you have to do is loosen the four bolts that attach the saw table to the corners of the cabinet, then shift the table by tapping it with a mallet. When retightening the bolts, snug them up gradually in turn. If you fully tighten one bolt at a time, you risk shifting the trunnions or the tabletop. Be sure to recheck the parallelism after tightening all the bolts. This can be a fussy procedure and it may take you a while to make the measurements match at the front and rear of the blade. But be patient – it’s worth it. Your cuts will improve and you should only have to do this once. (If you intend to clean the inter-

nal mechanisms of a cabinet saw, you may want to adjust for parallelism after cleaning the interior. Removing the top allows for the best access to the internal mechanisms.)

Cleaning Out the Internal Mechanisms For the easiest and most accurate operation of your saw, the pivot points, trunnions and gears need to be cleaned, lubricated and kept free of oily sawdust that can gum up the works. Begin by blowing out the interior of the saw using compressed air if you have it. If not, brush away the sawdust as much as possible. To access the internal parts on a contractor’s saw, remove the motor and lay the saw on its side or upside-down on a low bench. The easiest way to get to the guts of a cabinet saw is to

Jam nut

A long jointed board serves as a great straightedge to help you level the extension tables.

remove the saw table. But if yours is aligned to the blade, you may not want to do this. Instead, it’s probably best if you work through the access door below. You can temporarily remove the motor to get it out of the way. Use mineral spirits to clean away dirt and grease. To clean the gear teeth, I like to use a stiffbristle toothbrush, repeatedly dipping it in mineral spirits. To expose the trunnion brackets for cleaning, crank the blade carriage all the way one direction, then the other. Use a thin penetrating oil, such as WD-40, to lubricate the arbor shaft, the arbor bracket pivot and the points where the handwheel shafts enter the cabinet walls. Don’t use oil on the gears or trunnions, as it can collect sawdust. Instead, use a silicone-based lubricating spray or similar product. Graphite also works well. Avoid getting lubricant on the belts or pulleys.

Improve Extension Tables & The Throat Plate Level the extension tables using a straightedge. First flush up the joints where the side extensions attach to the table. Make sure the

far ends are level with the main table. On a typical contractor saw, the extensions are bolted to the table and the fence rails. If necessary, loosen the bolts, level the extension and retighten the bolts. The solid cast-iron extensions on cabinet saws typically are bolted only to the main

Adjust the blade angle stop by loosening its jam nut, then turning the screw in or out as necessary. After retightening the jam nut, make a test cut.

table. If an extension droops at its outer edge, raise it the necessary amount by inserting a couple shims at the underside of the joint. You can make your own shims from paper, plastic or even from aluminum cut from soda cans. If the outer edge of the table is too high, just insert the shims

inside the joint near the top edge. If you use an outfeed table behind your saw, make sure it’s set about 1 ⁄8" below the surface of the main table to prevent a workpiece from catching on it. Use your long straightedge to ensure that the entire surface of the outfeed table is parallel

dial indicators When it comes to checking the accuracy of your table saw, drill press, jointer or other machines, it’s hard to beat a dial indicator. This simple tool consists of a springloaded plunger whose in-and-out movement is indicated by thousandths of an inch on the face of the dial. It can be used to determine the concentricity of shafts, flanges, blades and drill press chucks, as well as the height of jointer and planer knives. To use the tool, fix it in place next to the part you’re measuring. A lug on the back allows for attachment to an adjustable boom arm on a magnetic base for convenient use on metal surfaces. Alternatively, you can screw through the lug hole into an appropriately sized piece of scrap wood that you have clamped in place. You don’t need an expensive dial indicator to measure most equipment. You can get a 21⁄4"-diameter dial indicator with 1" of travel for $12.95 from Grizzly Industrial (800-523-4777 or grizzly.com – item #G1479). You should get a magnetic base, too, because of its convenience. Grizzly sells a good-quality combination kit that has both a dial indicator and nice magnetic base for just $22.25 (item #G9849). It’s a small price to pay for accuracy.  — PA

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19 -step tune- up Splitter

Straightedge

Square

A 45° drafting triangle, which you can find easily and is affordable, is a great tool for adjusting blade tilt stops.

To align a splitter, place a straightedge against the teeth on the right side of the blade, then adjust the splitter side-to-side to bring it against the straightedge. You can use a small square for vertical alignment.

Replacing the stock rubber belts on a contractor saw or cabinet saw with a link belt (available from Woodworker’s Supply, 800-645-9292 or woodworker.com) can reduce vibration, as can replacing die-cast pulleys with machined ones.

to, but below, the main table. I drove 1 ⁄ 2"-diameter lag screws into the bottoms of my outfeed table legs to allow perfect leveling all around. Adjust the height of your throat plate using its leveling screws. Lay a small ruler or other short straightedge over the plate opening as you make the adjustments. Better yet, make yourself a zero-clearance throat plate. This will minimize exit tear-out and prevent narrow strips of wood from falling into the saw.

Adjust the Angle Stops Most saws include adjustable stops for setting the blade at 90° and 45°. These stops typically consist of a bolt or screw that is locked in position with a jam nut. Refer to your manual for the location of the stops on your saw. If you don’t have a manual, don’t worry – the stops should be evident when you crank the blade over. Begin by measuring cuts made on a piece of thick scrap about 18" long that you’ve dressed straight and square. This is a better initial

test than measuring the angle of the blade to the table. To check the 90° position, make sure the blade is vertical and fully cranked against its stop without using excessive pressure. Using your miter gauge, crosscut about 1 ⁄4" from each end of the test piece. Don’t simply shave a slight bit from the end, as this can cause the blade to deflect slightly, yielding an inaccurate cut. Next, check the cuts using an accurate square. Don’t trust your combination square; it’s likely not very accurate. You can buy a good 4" machinist’s square for about $10 from many woodworking supply catalogs. If neither of your test cuts are square, you need to adjust the blade stop. Loosen the jam nut on the stop and place an accurate square on the saw table against the blade. Drive the stop screw in or out as necessary to correct the blade angle, then crank the carriage against the stop again and recheck the blade angle with the square. When the stop is set correctly, tighten the jam nut. Then make another test cut. To check the 45° stop, crank

the blade carriage against its 45° stop and cut a bevel on each end of your test piece, feeding the workpiece with your miter gauge. If you don’t have an accurate miter square to check the cuts, you can place two bevel cuts together and check the resulting 90° angle with a regular square. If the bevels aren’t accurate, adjust the 45° stop in or out in the same manner as before. To set the angle of the blade, I use a 45° drafting triangle, as shown above left.

Reduce Vibration Misalignment of the arbor and motor pulleys on a contractor saw can cause vibration and power transmission loss. To check the pulley alignment, hold a straightedge against the outer faces of the pulleys to make sure they’re in the same plane. If necessary, adjust the motor position to bring them in line with each other. Don’t try to correct the problem by simply moving the motor pulley to the end of its shaft, as this can strain the shaft. Excessive saw vibration often is the result of “belt slap” continued on page 18

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

19 -step tune- up continued from page 16

After adjusting the miter gauge square to the blade, set the stop on the gauge for accurate repeatability. A sandpaperfaced auxiliary fence allows for greater control when crosscutting.

A properly adjusted fence will result in a cut with cross-hatched tooth marks. The board in front was cut with a 24-tooth rip blade. The board in back was cut with a premium-quality 40-tooth blade.

caused by the rubber drive belt’s “memory” of its oblong packaged shape. Replacing the stock rubber belts with “link” belts (shown on page 16) greatly reduces vibration on contractor saws and cabinet saws. The die-cast pulleys that are included with contractor saws can cause vibration because of non-concentricity. They can be replaced by machined steel pulleys available from most supply catalogs. Also, if your saw isn’t standing solidly on the floor, shim it as necessary to prevent rocking.

Align the Splitter A properly aligned splitter is an absolute necessity to prevent kickback, which is the primary cause of table-saw accidents. Kickback is the result of the workpiece wandering away from the fence and into the rising rear teeth of the blade, then being thrown upward, over the blade. A properly aligned splitter denies the workpiece access to the rising rear teeth, effectively preventing a potentially dangerous situation. It’s no secret that stock splitters are a pain – they don’t remove and attach easily. A variety of easily removable aftermarket split-

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ters are available for many saws and are a great improvement. Regardless of the type of splitter you use, it needs to be properly aligned. Place a good straightedge against the righthand face of the teeth, then align the splitter against the straightedge. Use a small square to ensure that the splitter is square to the tabletop, too.

Align the Rip Fence & Miter-gauge Stops For clean rip cuts, the rip fence must be adjusted parallel to the blade. Measure this parallelism using your dial indicator jig. Place the jig in the left-hand miter gauge slot, with the fence located on the right side of the jig. Bump the fence against the plunger slightly to pre-load it. Then slide the dial indicator jig to the front of the saw table and zero out the mechanism. Finally, slide the jig to the rear of the table to compare the measurements. Align the fence to the table slots using whatever adjustment mechanism your particular fence incorporates. As a test, rip a length of wood, then inspect the cut edge under a strong sidelight. The cut should show intersecting

Popular Woodworking January 2007

arcs from the saw blade’s teeth. If the arcs run in only one direction, that means your fence is not in proper alignment – it’s still not parallel to the blade. With the fence adjusted, turn your attention to your table saw’s miter gauge. For accurate crosscutting with a miter gauge, its bar must fit snugly in the table slots with no side-to-side play. The miter gauge head also must be aligned perfectly square to the blade. The time-honored trick that I use most often to correct the fit of a loose bar is to dimple its edges with a metal punch to expand the metal a bit. If you pound too aggressively, causing the bar to stick in its slot, no worries. You simply can file back the edges to fit. Once the bar fits well, just use a drafting triangle to set the head so that it is perpendicular to the blade. Then adjust the 90° stop on the miter gauge head. You also

can use the triangle to set the 45° angle stops.

Work Surface Maintenance Your saw’s table and fence rails need to regularly cleaned for optimum performance. Clean the saw table and fence rails with mineral spirits. Scrub away light rust using fine steel wool lubricated with mineral spirits. For heavy rust, use the finest grit of silicon carbide wet/dry paper possible, also lubricated with mineral spirits. After wiping away the mineral spirits, apply a coat of paste wax to the tabletop, the rails and any areas where the fence contacts the rails. Also wax the faces of the saw’s fence. After the wax hazes, buff it well with a soft, clean cloth. I’ve tried various sprays marketed as a protectant for machine surfaces and they seem to work fine. However, I’ve not found them to be any better than paste wax. PW

accurate & safe

User’s Guide The manuals don’t tell you everything. We show you how to make difficult cuts safely and easily.

by david thiel David is executive editor of Popular Woodworking Books, and former senior editor of Popular Woodworking.

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using a saw here. But we will give you the basics on safety, and proper procedures. Once the basics are in place, we encourage you to take a look at some of the books available to make sure you’re getting the most out of your machine.

10 Simple Safety Rules I realize that no one is eager to read a long discourse on using your table saw safely, but is your health (and your fingers) worth a couple of minutes? You bet. Let’s start with a quick list of the 10 most important rules you should follow whenever you use your table saw. 1. Follow the machine’s setup instructions as described by the manufacturer. 2. Set the blade to the proper height (1 ⁄ 8" to 1 ⁄ 4" higher than the wood’s thickness). 3. Stand in the proper place at the saw. 4. Keep your fingers clear of the insert plate when the saw is operating. In fact, some people paint their inserts red (if they aren’t already) to remind them where that zone is. 5. Keep scraps, tools and loose objects off the saw during operation. 6. Unplug the saw every time

Popular Woodworking January 2007

PHOTO BY AL PARRISH

D

uring a tool demonstration a while back, our staff honestly was a little bit scared and concerned to see an “experienced” woodworker rip a board by standing to the side of the table saw and push the board through sideways. We realized then that while the manuals included with table saws give you basic safety tips, the advice doesn’t always sink in, which sometimes leads to disastrous results. For the new woodworker, it’s imperative to learn the correct, safe way to use this dangerous machine – saws with a circular blade are the No. 1 cause of accidents in U.S. woodshops. Even for those who have been using table saws for years, it’s best to stop and think about the way you’re using it, rather than risk an injury. Entire books have been written on setting up and using the table saw (see “Great Table Saw Books” on the next page), so we can’t tell you everything about

you change the blade. It only takes a couple seconds. 7. Make sure that the insert plate and any table additions are level to the saw table surface. When your blade is spinning in the middle of a cut, it’s a bad time to find out that your piece is hung up on something. 8. If you’re ripping material less than 4" wide, always use a push stick. 9. No loose clothing or jewelry near the saw.

10. Work with help within earshot. If you get into trouble, can you call for assistance? What about guards? OK, we’ll admit that most guards provided with saws (a combination splitter/pawl/shield) meet the bare minimums to be called a guard. Most of these combination guards are difficult to adjust and keep adjusted, and perhaps half of the cuts that can be made on a table saw can’t be made with the factory guard in place.

Great Table Saw Books • The Accurate Table Saw: Simple Jigs and Safe Setups by Ian J. Kirby (Linden Publishing) • Cutting Edge Table Saw Tips & Tricks by Kenneth S. Burton (Popular Woodworking Books) • Jim Tolpin’s Table Saw Magic: Second Edition by Jim Tolpin (Popular Woodworking Books) • The Table Saw Book, revised ed. by Kelly Mehler (Taunton Press) • Tablesaw: Methods of Work by Jim Richey (Taunton Press)

If you can use a guard during an operation, do so. If you can afford to upgrade your saw to a more user-friendly aftermarket guard (see “Safety Tools” on page 22) it’s a great idea. In addition to guards, use safety glasses, hearing protection, push sticks and splitters. These will add safety to your saw operation.

Preparing Your Saw Before making your first cut on a new saw (or if it’s been a while since you tuned up your saw) do these following simple checks to make sure everything is ready to run: If this photo doesn’t turn your stomach, you probably need to examine the way you use a saw. The blade is too high and the hand is too close to the blade. The wrong type of blade is installed and you never, ever should make a cut freehand.

A good example of the wrong way to use a saw is what is known as “the invisible arrow.” When cutting rabbets, the cut can be made two ways: The correct way is to make your first cut with the piece flat on the table, then make the second cut with the piece on edge. This allows the waste to fall to the outfeed side of the blade. If done in the opposite order, the waste becomes trapped between the blade and the fence, and is launched backwards. If you’re standing behind the fence you can get a nasty surprise just south of the breadbasket.

• Check the blade for square to the tabletop. We keep a fairly inexpensive metal machinist’s square near the saw at all times. When you first square the blade, the set screws are adjusted to allow you to return to square easily. But after use, this adjustment can change, and it should be checked periodically. The owner’s manual will show you how to adjust this setting. • You also need to check the blade and rip fence to make sure they’re parallel to the miter gauge slots. Again, your owner’s manual provides most of the information necessary. • My dad, God bless him, used to have a saying in the shop: “It’s carbide, it doesn’t need sharpening yet!” Well, I think we all know that a sharp blade cuts more easily than a dull one. Make sure your blade is in good shape, and sharp, so you don’t end up trying to force wood through it. That’s a sure way to get hurt. For more ways to ensure your saw is performing its best, see “19step Tune-up” on page 12.

Using your Table Saw So you’re ready to raise the blade and make a cut. But how high should you raise it? For the most efficient (and safest) cut, the blade should be about 1 ⁄ 8" to 1 ⁄ 4" higher than the thickness of the piece you’re cutting. This allows the teeth to clear the cut (for more efficient performance) but keeps the blade low enough to be less of a hazard. The proper place to stand while using your saw will depend on what cut you’re making. In general, standing directly behind the blade is the more hazardous location. Speaking of standing, there are a few operations on a table saw that benefit greatly from an extra pair of hands or roller

stands. To be honest, while an extra pair of hands can be useful, it takes a skilled and knowledgeable person to assist, rather than hinder, a cut. You’re likely better off to use any number of roller stands available on the market, or to build an outfeed table that best suits your type of woodworking. Finally, before you do anything on the table saw, be rested, unhurried and think carefully about the cut before you make it. If something feels wrong or makes you nervous, there’s probably a better (and safer) way to do it. Listen to the voices in your head and your gut, and you’ll enjoy using your table saw for many years to come.

sources • Aftermarket Guards Excalibur (Sommerville Design) 800-357-4118 or excaliburtools.com Biesemeyer 800-782-1831 or biesemeyer.com • Roller Stands Delta 800-438-2486 or deltawoodworking.com Fisch 724-663-9072 or fisch-woodworking.com HTC 800-624-2027 Lee Valley 800-871-8158 or leevalley.com Rousseau 800-635-3416 or rousseauco.com Shop Fox 800-840-8420 or woodstockinternational.com Triton 888-874-8661 or tritonwoodworking.com

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user's guide safety tools Beyond the stock guards provided with most saws, more convenient and user-friendly aftermarket guards are available, for a cost. An overarm guard can be lifted away from the blade for “through” cuts that are impossible with a stock guard, but you’re still limited in height. This guard should be used with a splitter/pawl attachment. The Biesemeyer splitter version (far right) snaps into place an d requires no tools for removal. You must have a push stick. Two homemade versions are shown above right. We generally prefer the “shoe” style for added support.

You’ll also note the homemade throat insert, providing zero-clearance spacing around the blade. It’s a must to stop small scraps from slipping through the plate and getting tossed back at you.

Aftermarket Guard

Shoe

Snake

Push Sticks Push sticks are essential for thin rip cuts.

Aftermarket Splitters

The Biesemeyer splitter snaps in and out without tools.

setting up First make sure the blade and fence are parallel. (We’ll assume you’ve already aligned the blade to the miter slot as instructed by your owner’s manual.) Simply set the fence to any easily measurable distance (9" in our photo at right) and check the distance between the fence and blade both at the front and rear of the blade. If the measurements are not

equal, adjust your fence until correct. If this setup isn’t done correctly, your material can become pinched between the fence and blade (or splitter guard) and either be violently kicked back at you, or make it too hard to push the piece all the way through. If you have to force a piece through a cut, you’re doing something wrong.

Setting the Fence Parallel

kickback protection When crosscutting narrow pieces on the table saw, you’ll eventually encounter a situation where the falloff pieces begin to accumulate to the outfeed side of the blade. This doesn’t automatically create a dangerous situation, but one of the pieces could be pushed against the outfeed side of the blade and be thrown back at you. Even with the guard in place, a piece can be small enough to be kicked around between the guard

Removing Falloff – Safely

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

and blade, or tossed back. Optimally, you should stop the saw and wait until the blade has stopped spinning, then remove the offending chunks. More likely than not, it will be inconvenient to keep turning the saw off. In that case, stand out of the kickback line of fire and use a scrap piece of wood or push stick to nudge the pieces out of the way. Don’t even think about using your fingers! You can always make a new push stick.  — DT

tenons with a dado stack

tenons with a crosscut blade

Backup block

1 When cutting tenons, set the height of your dado stack equal to the depth of your shoulder (3 ⁄16" in this case). Set the fence to equal the length of the tenon you want (1" here). The backup block reduces tearout. Make the face cheek cuts first.

1 First define the shoulders on the face and cheek sides. Set the height of the blade to the bottom of the tenon and the gauge block on the fence to the length of your tenon at the left side of the blade.

Face cheek

2 Cut the edge shoulders and cheeks in the same way. If you want a bigger shoulder, increase the height of the dado stack after cutting all the face cheeks and shoulders.

3 It’s a good idea to check the fit of every tenon in a test mortise. The thickness of your tenon will vary slightly if you put less downward pressure on the tenon during the cut. If the tenon is a shade too thick, try making a second pass using more pressure. — DT

2 With a tenoning jig on the fence, set your fence and blade height to remove the waste from the face cheeks. Clamp the work securely in the jig to keep your fingers away from the blade. Don’t attempt this cut without using a tenoning jig.

3 Turn the piece 90° in the jig, clamp it down and reset the fence to remove the waste from the edge cheeks. Keep your blade at the same height from the last step. — DT

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user's guide cutting wedges Wedges are essential in every workshop. They shim machinery so it sits flat on the floor, shim cabinets as you install them and even can be used to shim inset doors and drawers for the proper reveal. Making them on your table saw is easy with this simple jig.

1

2

The jig (which you can make out of shop scraps) is essentially a push block. One layer of the push block has an angled notch cut into it. The top layer holds the work to the saw’s table. The notch on the bottom layer measures 6” long and is 1 ⁄2" deep at the back. This jig cuts wedges that have a 4° slope.

Cutting wedges is a ripping operation. Place your stock into the push block and run it through the blade. Use your left hand to support the stock on the left during the pass. After you cut one wedge, flip the board over and cut the next wedge from the other side. Continue this way until you run out of wood.

crosscutting with a gauge block

Gauge block

1

2

Making long crosscuts on your table saw is easy with your fence and a gauge block (also called stop block). First clamp the block to the fence of your saw. We use a 3"-wide gauge block. Wider is better. If something goes awry during the cut, you don’t want the work to get wedged between your blade and the fence. Be sure to clamp your block back far enough so that your work will clear the block before entering the cut. This removes a lot of potential kickback problems.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Set your fence to the length of the crosscut you want to make (don’t forget to add the width of your gauge block). Put the work against your miter gauge between the fence and blade. Push the work forward into the blade. When your work clears the blade, shift it right an inch or so before lifting it off the saw’s table. PW  — DT

WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

1

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

Intro to the Table Saw

F

ew tools have revolutionized a craft as much as table saws have changed woodworking. These saws saved tedious hand work and – beyond making single pieces – made it possible to precisely reproduce parts quickly and accurately. This affected how furniture and other woodenware was built and transformed woodworking design. The table saw first appeared in about 1800, although historians disagree on who invented it. Some credit a German craftsman, Gervinus; others think it was developed simultaneously by several different people in Europe and the United States. The story I find most interesting was told to me by the late Brother Theodore (Ted) Johnson, a Shaker scholar and member of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community in Maine. According to Brother Ted, the idea popped into the head of Sister Tabitha

Babbitt as she sat at her spinning wheel at the Watervliet, N.Y., community. (Sister Tabitha, it seems, was from an inventive family – her brother developed Babbitt metal, an alloy still used in bearings and bushings.) Sister Tabitha happened to be looking out the window at two Shaker brothers as they bucked firewood with a two-man saw. She marveled at how much more efficient her revolving wheel was than their reciprocating saw. Why couldn’t the brothers simply mount saw teeth on a wheel?

GREAT TRICK: Cutting on the Table Saw As Easy as 1-2-3-4 No matter how you slice it, there are only four steps to making a table saw cut: • Lay out the cut on the board. • Adjust the blade and other accessories for that cut. • Align the board with the blade. • Pass the wood over the saw.

She asked them, and they decided to try it. They snipped a crude circular saw blade from tin, mounted the tin blade on an arbor and fastened the arbor to a workbench. Spinning the arbor with a hand crank, they found that a circular motion cut much more efficiently than a traditional straight-line, back-and-forth motion. The brothers soon installed an improved version in a water-powered mill to cut siding and flooring to size – the first recorded circular saw in America. From these humble beginnings evolved the table saw.

TIPS & TRICKS GREAT TRICK: Before Making Your Parts, Make Test Cuts on Scraps

After you’ve made the necessary adjustments, always make a test cut in a scrap piece before cutting good stock. Measure the position of the cut on the board with a ruler or tape measure and gauge the width and depth with a dial caliper.

PRO TIP: Think Ahead Before Cutting

When laying out a cut on a board, think ahead to how you will line up the cut marks with the saw blade. If necessary, use a square to transfer the marks to a more visible or more convenient surface. Many woodworkers mark a face and an edge – they use the mark on the edge to align the stock with the blade and the mark on the face to monitor the cut as it progresses. Also, it’s best to indicate the waste side of the line so you can see on which side of the line to make the kerf.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Choosing a Table Saw

For more than two centuries, the table saw has remained a simple machine. There are only four crucial components, the same four that comprised the original invention – a table, a blade, an arbor and some means of powering the arbor. However, there have been several useful developments along the way. For example, most modern table saws have a fence and a miter gauge to guide the wood past the blade, a blade carriage to adjust the angle and height of the blade, and a blade guard to protect the operator. There are several different ways in which the basic components of a modern table saw can be arranged. The configuration of these components determines the type of saw. ■ On a benchtop saw, the motor and blade carriage are encased in the saw body. These are “direct-drive” table saws, meaning the blade is mounted directly on the motor shaft. The body may be mounted on a stand or simply clamped to a workbench. ■ The motor of a contractor saw is mounted behind the table, making it easier to disassemble the saw and transport it. The motor connects to the arbor by pulleys and one or more V-belts,

which help isolate motor vibrations so they don’t reach the blade. With more room under the table, the blade carriage can be bigger and beefier, and these big components further absorb vibrations from the saw. As a result, the blade runs smoother and truer. ■ Hanging the motor off the back of the saw is OK on an open building site where there’s lots of room, but it can take up space in a shop. The motor of a cabinet saw is mounted beneath the saw top, encased in the stand. This configuration not only saves room, it’s also better balanced. This, together with the mass of the enclosed stand, makes the tool less top-heavy and more stable. Some cabinet saws have a larger blade capacity as well. ■ New to the table saw world is the hybrid saw. Hybrid saws are essentially contractor saws with some cabinet saw features. This is most often a partially or totally enclosed base, with the motor mounted inside the cabinet. Higher performance motors (up to 2 horsepower) are also part of the package, and some of the newest hybrids from Craftsman (shown at right) are offering beefed-up trunnions that are mounted on the cabinet rather than the saw top, as is the norm in contractor saws.

A benchtop saw combines portability for a job site and features to make it functional. But the portability can be a trade-off for performance. The only reason to buy a benchtop saw for woodworking is if you need to transport it or if you don’t have the space for a bigger saw.

Splitter

Rear trunnion Drive pulley Motor

Arbor bearings Drive belt Arbor pulley Front trunnion

Arbor

Trunnion bolt

Extension table

Arbor flange Arbor bracket gear

Miter slot

Worm gear Trunnion gear Stop bolt Worm gear

illus

tr at

ym ion b

a ry

jane

rit favo

e

Saw table

Internal Mechanisms of a Contractor’s Saw Regardless of the type of table saw, the internal mechanisms are basically the same. The blade carriage consists of a pair of tilting trunnions and an arbor bracket that raises and lowers the blade. On contractor saws and benchtop saws, the trunnions attach to the saw table. On cabinet saws, they attach to the cabinet.

A contractor saw is a great first table saw for most woodworkers. The fence is more accurate, the motor is quiet, reliable and more powerful than that of a benchtop saw, and you can add hundreds of accessories to it. One catch – because the motor extends behind the body of the saw through an opening in the cabinet, it reduces dust collection efficiency. Some manufacturers are introducing a new kind of table saw for woodworkers to consider for their shop – the hybrid saw. A hybrid saw is still a contractor saw but has many features of a cabinet saw, including an enclosed internal motor. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS GREAT TIP: ‘Measure Twice, Cut Once’ – It’s Not Just a Cliché Remember the adage “measure twice, cut once” – it describes this age-old technique: Measure the cut, make a mark, then measure the mark. This takes very little effort – just an extra glance at the measuring tool before you remove it from the board.

PRO TRICK: Take Care to Set the Saw’s Rip Fence Correctly

To determine if the top of a table saw is flat, lay a level or a straightedge diagonally across the table from right front to left rear, then left front to right rear. If you can see large gaps of daylight anywhere between the table and the straightedge (the maximum amount acceptable is .004" to .008"), the table has been improperly cast or machined. Note: This is the first thing you should check if you order a saw that is delivered through the mail. If the table isn’t acceptably flat, don’t accept the shipment.

Key Components of the Saw

When purchasing a table saw, carefully match the individual features with your own requirements. Materials The materials from which a table saw is made will tell you a lot about its quality. On the better saws, the table and blade carriage are made from cast iron or anodized cast aluminum. Cast iron is considered the best material because it’s massive and wears well. Anodizing will make aluminum hard enough to resist wear, without the weight of cast iron. Table saws made from stamped steel or plastic are on the low end of the scale. ■

If you’ve found your fence to be unreliable, here’s a good trick. To position the rip fence accurately, first select a tooth. Rotate the blade by hand (with the machine unplugged, of course) until this tooth is near the front of the throat opening. Adjust the position of the fence, measuring from the inside edge of the tooth to the inside face of the fence. Lock the fence in place, then double-check the setup by rotating the tooth to the back of the saw and measuring again. Note: A framing square that is true is the easiest and most accurate measuring tool for this adjustment.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Blade Size The advertised size of a table saw is the largest diameter blade that it will accommodate. This, in turn, determines its cut-off capacity (the thickest board it will saw through). The larger a blade, the larger the cut-off capacity. It’s useful to have a cut-off capacity of at least 21 ⁄2" – this allows you to cut 4/4 and 8/4 stock in one pass, and 16/4 in two passes. However, there’s no sense in buying a saw with a blade that’s too large. Large blades require lots of power, ■

and you may not have the necessary wiring in your shop. Saws with 10" blades have adequate cut-off capacity and most can be powered with ordinary 110-volt motors. Also, there is a better selection of 10" blades than any other size. Arbor Size Most 10" saws have 5 ⁄8"-diameter arbors, so there is a larger variety of blades with 5 ⁄8" arbor holes than any other size. Some small benchtop saws have 1 ⁄2" arbors, while some cabinet saws have 3 ⁄4" or 1" arbors. As well as considering the arbor’s diameter, you should give some thought to its length. If you want to mount a dado cutter or moulding head on the arbor, it should accommodate a 3 ⁄4"-thick accessory. ■

Table Most woodworkers think the bigger the table on a table saw the better it is. Bigger tables offer more support for the work. However, bigger is not necessarily better if you have a small shop or do fine work. Pick a comfortable size rather than automatically choosing the biggest. Also check to see that the table is perfectly flat. If it is unacceptably out of true, either don’t buy the saw or demand another table. ■

Blade Carriage Because this part of the saw will see the most stress, it should be made from massive, well-machined components. Avoid saws with carriages made from stamped steel or plastic components; these often flex under a load. This, in turn, can play havoc with the accuracy of your saw cuts. ■

Horsepower The power you need is determined by the type of woodworking you do and the diameter of the blade on the saw. Needless to say, the lighter the work and the smaller the blade, the less power you need. If you own a 10" saw and the jobs you do vary between light and heavy, the saw should have a motor rated for at least 11 ⁄2 hp. The general rule of thumb is that benchtop saws should be 3 ⁄4 hp to 11 ⁄2 hp, contractor saws should be 11 ⁄2 hp to 2 hp, and cabinet saws should be 3 hp to 5 hp. ■

Motor Type In addition to the horsepower of the motor, you should also be concerned with the type of motor, especially when buying a benchtop saw. All direct-drive saws have universal motors, similar to those in hand-held power tools. Universal motors are OK for jobs that can be accomplished quickly, but they won’t stand up to continuous use. A table saw should have an induction motor. ■

Drive As mentioned earlier, belt drive is better than direct drive because a V-belt helps isolate motor vibrations from the running saw blade. ■

Fence The rip fence is the Achilles’ heel of every table saw, even on the high-quality machines. Trying to make a piece of furniture with a fussy or inaccurate rip fence is just asking for trouble. There ■

are two common types of fences that should help you improve your accuracy. Benchtop fences lock at the front and back of the saw and can be difficult to align to the blade. Contractor saws also can use front- and rear-locking fences, though they can interfere with outfeed tables. The most accurate and convenient fence is the front-locking T-square fence, which locks only at the front rail of the saw, is dead-on accurate and is easy to align and set up. (Editor’s Note: We talk more about fences in Chapter Four, which starts on page 49.) Slot Miter Gauge The most important part of the miter gauge is the bar or guide. The bar should be solid, machined steel. Avoid poorly machined gauges – they won’t provide accurate results. Many woodworkers prefer T-shaped slots and bars because the slot holds the miter gauge bar flat on the table at all times. ■

Rip fence (T-style)

Miter gauge

Extension table

Blade guard

Front fence rail Motor cover Blade bevel wheel Blade height wheel

Dust collection port

Cabinet saws are a lot like contractor saws, except they are enclosed. Everything is beefier (and generally better) but it’s also more costly. One other significant difference is that the trunnions, blade and motor are mounted on the cabinet rather than to the saw’s top. This adds stability and reduces vibration. Cabinet saws can be used all day, every day, and provide decades of service. Instead of an open stand, cabinet

Power switch

saws feature a steel cabinet, enclosing the motor and trunnions, which adds weight and improves dust collection. The motor is bigger, is enclosed inside the cabinet and turns the blade using multiple V-belts, so cabinet saws can actually take up less space than contractor saws. But all this comes at a price – an entry-level cabinet saw starts at about $1,000, but you could spend more than $2,000 in a heartbeat. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS PRO TRICK: Miter Gauge Angles can be Tricky to Get Right

Some table saws are now available with miter gauges that offer adjustable-width guide bars. These bars can be tweaked to fit the groove with little or no side play. This feature is also available on a number of aftermarket accessory miter gauges and are a good feature to look for. Body/Stand It doesn’t matter what materials the body or stand are made from as long as they are rock-steady. It’s helpful to have a means of sawdust collection built into the body or stand. This shouldn’t be a deciding factor, though, because as long as your saw body or stand is open at the bottom, you can easily build your own. (Editor’s Note: Of course, one item that we haven’t mentioned here is the saw blade, which is the most important piece of the machine. We focus on the blade in Chapter 2, which starts on page 33.) ■

To set the angle of the miter gauge, loosen the miter gauge head and place one edge of a square against the gauge face. Slide the tool sideways until another edge touches the blade plate (it must not contact the teeth). Turn the head until the tool rests flat against the face and the plate, then secure the head.

Remember that these recommendations are just advice, not absolute gospel. Depending on circumstances, it may not even be good advice. My first table saw was none of the things that I recommend to you – it was inexpensively made and underpowered. It was what I could afford, not what I wanted. Yet I used it professionally for seven years to make musical instruments. This just goes to show that there are factors that affect the quality of your sawing more than the saw itself – accurate alignment and adjustment, careful layout, proper sawing technique and (most important of all) a good blade.

Three Important Alignments

There are many parts to check and adjust on a table saw, and each saw will be slightly different, depending on its

GREAT TIP: Drafting Triangles Help you Find the Correct Angles A set of drafting triangles helps set the miter gauge angle and the blade tilt. The various corners are cut to precise 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° angles.

PRO TIP:

The very act of using the table saw is a vivid reminder of one of its dangers – any tool that cuts wood can cut you. The danger of kickback is not as evident, but it’s just as serious. The hole in this concrete block wall was made by a board that was thrown by a table saw blade 15 feet away.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

photo by al parrish

Don’t Get Hit by Kickback

Along with the miter gauge (the Osborne aftermarket gauge is shown here), there are a number of other accessories you could add to upgrade your saw. Some of our favorites are, from top, a shop-made push stick, a zero-clearance throat insert, a Power Twist Link Belt and a Biesemeyer snap-in splitter. (Editor’s Note: For more information on these and other accessories, be sure to check out Chapter 4 of this section.)

construction. However, there are three important alignments that affect the machine’s accuracy and ease of operation more than any others – the blade must be parallel to the miter gauge slots, the rip fence must be parallel to the blade (or very slightly toed out) and the splitter must be parallel to (and in line with) the blade. Aligning the Blade Before you can align any part of the table saw, you must select a base of reference – a line or plane from which you can measure the position of every other part. The reference most often used is a miter gauge slot, because its position can’t be changed. Use a combination square or dial indicator setup to measure the distance between a slot and a saw tooth near the front of the blade. Then rotate the tooth to position it near the rear of the table and measure again. These measurements must match for the blade to be parallel to the slot. If they differ, consult your manual to adjust for parallel. The steps are different for contractor and cabinet saws. ■

Aligning the Rip Fence Position the fence near a miter gauge slot and lock it in place. Use the combination square to measure the distance between the slot and the fence face near the front and back of the saw. If the measurements differ, adjust the fence to be parallel (or slightly toed out) to the slot. When both the fence and the blade are parallel to the slot, they will also be parallel to each other.

To align the blade, mount a blade and mark a tooth. Rotate the blade so this tooth is near the front. Place a square against a miter gauge slot and slide the rule until it touches the marked tooth. Then rotate the blade so the marked tooth is near the back. Move the square and measure the distance from the slot to the tooth again. If the measurements match, the blade is parallel to the slot.

■

Aligning the Splitter Lay a straightedge against the blade and the splitter to check the alignment. If the straightedge doesn’t lie flat against both parts, the splitter is misaligned. Bend or adjust the splitter into position according to your owner’s manual. Another important alignment you should check is the arbor flange for runout, as shown at right. Unfortunately, if there’s significant runout (about .003"), there’s not much you can do about it short of replacing the part. pw ■

Once you know the blade is parallel to the miter gauge slots, check the fence alignment. To do this, position the fence near a slot. Rest a square against the side of the slot, near the front of the saw. Slide the rule until it just touches the rip fence, then repeat this near the back. If the measurements are the same, the fence is parallel to the blade.

Use a dial indicator to check the flange for runout. It needs to be flat or “true” for the machine to work optimally.

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JIG JOURNAL

Adjustable Featherboard

M

ost featherboards are single pieces of wood with flexible “feathers” or fingers cut into one end. They’re designed to be clamped to the worktables or fences of various power tools. Unfortunately, this simple design doesn’t always work for the table saw because the table often is too large to clamp the featherboard near the work. This adjustable featherboard solves that problem by having the mount clamp to the table. By moving the mount from side to side and the featherboard back and forth, you can position the featherboard anywhere you need it on the saw. Making this jig is straightforward, but there are two important considerations. First, you must adjust the length of the mount to fit your saw – when assembled, the space between the inside edges of the mount blocks should be about 1⁄16" longer than the front-to-back dimension of the table. Second, you must glue a disc of #220-grit sandpaper to the top surface of the featherboard, over the pivot hole, to help keep it at the proper angle.

To mount the featherboard on the saw table, place it so the mount blocks straddle the front and back edges of the table. Turn the thumbscrews with your fingers only. They don’t have to be any tighter than that – the sideways pressure from the featherboard locks the assembly in place.

Place the wood you want to cut on the saw. Position the featherboard next to the wood and adjust the angle so the feathers are flexed slightly. Secure the featherboard by tightening the wing nut. Note: The featherboard must press against the wood before it reaches the blade. If there is sideways pressure at the blade or behind it, the blade may bind in the cut.

11⁄2" rad. 2 3⁄4"

Glue sandpaper to featherboard 2 3⁄4"

Variable

11⁄2" 3" 11⁄2"

3⁄8"-wd. slot

1⁄8"-wd. saw kerfs

12"

Plan

6"

3"

Depth of saw table plus 19⁄16" 3⁄8"-dia. hole thru with 7⁄8"-dia. x 1⁄4"-d. countersink

1⁄2"-3⁄4"

3⁄4"

1⁄4" x 20

3⁄4"

3⁄4"

3⁄8" x 2" carriage bolt,

2"

washer and wing nut

Elevation 32

Popular Woodworking January 2007

3⁄4"

3⁄4"

2" illustration by mary jane favorite

thumbscrews and T-nuts (2 req’d)

WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

2

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

Y

Using the Saw Blade

our table saw is the central piece of machinery in your shop, and the blade (or more appropriately – blades) is a critical aspect of the ease and accuracy of your work. A top-quality blade mounted on a medium-quality saw will cut infinitely better than a mediocre blade mounted on the best table saw money can buy. The reason should be obvious – it’s the blade, not the saw, that does the actual cutting.

How Blades Work

To choose a good blade, you need to understand a little about how blades are designed and how they work. Every blade has several important parts that are generic to all blades. The plate is the steel center of the blade on which the teeth are mounted. The arbor hole is cut in the center of the plate, and that’s where the blade mounts to the saw. The gullets are the

spaces between the teeth that allow dust to escape. Often there are antikickback limiters between the teeth and gullets, which reduce the chance of wood lodging in the gullet and being thrown at you. Expansion slots are cut along the perimeter of the blade to both quiet and stabilize the cut. And the teeth are the part of the blade that actually does the cutting, but there are lots of teeth variations and arrangements.

Saw-blade anatomy

Anti-kickback limiter Teeth Gullet

Plate

Expansion slot Arbor hole

GREAT TIP: Safer by Design Most blade manufacturers now offer blades with an “anti-kickback” design. In addition to the ordinary forward-facing teeth, an anti-kickback blade has backward-facing barbs or “limiters” that limit the depth of cut. This greatly reduces the chance that the blade will kick the work back at you, but it doesn’t completely eliminate the risk. If you need a determining factor during your next blade purchase, look for this safety feature.

vary between manufacturers, they all serve a dual-purpose of reducing blade noise and allowing the blade to expand and contract during use as the blade heats and cools. This, once again, helps keep the blade flat.

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Plate & Arbor Hole For the majority of table saws, the overall diameter of the saw blade (most of which is the plate) is 10". The plates are usually made of a good-quality high-strength steel so the saw blade will remain flat and true. Better saw blades are also machine tensioned to help ensure flatness. Many manufacturers now offer coatings and polished finishes on the plate part of the blade to help reduce friction during the cut and also to reduce resin build-up and rust. In general, most 10" table saws require a 5 ⁄8" arbor hole formed in the center of the blade that fits over the arbor on the saw.

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Teeth Each saw tooth is ground and sharpened to a specific angle depending on the job it has to do. If you draw a radial line out from the center of the blade through the tooth, you’ll find that the tooth is set on the blade at a slight angle. This is called the hook angle. The greater the hook angle, the more aggressive the cut. On carbide-tipped blades, the teeth are wider than the plate (with the kerf traditionally 1 ⁄8" wide) to prevent the plate from rubbing in the cut. This offset is known as the tooth set. In addition to hook and set, the cutting edge of every tooth has a profile. The edge can be flat or square, beveled left or right, or shaped in other ways to suit its job. Often, the teeth on a single blade will have two or more profiles alternating in a pattern called a grind. The profile determines how each tooth cuts, while the grind determines how the saw blade cuts as a whole.

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Gullet

PRO TIP: Straight Rip on Rough Edge If your only choice is to rip a straight edge on a bowed, rough-cut or otherwise crooked board, fasten a straight board to it with finishing nails. Don’t drive the nails home – you’ll want to pull them out later. Rip the edge of the crooked board, keeping the edge of the straight one against the fence. When you’ve finished, separate the boards and rip the other edge.

Gullet As a blade cuts through wood, dust is created and needs to be cleared away from the cut. The gullets (cut in the blade plate) are located between each tooth and allow the dust to be removed. Gullet designs vary by manufacturer and are much smaller today to reduce the chances of material being trapped in the gullet and “kicked back” at the operator. The gullet’s size is a careful balance between safety and efficiency. While it’s bad for the gullet to be too large, it’s also bad if it’s too small. Dust can build up during the cut and clog the gullet causing the blade to cut poorly.

Types of Blades

The various aspects of the saw teeth – hook, set and profile – can be arranged to make different cuts or to cut different

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Expansion Slots Expansion slots are usually laser-cut into the plate. While their shape may

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The crosscutting and ripping “swoops” in this graphic designate the optimal number of teeth you should have on your blade when ripping or crosscutting wood of a particular thickness. The areas outside the swoops designate situations in which you may experience a rough cut.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Source: Freud; Illustration by Len Churchill

TIPS & TRICKS

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materials. There are three basic types of blades, (rip, crosscut and combination) each designed to make certain cuts: ■ Rip Blades have a large hook angle (20°-25°) and, because it’s much easier to cut with the grain (ripping a board), they can remove a lot of stock with each pass. Compared with other blades, they have fewer teeth and larger gullets to make room to clear out the big chips. The tooth profiles are usually all flat. ■ Crosscut Blades have a much smaller hook angle (5°-10°) to remove just a little stock because it’s much harder to cut across the grain. Because the chips are smaller, the gullets can be smaller too, and this makes room for more teeth. The profiles of the teeth alternate right bevel and left bevel in a grind called “alternate-top bevel” (ATB). An ATB grind allows each tooth to slice the wood at a slight angle to the grain, making the cut easier and smoother. ■ Combination Blades will perform both rip cuts and crosscuts, and their design is a compromise between the two types of blades. The teeth are usually arranged in sets of five. The gullets in each set of five are the same size as on a crosscut blade; those between the sets are larger, like the gullets on a rip blade. The profiles of the teeth alternate in a five-tooth grind as such: right-bevel, left-bevel, right-bevel, left-bevel, flat. The large gullets are in front of the flat teeth. In addition, there are several common types of blades intended for specific jobs. ■ Triple-chip Blades use a special double-beveled-tooth design combined

with a raker tooth to reduce chipping in brittle materials. Triple-chip blades can be used in many applications, but are the best choice for work with laminates. ■ Plywood Blades are designed to make smooth cuts in plywood without chipping the veneer. Cutting the alternating grain in plywood requires both rips and crosscuts. The blade of choice is an 60-plus ATB tooth design, but the hook angle is less than a crosscut blade’s. ■ Thin-kerf Blades, which may help the performance of under-powered saws, usually are carbide-tipped and available in the same styles as ordinary blades (rip, crosscut and combination). However, the plate and teeth are about two-thirds as wide as an ordinary blade. Because the blade removes less stock, the table saw does less work and makes a smoother, quicker cut. ■ Steep-angle Blades. Some blade manufacturers have begun making combination blades with tooth grinds that weren’t possible in years’ past. Freud’s Premier Fusion blade has extremely steep alternative-top-bevel grinds with a small relief angle on the sides of the teeth. This is supposed to result in a combination blade that makes excellent rips and crosscuts. Time will tell if these are superior. ■ Dado Blades mount on the saw arbor like a blade, but make a much broader cut. An ordinary saw blade cuts a narrow kerf (1 ⁄8") to reduce waste and the effort required to saw through the stock. A dado cutter isn’t meant to saw completely through a board. Rather, it cuts a wide kerf with a flat bottom and square shoulders, and it can create

Ripping blades are designed with flat-topped teeth and an aggressive hook angle to remove wood quickly and efficiently. The action is similar to that of a chisel cutting a groove. While this blade can be used for a variety of cutting actions, its best performance will be in rip cuts. (OOKANGLE

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Crosscutting blade Frequently referred to as an alternate-topbevel (ATB) blade, the beveled crosscutting teeth are designed to slice across wood fibers. It leaves a concave bottom in the cut. This blade’s best performance will be in crosscutting, but can be used for other applications and is the preferred grind for cutting plywood. )PPL
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Triple-chip blade The triple-chip tooth design includes flattopped and trapezoidal teeth. The trapezoidal teeth are taller and narrower than the flat teeth, making a scoring cut to reduce tearout. This blade excels for work with laminate and brittle wood materials, including hardboard.

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Combination blade A combo blade uses both rip and crosscut teeth, and can be used reasonably well in either application. There are compromises in quality, but if you’re looking for an allpurpose blade, this is it. popularwoodworking.com

35

illustration by len churchill

Two examples of blades with unusual tooth geometry. The Porter-Cable (left) combines both rip and crosscut tooth spacing on one blade. The Freud Premier Fusion blade uses a novel tooth grind to create a smooth cut.

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TIPS & TRICKS

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PRO TIP: Tip to be Square Chippers

Shims

To make sure your blade is running square in your saw, you need two measuring tools – a true straightedge and an accurate try square. To check that a straightedge is straight, use one edge to draw a line along its full length. Flip the straightedge face for face and draw a second line on top of the first, using the same edge. Superimposed, the two lines should appear as one. If they diverge at any point, your straightedge is crooked. To check that a square is square, place the arm against the edge of a board and use one edge of the rule to draw a line. Flip the square face for face and draw a second line right next to the first (shown above), using the same edge. The two lines should be evenly spaced across the board. If not, your square isn’t square.

Two common dado sets are a standard dado (right) that uses shims to fine-tune the spacing between the chippers. The dial dado (left) uses a cam dial to fine-tune the width, avoiding the need for shims and allowing for adjustment without removing the blades.

dados, grooves, rabbets and a number of other standard woodworking joints. The most common dado set is a stack dado (above). These sets include two 6" or 8"-diameter outer blades (essentially smaller saw blades) and a number of inner chipper blades that typically have two to four teeth per chipper. The outer blades are 1 ⁄8"-wide, but the chippers vary in width to allow adjustments of 1 ⁄32" by rearranging the number and type of chippers used.

What Blades do You Need?

GREAT TIP: Dado Blade Crib Sheet Every stack dado set is slightly different when the chippers are in place. Rather than measure each time to set up your dado set, make a sample board using each variation of blades, chippers and shims to make a series of shallow dados. Mark the block as to what combination of blades was used and also mark the resulting dimension of the cut. You may never have to measure your dado set again.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

With all the choices, what sort of blade should you choose? The answer depends on the type of woodworking you do. However, most craftsmen get by nicely with just three blades: 1. A combination blade for general work. You’ll probably keep this on your saw 90 percent of the time. Because you’re likely to use this blade more than any other, it should be a premium blade. 2. A rip blade for cutting stock to width. Often, at the beginning of a project, you’ll find yourself doing a lot of ripping lumber to size. A rip blade will make this go faster. 3. A crosscut blade for cutting stock to length. A clean, tear-out-free cut

when crosscutting makes joinery much easier. In addition, special types of shop requirements or work will require specialty blades, such as thin-kerf or dado sets. But these can be added as the need (and the funds) occurs.

For the Best Blade Performance

The table saw is a precision cutting tool. As such, it must be precisely aligned, operated and maintained if you’re to get the best results possible. Small problems can have large consequences. A rip fence that toes in slightly toward the blade, a miter gauge slot slightly out of line with the blade, a tendency to feed the work too quickly or too slowly, or a blade whose teeth have become coated with pitch – all of these seemingly insignificant problems can completely ruin a cut. Before you make any cut, you must be sure that the working parts (blade, arbor, trunnions, table, fence and miter gauge) are properly aligned to each other. In Chapter One we covered these important initial adjustments. Another important set-up step that isn’t mentioned often enough is how high the blade should be. Most manu-

als tell you it shouldn’t be too high, but the number you need to remember is between 1 ⁄8" and 1 ⁄4" above the wood’s surface. This leaves the teeth at an appropriate height to not only make the cut, but to clear the chips and dust from the cut, while not leaving too much blade exposed to pose a hazard.

Maintenance

An old woodworking axiom that is quite true is that your most dangerous tool is a dull one. This certainly applies to table saw blades as well. A dull blade will cause you to have to force the material past the blade, making your stance more awkward and increasing the pressure you need to exert toward a spinning blade. To maintain your table saw in peak cutting condition − and maintain safety standards − blades must be kept clean and sharp. As you make each cut, wood pitch builds up on the blade and the teeth lose their sharp edge. Here’s how to maintain them: ■

Cleaning Saw blades must be kept clean and sharp to cut properly. When a blade ceases to cut well, it’s not always an indication that the teeth are losing their edges. Usually, the problem is caused by accumulated wood pitch on the teeth. To restore the edge, just clean the blade. There are several ways to do this. Woodworkers swear by all sorts of solvents – ammonia, baking soda dissolved in water, turpentine, mineral spirits and even vegetable oil. My own favorite (and many saw blade manufacturers agree this is fine) is oven cleaner. The blade doesn’t have to be warm, as the directions might lead you to believe. Just spray the cleaner on the teeth, wait a few seconds and wipe it off with a damp cloth. Then, after cleaning the blade, wax and buff the plate to help the blade run cooler and keep it clean longer. There are also a number of “environmentally friendly” blade cleaners (often citrus-based) available that also do a good job. They take a little more time or effort, but they’re less a danger to your skin and the environment.

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Sharpening If cleaning the blade doesn’t restore the edge, the blade probably needs to be sharpened. Unfortunately, sharpening a carbide blade is not something woodworkers can do in their own shops. There are many facets to the teeth of modern blades, and special equipment is needed to accurately grind and hone these complex angles. It’s best to find a good professional sharpening service and take your blades to them as necessary. Most stores such as Rockler (800279-4441 or rockler.com) or Woodcraft (800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com) have connections to a sharpening service in your area. Also Forrest (866-3989336, or forrestsawblades.com) not only sharpens its own blades, but will sharpen other manufacturer’s blades as well. If none of these options is preferable, head for the Yellow Pages and call a local cabinet shop. They can recommend someone in your area to do your blade sharpening.

Making Crosscuts & Rips

Crosscuts, made across the grain and ripcuts, made parallel to the grain, are the basic cuts of woodworking. Because of the structure of the wood itself, each of these types of cuts requires a different setup and techniques to safely achieve good results. Crosscuts These are probably the most troublesome cuts to make on a table saw. To cut across the grain, you must move the board sideways, perpendicular to its length. The longer the board, the harder this is to do. To make an accurate crosscut, you must use equipment (such as miter gauges) and techniques that improve balance and control.

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: The Company You Keep

The type of blade you use on your table saw will determine the quality of the cut, but what’s around the blade is important, too. A throat plate designed to fit close around a blade (known as a zero-clearance insert) will reduce tear-out on the underside of a cut and will also be much safer. With one, there’s no chance of scrap getting trapped near the blade. You can make your own out of good quality plywood, or purchase a few (get one for dados as well).

PRO TIP: Treat Your Tooling Well

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Rips These cuts are the easier because it’s a lot simpler to feed a board parallel to its length. The fence will guide the wood along its edge, controlling the width. Unfortunately, table saws aren’t as deep as they are wide, so you need to find a way to control the outfeed to maintain accuracy and work safely. PW

This may sound a little simplistic, but it’s still true. When a blade is not mounted on the saw it must be stored to protect the teeth. Even though the carbide is a tough cutting surface, it’s still fragile. Teeth from other blades banging together, or blades inadvertently banging into any steel around the table saw, can easily chip and damage the cutting edge of your expensive blades. When storing or sending the blades out for sharpening, either keep them in their original packaging, or build a simple plywood box to protect your investment. popularwoodworking.com

37

TIPS & TRICKS SAFETY TIP: One We Hope You Know There is absolutely no reason for you to ever make a cut (crosscut or rip cut) on your table saw without some type of guiding mechanism. Whether that’s a rip fence, miter gauge or miter sled, never make a cut on the table saw freehand. You will most certainly get hurt.

PRO TIP: Crosscut Both Ends to Square Cutting a board to length seems simple enough, but almost as important as getting the board the right length is making sure the ends are square to the sides. Don’t worry, it’s simple. First make sure your fence or miter gauge is cutting square to the blade. Before cutting the board to final length, trim 1 ⁄ 2" off one end of the board, then flip it end-for-end and measure to make your final cut on the uncut end.

SAFETY TIP: No Rip Fence For Crosscutting

Never use the rip fence as a stop for crosscutting. The cut-off pieces will be pinched between the blade and the fence, and the saw will fling them back at you. Instead, use a stop block – sometimes called a “stand-off block” – mounted to the rip fence behind the blade location to gauge your length and safely make the cut.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Ripping Lumber 1 Ripping a piece of solid lumber is simpler than ripping plywood, but there is more potential for danger because the stress in a solid wood board can pinch the blade when it’s ripped. Roller stands are recommended (you can’t see mine in the photos) and should be positioned to support both pieces coming off the saw. To start the cut, you should be positioned at the rear corner of the board, supporting the back end with your right hand. Your left hand (at the center of the board) provides pressure against the fence, keeping it flush to the fence. The arrows indicate the direction I’m applying pressure. 2 Walk the board slowly into the blade, keeping the edge flush along the length of the fence. When your left hand reaches the edge of the saw, allow it to slide backward along the length of the board, maintaining pressure against the fence. Maintain this support until the back end of the board reaches the edge of the saw table. 3 Grab your push stick and place it on the back edge of the piece between the blade and fence. Apply pressure forward and slightly toward the fence with the push stick as you continue the cut. Your left hand should only be used to apply minimal guiding pressure on the fall-off piece until the piece is separated, then move your left hand out of the way. Once the keeper board is clear of the blade and guard, turn your attention to the fall-off piece and push it safely forward, again using the push stick.

Crosscutting Lumber

1 When crosscutting a board, the substantially thinner width of the piece (and not enough width to ride adequately against the fence) requires us to use a miter gauge rather than the fence. Note the gauge in our photos is not standard equipment. We recommend either adding a backing board at least 24" long to your stock miter gauge or purchasing an aftermarket gauge. Start by checking to make sure your miter gauge is square to the blade. Then align your cut and support the board against the gauge with one hand on the gauge and the other stretching across the piece to hold it tightly against the gauge. If your piece is too wide to reach across, it’s smart to clamp the piece against the gauge during the cut.

2 Guide the gauge and board into and past the blade.

3 Once the board is cut through, allow the fall-off piece to lie in place. With your left hand, push the board away from the blade, sliding it along the gauge. Then turn the saw off. Once the blade stops spinning, pull the fall-off piece away from the blade.

1 Ripping a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on a contractor saw is possible, but requires finesse. Roller stands are a must, and they should be positioned to support the largest piece coming off the saw, or preferably both pieces. To start the cut, you should be positioned near the rear corner of the sheet, supporting the rear with your right hand while your left hand provides pressure against the fence and aligns the sheet flush to the fence. With the piece pushed nearly up to the blade, check the fit against the fence again, then slowly walk the sheet into the blade. 2 As you move forward, keep your eye on the fence to keep the sheet flush along the fence. As the balance of the weight of the sheet is transferred to the saw table you can shift your position to the rear of the sheet, supporting from the back, but still maintaining pressure against the fence with your left hand. Continue to push the sheet forward, paying attention to the point when the sheet contacts your roller stand (to make sure it’s riding on the stand, not pushing it over), then continue the cut. My roller stand is not visible in the photos. 3 At the end of the cut, let the waste piece to come to a rest. Then push the piece between the fence and blade clear of the blade, careful not to extend your reach over the blade. Lift the piece up and over the fence. Then continue to push the waste piece forward and away from the blade until it clears the blade and guard.

Crosscutting Plywood

1 Crosscutting a sheet of plywood on a contractor saw is a task safely accomplished with the use of roller stands. Here you see one stand positioned to one side of the table saw and another positioned at the outfeed side. When using the rip fence, don’t crosscut a piece less than 18" wide and more than 48" long. There is too much chance of the board shifting and becoming pinched. Start by standing in the center. Keep your eye on the fence and keep the board tight against it. Again, arrows indicate where my hands are applying pressure.

2 Maintain the center position as you push the board through the blade. Keep your eye on the fence. While your instinct is to control the whole board, the part between the fence and blade needs all your attention.

3 Once the board has cleared the blade, let the fall-off piece lay where it is and carefully push the piece between the fence and blade past the blade and onto the roller stand. Keep the piece flush against the fence until the piece is clear. Then lift the fall-off piece out of the way. 

All About Carbide Most woodworkers prefer a saw blade with carbide teeth. They cut cleaner and hold a sharp edge longer than steel. But let’s take a look at what carbide is and how it’s made. Carbide starts as a fine blend of either tungsten, titanium or tantalum powder (or some combination), carbon powder, and a binding agent (usually cobalt). Carbide is graded according to the grain size and the hardness. For woodworking, a softer grade of carbide is preferable (such as C-1 or C-2). If a harder grade (C-4) is used, it may be brittle and wear too fast. The photo (below) shows a carbide edge at the microscopic level. While this is a sharp edge, the grains have a ridged appearance. Smallergrained carbide gives a more precise (less ridged) edge. Wax and ethanol are then added to the powder and carefully mixed and blended for days. The wax holds the carbide slurry in shape before heating, while the ethanol is present only to help the powder mix evenly. The slurry is then dried in a nitrogen atomizer. This evaporates the ethanol and by using nitrogen, there is no chance of oxidation (rusting) occurring in the powder. The dried powder is then pressed (using tons of pressure per square inch) into the appropriate tooth shape, but the teeth are left oversized as carbide shrinks during heating. Even after this immense amount of pressure, the carbide shapes are very brittle and can be easily broken apart between your fingers. You can actually write with the carbide as with a piece of chalk. The carbide pieces are then heated (sintered) at 2,700° Fahrenheit for 14 hours, and cooled using argon gas for another six hours. The carbide shapes are brazed to the body of the cutting tool and finally ground to their ultimate shape. 

photo courtesy of freud

Ripping Plywood

— David Thiel

popularwoodworking.com

39

JIG JOURNAL

Tapering Jig

A

tapering jig consists of two long arms, hinged together at one end. A ledge is glued to one arm near the end opposite the hinge. A metal brace lets you adjust and lock the angle between the two arms. The arm without the ledge guides the jig along the rip fence, while the other holds the stock at an angle to the saw blade. To make the jig, cut the parts to size and drill a hole for the handle in the holding arm. Glue the ledge to the holding arm and the grip to the guiding arm. When the glue is dry, install the hinge that holds the two arms together. Purchase a curved box lid support and remove the metal mounts from the brace. Using a panhead screw, fasten the fixed end of the brace to the holding arm, a few inches from the ledge. Tighten the screw until it’s snug, but not so tight that the brace can’t pivot. Insert another screw through the slot in the brace and drive it into the guiding arm. You may have to experiment with the placement of this second screw. Find the

location that allows you to open the arms as wide as possible, but keeps the end of the brace from straying over the outside edge of the guiding arm when you close the jig.

To lock the arms in place, open or close them to the desired angle. Then tighten both the panhead screws. 

Handle

Grip

Ledge

Hinge blocks

Guiding arm Holding arm 24" 5⁄8"

Exploded view

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Elevation 40

Popular Woodworking January 2007

11⁄4" 4"

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Illustration by Mary Jane Favorite

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WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

3

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

T

Basic Joinery

here are three basic saw cuts: crosscuts, rips and miters. Crosscuts are made perpendicular to the wood grain, rips are cut parallel to the grain and miters are made at angles diagonally across the grain. None of these requires elaborate jigs or complex techniques, but they are the building blocks to basic joinery on the table saw. Rips and crosscuts are used to form many joints, including the basic edge and butt joints, which can be used to

glue up a tabletop or door frame. These two cuts are also used to cut rabbets, grooves and dados. And a variation of these cuts will create a miter joint. In Chapter 2 we discussed crosscuts and rips. Now it’s time to learn about miters.

Miters

Miters can be the most frustrating cuts to make. Angled cuts are harder to measure and lay out than crosscuts. To make a mitered frame perfect, both the

inside and outside dimension of the piece must match on each component. You should start with accurate measuring tools and some basic math, and then you will need to test and retest your setup to ensure its precision. When you make a miter cut on a table saw, you run into a problem associated with crosscuts – the factorysupplied miter gauge is too small to offer adequate support for guiding most boards. To properly support the work,

PRO TIP: Picture-perfect Miters To make sure your miters are perfect, start with a new zero-clearance throat insert on your table saw. Bring the blade up through the insert until the blade height is about 1 ⁄4" above the height of your frame material. Turn off the saw. After the blade has stopped, use a straightedge to make a mark, extending the line of the blade slot the full length of the insert. This will let you see exactly where the blade will cut. Add a sacrificial fence to your miter gauge that extends past the blade to eliminate tear-out. You can also extend the cut line to the sacrificial fence for extra alignment accuracy.

illustration by marY jane favorite

TIPS & TRICKS GREAT TIP: Setting Between the Lines

Work creeps downhill as it’s cut

A simple stop clamped to your miter fence will keep your piece from slipping during the cut. Clamp stop here to prevent creep

PRO TIP: Right Height, Every Time

To create accurate, matching miters (or butt joints) for frame work, flip the work piece endfor-end keeping the same long edge against your miter gauge, as shown here.

When using a dado set and sacrificial rip fence to make rabbets, setting the height of the dado set in the fence is tricky. Make it simple by attaching a new sacrificial fence, then measure and mark the height of the blade (for the perfect rabbet depth) right on the fence face, measuring from the table saw’s top. Lower the dado set, move the fence into place, then bring the running blade up into the fence, stopping when you reach your line.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

and blade-tilt scale on most table saws – even the best ones – are notoriously imprecise. And you can’t use a drafting triangle to set every possible angle you might want to cut. You must use the scales to estimate the degree setting, then thoroughly test the setup until you have it right. Once the miter gauge angle is properly set, make the miter cuts. If the boards are to be joined by miter joints (such as the members of a frame), you must make mirror-image miters. Note: A single miter joint is comprised of one

Keep same face against table Blade tilted

Rotate board end for end Flip board end for end Miter gauge angled

Keep same edge against miter gauge

illustration by marY jane favorite

Use an angle divider to help set oddball miter angles that you can’t measure with a set of drafting triangles or a square. This device, which is available from most woodworking suppliers, looks like an adjustable metal parallelogram.

you must fit the gauge with an extension fence or replace it with a sliding table. Even when using an adequately sized miter gauge, boards are inclined to creep during a miter cut because of the rotation of the blade into the cut. One way to compensate for this is to add a stop to your miter gauge fence as shown above. Your stop will also help you make repeatable, accurate miter cuts every time. Accurate angles are another problem on table saws. The stock miter gauge

Bevels

The procedure to make a bevel is similar to the way you make a miter, but you must set the blade at the proper angle, rather than the miter gauge. Measure the angle between the blade and the table with a triangle or a protractor. If you rip a bevel or chamfer, make sure the blade tilts away from the rip fence. This gives you more room to safely maneuver the board and reduces the risk of kickback. On right-tilt saws, you will have to move the rip fence to the left side of the blade (as you face the infeed side of the table saw).

Rabbets, Dados & Grooves

Although the final results and applications for dados, rabbets and grooves are different, the way to make each is very similar. And all are easily made on the table saw. But first let’s take a look at the joints themselves. • A rabbet is an L-shaped cut of varying widths and depths, cut on the end (cross grain) or side (long grain) of a board. The width and depth of the rabbet can be adjusted to match the piece fitting in the rabbet, such as on a cabinet or drawer side. The joint created is better than a butt joint, and it is even stronger when reinforced with more than glue. • Grooves and dados have the same shape, but they’re called different names depending on the direction they’re cut on the board. Both a groove and a dado are U-shaped trenches. The

When ripping an angle other than 90° – cutting a bevel or a chamfer – be sure the blade tilts away from the rip fence. If the blade tilts toward the fence, there is a chance that the blade will pinch the board and fling it backward. Also, you may not have the space needed to feed the board safely. And on narrow cuts, there is the added danger that the blade may bite into the fence.

depth and width are variable according to the use. This joint is referred to as a groove when it’s made parallel to the grain direction of the board. When made across the grain, it’s referred to as a dado. This is a stronger joint than a rabbet because the mating piece is captured on three sides, rather than two.

Rabbet

Using a Dado Set

Rabbets, dados and grooves can all be created by making multiple cuts with a single saw blade, or one cut with a dado set. The different types of dado sets are discussed in detail in Chapter Two, as are the different saw blades to best use for this application. When changing from a single blade to a dado set, always remember to unplug the saw and carefully handle the sharp blades. Because a dado stack cuts a much wider kerf than the ordinary saw blade, you must replace the saw’s throat insert with a special dadoing insert. You can either make your own insert or purchase an aftermarket accessory to fit your saw. It’s wise to make or purchase more than one. After you cut the insert to accommodate your widest dado arrangement, it shouldn’t be used with a smaller-width setup that will leave gaps between the opening and the blades.

illustration by len churchill

left miter and one right miter. To do this, flip each board end-for-end, keeping the same edge against the gauge as you cut the ends. Only in rare instances when you can’t flip the board should you have to readjust the angle of the miter gauge to cut left and right miters. You also can cut a miter by tilting the blade rather than angling the miter gauge. This procedure is similar, but there is an important difference when cutting left and right miters. As you rotate the board end for end, the same face must rest against the table. Note: You can switch faces if you first switch the miter gauge to the other slot.

Dado

A rabbet (top) is an L-shaped cut on the end or side of a board. The depth and width can be varied to match a mating piece, or to create a particular type of joint. While the rabbet can be viewed as the female part of a joint, it can also be the male part, as it forms a tongue that can be used in tongue-andgroove joinery. A dado (bottom) is U-shaped and cut across the width of a piece. It can also be adjusted in depth and width. A groove is cut parallel to the board’s grain direction. It’s always the female part of a joint. Rabbets, grooves and dados can be “through” (run entirely across the board as shown), or stopped at either of both ends, depending on the requirement of the joint. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Controlling Large Panels

When using a miter gauge extension to cut off large, wide panels, clamp a block of wood to the extension to serve as a hold-down. This will keep the panels from tipping over the back edge of the table saw as you finish the cut.

Because the dado stack makes a wider kerf than a standard saw blade, you must replace the normal throat insert with one that has a wider opening.

When making rabbets on the table saw with a dado set, a sacrificial wooden face attached to your existing rip fence is a must. This face must have a semicircular cutout that’s the same radius as the dado cutter. The cutout face serves two purposes – it protects the rip fence during these operations, and it covers the unused portion of the dado stack when you don’t want to cut the full width. Your next step is to detach the splitter (and guard, when appropriate) from the table saw and attach a featherboard to the table or wooden fence. Because you don’t use a dado cutter to cut all

A sacrificial fence attached to your rip fence allows you to accurately use part of a dado set for rabbeting without harming your rip fence. The blade should be run up into the fence while it’s securely locked in place to the tabletop. Make sure the blade clears your rip fence.

GREAT TIP: Burn an Inch When making a sacrificial fence for your rip fence (for cutting rabbets), make it 1" thick. This will make it easier to use the fence scale when setting the position of the fence – simply subtract 1" from the indicated measurement.

PRO TIP: Clean in the Corners

Featherboard

After cutting a rabbet with a dado cutter or a saw blade, inspect the inside corner between the side and the bottom. These cutting tools sometimes leave a little waste in the corner. You can quickly remove this with a scraper, chisel, bullnose plane or rabbeting plane. 44

Popular Woodworking January 2007

Featherboards, to hold material snug against the fence (and to avoid kickback), can either be shopmade or purchased. The featherboards shown here have magnetic bases to hold them tightly against the tabletop. They should be positioned before and after the blade, but not at the blades’ location or the waste will bind against the blade.

the way through a board, the splitter will just get in your way. Unfortunately, without the splitter and anti-kickback fingers, there is nothing to stop kickback, so be careful. Also, because the dado cutter removes more stock than a standard saw blade, kickback is more likely. To guard against this, use a featherboard. When making the rabbet cut, the board is most safely run flat on the table saw’s top. By virtue of this position, the height of the dado stack should be set to the required depth of the rabbet. The distance from the sacrificial face to the left side of the dado stack (the amount of blade exposed) will be the width. To make a groove (or dado, but only on wide boards for safety) the rip fence is adjusted to re-locate the groove where needed, and the dado stack height is set for the required depth of the groove.

A sacrificial fence attached to your rip fence allows you to accurately use part of a dado set for rabbeting without harming your rip fence. The blade should be run up into the fence while it’s securely locked in place to the tabletop. The same blade setup will give you a groove by changing the fence setting.

Making Rabbet & Dado Joints With a Single Blade As mentioned, rabbets and grooves can also be made with a single saw blade if you don’t have a dado stack. Rabbets can most easily be made in a two-pass method. The blade height is set for the depth of the rabbet and the rip fence is set for the width of the rabbet (including the blade width in the setup). The board is then run flat on the table surface for the first cut. To complete the rabbet, the blade height is reset to just shy of the width of the rabbet, while the fence is set to cut away the depth of the rabbet. It’s a good idea to have the rabbet size marked on the end of the board to double-check your setup. The board is then run on edge against the rip fence. The order of these cuts is important. If the board were run on edge first, then on its face, the waste piece could be trapped between the blade and fence, and be kicked back at you at a very high speed. As shown above, the waste piece falls safely to the outside of the blade after the second cut. To make a groove or dado with a single blade is more a nibbling away process until the groove is complete. It’s easiest to start with the two out-

It’s possible to create a rabbet on a board with a single blade using only two cuts. The order of the cuts is important for safety, though. The first cut (left) must be made with the face of the board against the saw table. The second cut (right) must be made on edge, with the waste piece oriented away from the fence to allow the waste to fall harmlessly away from the blade.

side passes that will define the groove’s shoulder, then make overlapping cuts between those kerfs to remove the waste material. While this process works, it won’t take too many singleblade dados to convince you that the investment in a dado set is a smart one.

Expanded Techniques

In addition to cutting basic dados, grooves and rabbets, there are many other useful ways these joints can be used. Here are just a few of the most common variations:

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Stopped Cuts Sometimes you must halt a cut before it exits the end or edge of a board. To make a stopped rabbet, dado or groove, you must first know where the dado cutter starts to cut as the wood passes across the table saw. To find out, first adjust the cutter to the desired height and position the rip fence. Affix a piece of tape to the fence beside the cutter. Select a scrap with at least one square corner and place it on the infeed side of the table with the square corner against the fence and popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Tested for Accuracy

facing the cutter. Slide the scrap toward the dado accessory as you spin the cutter by hand (with the saw unplugged). When the teeth brush the scrap, mark the position of the corner on the tape. To find where the dado cutter stops cutting, simply place the scrap on the outfeed side of the table.

Now that you know where the blade stops its cut, you can clamp a stop to the end of the rip fence to halt the cut. Determine the length of the cut required and set the stop block that distance from your infeed blade mark on the fence. Let the saw come to a complete stop before removing stock.

Whenever you’re setting up the saw for a rabbet or groove cut, it’s always a good idea to make a test cut in a scrap piece before cutting good stock. Measure the position of the cut on the board with a ruler or tape measure. For even more accuracy, a dial caliper can measure the width and depth very easily.

PRO TIP: Dados with no Splintering With the dado set to the desired height (and with the saw unplugged) the board is pushed forward until the leading edge touches the dado teeth. Mark the board location on the tape. This is the “start” position of the cut. Tear-out

Whenever using a dado stack to make a dado (across the grain), there’s a very good chance of tearing out the fibers on the face of the wood, whether solid wood, or plywood (see above). To avoid this, score or precut both sides of the dado with a sharp utility knife before making the cut. This cleanly separates the fibers before the dado teeth get a chance to tear them.

The tape mark on the fence also indicates where the dado cut ends in the piece. For a more accurate dado, a block attached to the fence (located using the tape mark) provides a positive stop. Turn the saw off when the cut is complete.

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Shiplap joint

Shiplap Joint A useful combination of two of our joints in this chapter is shiplapped boards, which are often used as decorative (and sturdy) backs in cabinetry. The shiplap joint uses two overlapping rabbets (created on the long edges of the boards). The overlapping rabbets form a solid back that still has the ability to expand and contract with changes in humidity, without stressing the cabinet, or opening a gap between the boards. To add a decorative element, bevel the shiplapped boards at the mating edges. ■

Tongue-and-groove joint

Tongue-and-groove Joint A mating of a two-sided rabbet (forming a tongue) and a groove run in the long edge of a board forms the tongue-and-groove joint. Offering the same benefit against wood expansion and contraction as the shiplap joint, the tongue and groove also offers great strength as a mating joint. It allows long boards to stay parallel over long lengths. That’s why it’s most common application is in flooring to lock the board lengths tight against one another. This joint also plays an important role in frame-and-panel doors, but we cover that in more detail in Chapter Six.

Add Basic Joints to Make Complex Ones A rabbet is a fairly simply (and not all that sturdy) joint. How it’s used can make it much stronger. If the tongue of the rabbet fits into a groove or dado, greater strength can be achieved. In fact, one of the strongest joints in woodworking is the mortise-and-tenon joint. And a mortise is nothing more than a groove with closed ends, while a tenon is a double rabbet! To turn a rabbet into a tenon, you’re using a dado stack to cut a shallow rabbet on both sides of a board that’s wider than the dado cutter. Do this by making two or more passes. This seems simple enough if you have to make only one joint – make the first pass, move the rip fence or reposition the board on the miter gauge, make the next pass. But if you must make several precise copies of the same joint, use spacers to help position the boards, removing them one at a time as you make each pass.

Rabbet-and-dado Joint With a rabbet on one side and a dado on the other, this joint makes a strong, but simple drawer joint. While a simple rabbet joint can be used as a drawer joint, the addition of a dado allows the rabbet to be firmly captured on three sides. This adds strength and stability to the joint. And this joint isn’t only for drawer sides. Many drawer bottoms are slipped into grooves cut in the drawer sides to form an even simpler rabbet and dado. But wait – that makes it a tongue (the entire bottom is a tongue) and groove joint. PW

illustration by len churchill

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Rabbet-and-dado joint

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JIG JOURNAL

Tall Fence Extension

T

he tall fence extension increases the height of the face of your rip fence and attaches directly to the rip fence. This is a useful accessory for stabilizing boards during cuts when running boards on edge. One good example is cutting rabbets with a single blade. While one of the cuts is with the board flat against the saw table, the second cut is made with the board vertical and held tight against the fence. With 10" of bearing surface instead of the standard 3" or 4", the cut is much more accurate and safer. Cut all the jig’s parts from cabinetgrade plywood, taking care to make the faces and braces straight and flat. Rout the joinery, drill the mounting holes, then assemble the parts with glue and screws. Countersink and counterbore the screws so the heads are well below the surface of the wood. If you wish, cover the heads with wooden plugs and sand them flush.

A tall fence extension provides increased stability when making a cut with the board on its end. Or, it is useful for adding accessories, such as this featherboard.

illustration by mary jane favorite

Face

Horizontal brace

Exploded view Vertical braces

Length of rip fence 3" (typ)

8" approx.

3⁄4" (typ)

21⁄4" 1"

1⁄4"

10" 3⁄4" wd. x

Height of fence Countersunk mounting holes, sized and spaced to fit fence

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Elevation – from behind

Profile

3⁄8" dp. groove

WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

4

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

T

Customize Your Table Saw

here are dozens of table saw accessories you can mount on your machine to make it safer, more accurate or extend its capacity. Some can be purchased, others can be made

by you. By carefully choosing these options, you can soup up your old table saw or customize a new one. The most common additions are a reliable rip fence, a cut-off system

(either an improved miter gauge, miter sled or sliding table) and roller stands or outfeed supports. But there are lots of other accessories, many very affordable, that I’ll share with you in this chapter. You can pick and choose what will work best for you on your table saw.

A Better Rip Fence

Perhaps the most beneficial customization is a replacement fence. Many very good rip fences are now available from table saw manufacturers – many as standard equipment. This is a great improvement from more than 10 years ago, but the better fences aren’t always included in the base model of the saw, but rather they’re offered as an upgrade. There are also a number of goodquality, aftermarket rip fences that can

SMOOTH TIP: Keep Things Sliding No matter how many cool accessories you add to your table saw, if you have difficulties moving the wood past the blade, it’s no good. Make sure the table surface is clean and lubricated to provide effortless material movement. There are a number of good dry (that’s the important part) lubricants on the market. You can also use paste wax or paraffin wax (canning wax from the grocery store) to treat the top. This doesn’t have to be a daily chore, but put your lubricant to work whenever you start a new project.

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Cutting Irregular Pieces While certainly not the only good aftermarket rip fence available, the Biesemeyer is often considered the model to surpass. Accurate, stable, easy to remove and replace, it can be used on either side of the blade.

Table saw sleds can be used for much more than just crosscuts and miters. At times there are situations where an irregular piece of wood needs trimming. By adding hold-down clamps to a crosscut sled, you can easily trim the wane from a rough piece of wood. You can even square off a cross-section of a log with relative ease, accuracy and safety.

GREAT TRICK: Sled Add-ons

While you can make a separate tenoning fixture for your table saw (See Chapter 5 for directions on how), your miter sled can also serve as a platform to attach a number of very useful jigs – such as a tenoning fixture as shown above. The fixture is a basic plywood structure to support (and brace) the wood. It’s adjustable from left to right (for the width of the tenon) and the supporting brace can even be pivoted for angled tenons.

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be added to your new or existing table saw. A good upgrade, or replacement fence, will increase repeatable accuracy and can also increase the usable space on your table saw. Various brands of fences employ different mechanisms for perfect alignment, and most come with precise scales and hairline indicators. When you choose a replacement fence, consider these important features: ■ How long are the fence rails? Most replacement fences extend the ripping capacity – the maximum distance between the blade and fence. To do so, they use longer front and rear support rails (usually 35" to 50" in length) and a larger table extension, increasing the size of the saw. If you’re cramped for space in your shop you may not have room for this accessory. But the capacity gained is worth serious consideration. ■ Will the fence dismount easily? For many operations, you must remove the fence from the saw. This task is easier with some brands than others. Some aftermarket fences have a rear lock that slows removal and replacement. Others connect to the front rail and need to be released or slid off the rail to remove.

These mountings can improve accuracy, but they can be a trade-off. ■ Can the fence be used easily on both sides of the blade? Many factory and replacement fences can be used on the right and left sides of the blade. But on some, the fence face must be removed and reversed when changing sides. ■ Can you easily mount jigs on the fence? Many table saw operations require you to mount shop-made jigs on the fence. It’s easier to drill bolt holes in some replacement fences than others. You may also find a fence that can’t be drilled at all – for this, you need to clamp a jig to it. Some fences actually include T-slots in the fence to make attaching accessories easier. Aftermarket rip fences can cost hundreds of dollars – potentially one-third the price of your saw – so when possible, getting a good rip fence on a new table saw is preferable. If you’re upgrading, choose carefully.

Aftermarket miter gauges offer increased accuracy, capacity and built-in adjustable stops. They also allow the workpiece to remain flat on the table saw surface.

Miter Gauges

Factory miter gauges often are as inadequate as factory fences, but deciding what to replace them with is more complex. How much cut-off work do you perform on the table saw, and how large are the boards that you must cut accurately? If you crosscut lots of large boards, you need a crosscut (or miter) sled instead of a replacement miter gauge. For small work and an occasional large board, a good miter gauge will serve you well. Here are a few features to look for in a quality aftermarket miter gauge: ■ The miter bar should be adjustable to allow you to custom fit it to the miter slots in your saw top. No matter how accurate the miter gauge, if the bar fits sloppily in the slot your work will suffer. ■ Some type of adjustable stop should be included on the fence. It should be able to be located easily anywhere on the crosscut fence. It should be stable, but if possible, a stop that can flip out of the way of the cut without changing the setting is also advantageous. ■ Make sure you look for a fence that is adequate to the task. A miter gauge should allow you to set a stop for the length of a table leg, so at least 30" capacity is recommended. When you use a miter gauge, whether a factory gauge or a replace-

This shop-made crosscut sled has one miter bar and the sled runs right up against the blade. It also adds a mitering feature by adding a sliding track that allows the fence to pivot and lock. A commercial version, the Dubby, is also available at 800-533-6709 or in-lineindustries.com.

ment, there is friction between the wood and the saw table as you push the work across the surface. The larger the board, the greater the friction – and the greater the tendency for the board to twist or creep as you make your crosscut. A crosscut sled works like a miter gauge, but it also supports the wood and eliminates the friction. Crosscuts – particularly cuts in large boards – are smoother and more accurate with a sled. While you can’t easily make your own miter gauge, a shop-made crosscut sled is definitely an option. There are two distinct styles of shop-made sleds, one that slides on the left of the blade and another that slides on both sides of the blade, with a kerf cut in the sled to allow blade passage. Both have benefits.

Stop

A two-sided crosscut sled allows equal support on either side of the blade and also functions as a partial blade guard. While stops can also be added into this design (as shown) it doesn’t easily allow for adjustable miter cuts.

The left-sliding sled (shown above) supports the workpiece for square and mitered cuts, but it does not support the waste piece during or after the cut. The “fall-off” piece can truly fall off and without proper caution can become a hazard. This can also cause tear-out at the end of the cut. One solution is to add a second fixed table of the same height as the sled to the right of the blade. Another option is to use a larger wooden sled that rides in both miter slots, allowing you to support the workpiece on both sides of the blade. It also will always be set for a square, 90° cut, but will not easily accommodate mitered cuts.

Sliding Tables

Like a crosscut sled, a sliding table supports the work so you can crosscut large stock accurately and easily. But unlike a miter sled, the supporting surface is flush with the saw table. And instead of sliding back and forth in the miter gauge slots, this accessory rolls back and forth on bearings and rails. A sliding table usually replaces the left table wing on your saw and will require you to relocate, or shorten the fence rails. This will also limit how far you can position the fence to the left of the blade, so be mindful of this complication. Most sliding tables not only allow moving larger panels past the blade effortlessly, but they also have stops mounted on the crosscut fence that can accommodate up to a 62" crosscut. The popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS SAFETY TIP:

For a splitter to work correctly it needs to be perfectly aligned with the blade. Most factory-provided splitters are made from a light-gauge steel that can be easily bent. If your splitter should lose alignment, it’s easy to readjust using a hand screw clamp to apply pressure to the splitter bending it back into alignment. Of course, you need to remove the clamp when making a cut.

SAFETY TIP: Nothing Like the Real Thing

photo by al parrish

Bend & Split

This sliding table makes crosscutting panels and longer boards simple and accurate. Although they require a bit more space in your shop and are expensive, they can be a valuable addition.

fence can also be repositioned to the front of the table for front-supported crosscuts, or angled for miter cuts. While very advantageous, sliding tables are expensive and are usually recommended for cabinet saws. If you’re working with a contractor saw, you’ll likely be adequately served by adding a simple miter sled to your setup.

Blade Guards/Splitters

This is another area where manufacturers have provided what is necessary on the saw, but pricing has kept guard systems at the bare minimum and they’re often cumbersome to use. So we recommend upgrading your safety systems on While outfeed tables and roller stands can make things much easier when cutting large material, sometimes there’s nothing like a helping hand ... when helping correctly. Remember, both operators must be clear of the danger zone. You must each understand what is expected of you during the operation and what you will do if something goes wrong. Hand signals are best. Also, remember that the guy pushing the board is in charge. If you’re the helper, don’t try to direct the board through the blade. That’s his job!

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your saw. An aftermarket splitter and guard provide more safety and are easier to use, but they can cost hundreds of dollars. Despite the price, they’re a good investment. Aftermarket overarm blade guards that replace the guards shipped with the saw offer improved convenience and safety, but the convenience usually means you must use both an overarm guard and a splitter for complete safety. An overarm guard (and there are a half dozen available) usually employs a clear shatterproof basket that covers the blade area and makes it difficult to bring your hand in contact with the blade. Suspended and height adjustable,

Overarm guards are designed to keep your hands away from the blade, but also provide easy and clearly visible saw operation. Able to quickly swing out of the way as needed, this guard also has built-in dust collection.

these guards can be made to operate in most cutting procedures. When a piece needs to be run vertically on the saw, the guard is designed to swing out of the way (temporarily), and swing easily back into place without extensive resetting. Some even include built-in dust collection. The splitter plays an important safety role. By introducing a thin steel or high-impact plastic plate into the blade kerf after a cut, the splitter keeps the divided piece of wood from pinching the blade, should the pieces be inclined to twist because of internal tension in the wood. Another part of a splitter is a set of toothed pawls that are spring-loaded and move out of the way as a board passes them. But the teeth will catch on the board keeping it from moving back towards the operator in a kickback. Typically an integral part of a manufacturer-supplied guard, the splitter and pawls can cause headaches. You must remove them for specialized saw operations such as using a dado stack. Once removed, they can be difficult to reattach. Plus, they can become easily misaligned. Aftermarket splitter/pawl assemblies that can be quickly detached and reinstalled without using tools are now available. These accessories are just good sense and should always be used in conjunction with an overarm guard system.

An aftermarket splitter/pawl assembly is shown in position (left) and being easily removed (right), without the use of tools. The splitter keeps a cut board from pinching the blade, while the pawls reduce kickback. The two parts work together to ensure your safety.

you may prefer one style over another. You can also make your own roller stands from kits, or from odds and ends in your shop, if that’s your preference. Outfeed tables are more permanent in design and are exactly what they sound like. The tables are usually about 24" wide and about 48" long, and are designed to be about 1 ⁄8" lower than the height of the saw’s table. These are usually shop-made items and the top sur-

face could be made from melamine or laminate to provide less friction against a moving workpiece. It’s usually handy to make two of these tables (shop space permitting). One serves as an outfeed table behind the saw to catch longer pieces, while the other is used at the left side of the saw to support longer pieces. If necessary, you can get by with one table, locating it for your immediate support needs.

Roller Stands & Outfeed Tables

While it might be advantageous to build permanent outfeed tables and side tables to support larger work on your saw, it’s not always practical. There are two distinct types of temporary work support that make handling larger pieces on the table saw manageable – roller stands and outfeed tables. Roller stands are available for sale in a dizzying array of designs. They all are adjustable in height to align with your saw’s table and offer some type of lowfriction support head. This can be a set of oversized ball bearings, one or more large rolling bars, or as simple as a tilting, slick plastic surface. All work, but

Roller stands serve as a simple helping hand when working with wide or long material. The Lee Valley stand shown here uses swiveling casters to support and move the material. It’s adjustable for height in both gross or fine increments using separate mechanisms. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS HANDY TIP: Fence Straddler

To make a zero-clearance table insert, plane a piece of hardwood to the thickness of your regular blade insert. Trace the shape of the insert on the planed stock and saw it with a band saw, cutting about 1⁄16" wide of the line. Fasten the metal blade insert to the wooden blank with double-faced carpet tape and rout the final shape with a flush-trim bit. Adjust the height of the bit so the pilot bearing follows the shape of the metal insert while the cutters trim the wood.

Zero Clearance Inserts Push sticks and push blocks are valuable accessories. But sometimes you want even more control than usual. I recommend making at least one fence straddler. When making a narrow rip cut, the stock can be lifted off the table saw as it passes by the rear of the blade. It can also be pinched between the blade and the fence, and then flung like a spear. A fence straddler allows you to both hold the stock on the table and feed it past the blade. Because the U-shape of the jig straddles the fence it adds great stability and the handle on top keeps your hand even further from harm’s way.

All table saws come equipped with a throat plate insert. These usually have a 3 ⁄8"-wide slot running the length of the opening to accommodate most saw operations, including bevel cuts. While they work, the slot, which is three times the width of the blade, can allow waste to drop between the blade and the insert where they will likely be splintered. Don’t throw the insert away: Hang onto it and make your own zero-clearance table saw inserts. In fact, make a few of them. Not only will they keep fall-off pieces from being thrown back at you, but when cutting joints, you have more bearing surface for your work

to ride on. Another benefit is by providing better support on the underside of the cut, zero-clearance inserts reduce splintering, especially in plywood. The photo above shows how to make a simple zero-clearance insert. Once made, run your saw blade down to it’s lowest point and fit the plate into the throat opening. Hold the plate in place (either by placing the rip fence over the edge of the plate, or by clamping a board across the edge of the plate) then turn on the saw and slowly run the blade up through the plate. If you would like to make a throat plate that can be adjusted for height to fit perfectly flush with the saw table, make your blank thinner and then add

BASIC TIP: Everything Handy This may seem a little simple, but no other single tip will save you as much time and frustration. Five accessories to always keep at the saw: pencil, tape measure, safety glasses, bench brush and calipers or a steel rule. No matter how much attention you’re paying in your shop, half the time you end up leaving one of these items somewhere else and have to go chasing it before you can make your cut. This can lead to inaccuracies, poor safety habits and frustration. Find a drawer or even store these items in the hollow front rail of your rip fence, but keep them at the saw.

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Three types of featherboards are shown here. At the top is a shop-made one that can be clamped across the saw table. The “feathers” are created by making repeated cuts on the band saw. The lower left one has a strong magnet that locks it to the saw table and uses flexible plastic paddles. The third rides in the miter slot and uses plastic feathers to apply pressure.

short wood screws to the plate, located to rest on the tabs inside the throat opening. By adjusting the screws, you adjust the plate.

Featherboards

You can increase accuracy and safety with featherboards, which press stock against the fence or table during a cut. Featherboards work just like the pawls on a splitter assembly, but they’re tension-loaded, not spring loaded. As wood is pushed past the fingers, they bend out of the way, but will not allow the material to be pulled back through. This keeps your work tight against a saw table, saw fence, or both at the same time. You can purchase plastic featherboards or make your own. Evenly spaced kerfs ripped in the end of a piece provide the tension. For less tension, make the cuts longer. For more tension, shorten them up. A straight-grained hardwood is best for featherboards. Once made, the featherboards are clamped in place. They should be positioned to avoid forcing the piece against the blade. To avoid clamp placement problems, you can also make simple hold-downs to fasten the featherboards in your miter slot.

Push Sticks

Push sticks – one of the most important table saw accessories – are often overlooked. When it comes to safety, you can never have enough push sticks handy. I’ve known woodworkers to use very simple and very elaborate push sticks. In my opinion both are great, as long as they’re being used. And don’t worry about nicking your stick with the saw blade. It’s much easier to make a new push stick than to grow a new finger. There are dozens of manufactured push stick designs. Some are shipped with new table saws and many other designs are sold in catalogs and retail locations. All are fine, but consider making your own instead. Use either a solid hardwood or high-density plywood. Either copy a shape from a storebought design that you like, or design your own. Just make sure you use them.

Other Accessories Powertwist Belt If you have a contractor saw, this is a great upgrade. This belt, commonly called a “link belt,” makes your saw run smoother and with less slipping. It costs about $7 a foot (you’ll probably need 4'), but it’s worth it (available from Woodcraft, 800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com). ■

Mobile Base Many woodworkers are challenged by space and one way to ease that is with the use of mobile bases. Even your table saw can be made mobile, though usually cabinet saws are set in place and not moved. If you add a mobile base to your contractor-style table saw, make sure it can be locked solidly in position with no movement. The last thing you want is your saw shifting during a cut. ■

Dust Collection Table saws are much more friendly about creating dust (at least in volume) compared to planers and jointers, but the dust they do create is fine and still dangerous. Most cabinet saws offer an effective dust port in the base. Contractor saws require some special effort. The open back makes dust collection less efficient, but it’s still worth the effort. PW ■

Low-cost Splitter One of the most recent and affordable options for making your table saw safer is this polycarbonate plastic splitter from Micro Jig (407-696-6695 or microjig. com). About $20, this splitter installs on any zero-clearance throat plate (which you should have anyway) in about 30 minutes. The splitter mounts right behind your blade holding the two recently cut pieces of wood apart and greatly reducing the chance of kickback. When you need to make a dado or through-cut, it can be removed quickly and then can be easily dropped back into place after the cut. Micro Jig makes splitters that will work with standard 1 ⁄ 8"-wide saw blades and also thin-kerf blades. Each package comes with two splitters. Each face of the two splitters exerts a different amount of pressure (in .003" increments) against your stock and the rip fence. This allows the splitter to function as a featherboard, adding accuracy to your rips. Each kit includes the drilling guide (that doubles as storage for the splitters when not in use on your saw), drill bit and instructions.

The splitter slips into three holes drilled in your zero-clearance throat plate, directly behind the blade.

Two useful and functional push-stick designs are shown here. The lower design applies very specific hold-down pressure at the notched tip of the stick. The upper stick is actually more of a push shoe. The entire surface ahead of the notch rides on the material, providing pressure not only behind the wood, but along the length of the wood as well.

The drilling guide doubles as storage for the splitters when not in use and attaches to the underside of the throat plate. popularwoodworking.com

55

JIG JOURNAL

Saw Sled

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his multipurpose saw sled offers the sliding table itself, with a fence long enough for most crosscut applications and a micro-adjustable fence stop for duplication and accuracy. The sled can use a purchased aftermarket miter bar, or you can make your own from a piece of hardwood. I added a microadjustment mechanism to the stop using a #10-32 flat-head machine screw threaded into the stop, with a jamb nut and knurled nut on the other end to turn the screw easily. EJB
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WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

5

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

Advanced Joinery

I

n Chapter 3 we discussed basic joinery on the table saw, including miters, bevels, rabbets, dados and grooves. In this chapter we’re going to take those concepts a step further. Essentially we’ll be using the same techniques. These joints simply require a little more thought before you begin. We’ll be looking at compound miters, tenons, dovetails, lock joints and splines. Each of these joints can be created using tools other than the table saw. Some might even argue that they can be made more easily on other tools. For example, compound miters can be easily created using a miter saw. Tenons,

dovetails (with the help of a jig), lock joints and splines can be handily created using a router or a router table. But why buy extra machinery, tools and jigs if you don’t have to? All of these joints can be easily achieved with your best friend, the table saw.

Compound Miters

To start we’ll take a look at compound miters on the table saw. While regular miter joints are a mainstay in picture framing, if you want to make a more

PRO TIP: When adding crown moulding to a cabinet, start by cutting the compound miter on one end of the front piece, then allow plenty of length and rough cut the other end a bit long. Then cut the appropriate compound angle on both short return pieces for the sides, again leaving plenty of length to the back of the cabinet. Use one return moulding to align the front moulding (forming the complete compound miter), then mark the exact location of the second miter cut on the front piece. Attach the front moulding, then simply mark the square cut on the back of each return, make the cuts and attach.

Photo by Al Parrish

1-2-3 Crown

complicated, three-dimensional frame you need to cut a compound miter. Useful for much more than picture framing, the compound miter joint is probably most commonly used in forming corners for crown moulding. This joint can be accurately created on the table saw with just a little help from mathematics. To cut a compound miter on a table saw you need to both tilt the blade and angle the miter gauge for each cut. When two boards are joined by com-

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Choose Your Blade

To make a compound miter, angle the miter gauge and tilt the blade. Compound miters are used to join boards whose faces slope, such as crown mouldings.

Fitting tenons into mortises can be a little tricky, but by using the right blade you can make it easier. If you know you can cut a tenon to fit perfectly, then using a ripping blade (or flat-bottomed dado) to form the cheeks makes good sense. But if you want to make your tenon oversized and sneak up on the final fit with a shoulder plane, you don’t want to have to plane too much material for fitting. Rather, use a crosscut blade to form your oversized tenon. The tooth configuration on the blade will leave a corduroy-type finish on the tenon cheeks with hills and valleys. Planing away only the hills to get a perfect fit is much easier.

SMART TIP: Easy, Cheap Clamping You’ll notice I used simple tape to hold together my compound miter test at right. Tape can come in handy after the test as well. When you’re assembling odd-shaped pieces such as a six-sided compoundmiter shape it’s nearly impossible to put clamps on the piece. Go ahead and use tape instead. Lay the pieces to assemble with the miters facing down. Butt the joints together and put tape across the joint. Repeat this for all but the last joint. Then carefully flip the taped pieces, add glue and fold the shape, taping the last joint. The pressure exerted by the tape as the joints close will be plenty adequate to hold everything together.

pound miters, the boards slope, rather than rest on an edge or a face. This slope and the number of sides of the frame determine the necessary blade tilt and the miter gauge angle. (See the chart at right to find the settings needed for different frames.) A standard crown moulding (fitting in a 90° inside or outside corner) commonly has a 45° slope. Reading our chart, for four-sided miters, we come up with a blade bevel angle of 30° and a miter gauge angle of 54.74°. Before committing to the compound-miter setup called out on the chart, make a sample to check your angle. Cut some small scrap pieces using the recommended angles. Cut enough to complete your test shape. To make

matching left and right compound miters, flip each board face for face so that a different edge rests against the miter gauge and a different face rests against the table when cutting each end. After cutting all the compound miters, tape the pieces together to complete the frame and inspect the joints. If the joints gap on the inside, decrease the blade tilt. If they gap on the outside, increase the blade tilt. If the slope is greater than you expect it to be, decrease the miter gauge angle. If it’s less than expected as measured from horizontal, increase the angle. Just make sure you don’t change any one setting more than 1 ⁄2° between tests. Another way to calculate compound

To test a compound miter setup, cut enough sample pieces to form your ultimate shape. Cut all the pieces to the same length so you can complete a small frame. Tape the parts together, then inspect the joints and measure the slope.

58

Popular Woodworking January 2007

miters is with a scientific calculator (about $9 at most office supply stores) with SIN, COS, TAN and INV buttons. On some calculators, the INV button is labeled FUNC or the key is blank. If you have a computer and use Microsoft Excel software, you can download a simple Compound Miter Calculator that I wrote. Visit popularwoodworking.com and click on the “Magazine Extras” link.

Step-off block

Sandpaper

Tenons

Defining 3 ⁄16" shoulders on all four sides of a tenon is simple. The piece is run over the blade using a miter gauge. I’ve added sandpaper to the face of the miter gauge to keep the piece from slipping. I’m also using a step-off block that allows me to set my fence to align the cut, but as the miter gauge moves forward, the block stays behind to avoid kickback if the piece binds.

cut the cheeks. There are a few ways this can be tackled on a table saw, primarily either with the piece held vertically or horizontally. To cut the cheeks horizontally, a dado cutter works well and will accurately center the tenon. Another advantage to using this accessory is that you can cut both a shoulder and a cheek in one pass. If you don’t own a dado cutter, a single blade can also be used by making repeated cuts to nibble away the waste. It’s slower, but it still works. To cut the tenon in a vertical man-

Illustration by Len Churchill

When it comes to reliable joinery the mortise and tenon is excellent for frames, including table bases, doors and cabinetry. The male part of the joint, the tenon, is easily made on the table saw. First, the shoulders of the tenon are cut using a miter gauge to guide the workpiece. Depending on the required dimensions of your tenon, you may be able to make all four shoulder cuts without changing the saw setup. I typically use a tenon that is half the thickness of the workpiece. With a 3 ⁄4"-thick piece of wood that would require a 3 ⁄8"-thick tenon. This leaves a 3 ⁄16" shoulder on the two wide sides of the tenon and that’s usually a perfectly good size for the two narrow shoulders as well. With the shoulders defined it’s time to

Mortise-and-tenon joint

Compound Miter Chart for the Table Saw

4 sides butted

4 sides mitered

5 sides mitered

6 sides mitered

8 sides mitered

Slope° Miter Bevel Miter Bevel Miter Bevel Miter Bevel Miter Bevel angle angle angle angle angle angle angle angle angle angle



0 5 10 15 20 25 30 49.11 48.59 35 50.68 42.14 40 52.55 35.93 45 54.74 30 50 57.27 24.4 55 60.16 19.21 60 63.43 14.48 65 67.09 10.29 70 71.12 6.72 75 75.49 3.84 80 80.15 1.73 85 85.02 0.44 90 90 0

45 45.11 45.44 45.99 46.78 47.81 49.11 50.68 52.55 54.74 57.27 60.16 63.43 67.09 71.12 75.49 80.15 85.02 90

90 3.53 7.05 10.55 14 17.39 20.7 23.93 27.03 30 32.8 35.4 37.77 39.86 41.64 43.08 44.13 44.78 45

54 54.1 54.42 54.94 55.68 56.64 57.82 59.24 60.9 62.81 64.97 67.38 70.04 72.93 76.05 79.35 82.81 86.38 90

90 2.94 5.86 8.75 11.6 14.38 17.09 19.7 22.2 24.56 26.76 28.78 30.59 32.19 33.52 34.59 35.37 35.82 36

60 60.09 60.38 60.85 61.52 62.38 63.43 64.69 66.14 67.79 69.64 71.68 73.9 76.29 78.83 81.5 84.27 87.12 90

90 2.5 4.98 7.44 9.85 12.2 14.48 16.67 18.75 20.71 22.52 24.18 25.66 26.94 28.02 28.88 29.52 29.87 30

67.5 67.58 67.81 68.19 68.73 69.42 70.27 71.26 72.4 73.68 75.09 76.64 78.3 80.07 81.94 83.88 85.89 87.93 90

90 1.91 3.81 5.69 7.52 9.31 11.03 12.68 14.24 15.7 17.05 18.26 19.35 20.29 21.07 21.7 22.12 22.43 22.5

Note: The slope is measured from horizontal, with the assembly resting on a bench or work surface.

popularwoodworking.com

59

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP:

Cutting a tenon vertically on the table saw is really only safe if the piece is held tightly in place during the cut. A simple shop-made tenoning jig like the one shown here locks the piece in place quickly with the snap of the toggle clamp’s lever. My tenoning jig is designed to straddle my rip fence, adding even greater stability and control during the cut.

No-mortiser Mortise Large through-mortises in furniture can be time consuming and require equipment (a mortiser and appropriate chisel) that you might not own. These types of mortises often occur in table legs and there you’re in luck. You can build the mortise into the leg and use your table saw to make it. Most trestle-style legs are too large to be cut from one piece of wood, so a glue-up is required. By running matching, wide dados in the leg halves prior to glue-up, you can make almost any size through-mortise with a minimum of effort.

PRO TIP: Dedicated Dovetail Blade

ner I recommend using a tenoning jig that holds the piece tightly in place, as shown above. Another advantage to a tenoning jig is it also guarantees a centered tenon. The piece is flipped to cut both cheeks, but the jig remains in place, centering the tenon. You should always make a sample piece to test-fit the tenon to its mortise and adjust the setup as needed. While you can’t make a mortise on a table saw, you can make a variation on the traditional mortise-and-tenon joint known as the corder bridle joint. This joint leaves the mortise and the tenon visible from the ends of the adjoining boards. While not as strong as a true mortise and tenon, it greatly simplifies the mor-

Illustration by Len Churchill

If you do a lot of dovetailing on the table saw, you may find it convenient to have a blade modified specifically for the task. Have your sharpener grind the teeth of a rip or combination blade so all the teeth are angled at 10° (be sure to indicate which way your saw tilts). This will allow you to cut right to the shoulder line on the tail board, saving a lot of handwork. You’ll still be able to use the blade for most regular work. – Excerpted from Cutting Edge Table Saw Tips & Tricks, by Kenneth S. Burton (Popular Woodworking Books).

Toggle clamp

Bridle joint 60

Popular Woodworking January 2007

tising operation and both parts can be cut with a single setup on the table saw using a tenoning jig. The bridle joint shown below is designed for joining a rail to the center of another piece. If the top piece were trimmed away at the left end of the joint, you could easily form the corner of a door frame. All of this can be done on the table saw and without having to fuss with cutting a mortise.

Dovetails

Dovetails on the table saw? Not possible! At least you might think so, but if you’re making through dovetails (dovetails that allow the joinery to be visible from both sides of the joint), it can be done. Jim Stack, an accomplished woodworker and author, shared his method for through dovetails on the table saw. The trick is all in a special sled specifically designed to keep everything aligned during the cuts. You still need to lay out your dovetails as your would with any dovetail jig, but with this method you’re not limited by templates and you can make the pins as thin as you’d like without the worry of fitting a router bit into the opening. The page at right shows you how to make the jig and how to put it to work. I’m afraid we’re still working on a method to cut half-blind dovetails on the table saw.

Table Saw Dovetails The table saw is great for cutting dovetails because it can cut straight and square. You can create the look of a hand-cut joint by using this two-sided sled and a rip blade. 1. Use three #6 x 3 ⁄4" wood screws to attach the hardwood miter guide to the bottom of the base at dead center. 2. Use #8 x 11 ⁄ 2" wood screws to attach the angled fences to their mounting cleats and cut a 10° angle on the each end. 3. Draw a line down the center of the base and screw the assemblies to the base.

guard block behind the fence at this location. Put the jig in the other miter slot and repeat the process.

6. Attach the blade-guard blocks to the straight fence in the same manner that you did with the angled fence. Use glue and screws.

5. Screw the straight fence to its mounting cleat, then screw one end of the mounting cleat to the base, allowing the fence to pivot until you square this fence to the blade. With the jig in one of the miter slots, hold a framing square against the long fence and line up the other arm of the square with the saw blade. Screw the assembly in position.

7. Set your saw blade so it’s square to the table and about 1" above the base of the jig. Cut a kerf into each angled fence. Don’t cut all the way through the blade-guard blocks. 8. Turn the jig around and bevel your saw blade to 10°. Cut this angled kerf into both sides of the straight fence. – Jim Stack

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To Cut Your Dovetails: 1

Lay out the pins on the end and both faces of the workpiece. Be sure to mark the waste material. Set the saw blade height to the thickness of the stock. Using the angled fence on the fixture, make your defining cuts for one side of the pins.

2

Move the fixture to the other miter gauge slot, switch to the other angled fence and make the cuts on the other sides of the pins.

5

3

Nibble away the waste between the pins with repeated passes over the blade.

6

4

Use the pins as a template to lay out the tails.

Tilt the blade to 10° and turn the fixture around so the straight fence faces the blade. Raise the blade to the material’s thickness. Make the defining cuts on one side of each tail.

Flip the part face for face and make the defining cuts on the other side of the tails. Then clean out the waste. Clean out the corners of the tails with a chisel. popularwoodworking.com

61

TIPS & TRICKS PRO JIG:

Lock Joints

Joinery Dividers Once you’ve mastered the lock joint, put it to work for the inside of the drawers as well. The same joinery technique can be used to add fixed dividers to any drawer or box. Simply space off the locations for the dado cuts, running both sides at the same time (to make sure they’re even). Then run the tenon cuts on as many dividers as you need. This same concept can be used for curio shelving.

Similar to half-blind dovetail joints, lock joints (or locking tongue-anddado joints) cannot be seen from one direction and are often used to assemble drawers. They’re much easier to make than dovetails – you can cut them with a single setup on a table saw. The tradeoff is that they don’t withstand shear stress as well as dovetails (the wood in front of the dado will shear off if you

pull too hard on the drawer front). However, they are still a good choice for small drawers or drawers that won’t see much use. To make a lock joint, mount a dado cutter on your saw and adjust the depth of cut to equal half the thickness of the board. As most drawer boxes are made of 1 ⁄2"-thick material, make the tongue and the thickness of the dado 1 ⁄4" thick. This works out fairly well for the dado

PRO TIP: Spline Grain Direction The grain in a corner spline should run across the joint for maximum strength. For a hidden spline, this means the length of the piece will be only about 3 /4", while the width will be considerably more. Rather than try to cut such a short, wide piece, make the splines from fairly narrow pieces and use as many as necessary to fill the groove. – Excerpted from Cutting Edge Table Saw Tips & Tricks, by Kenneth Burton (Popular Woodworking Books).

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

A 1 ⁄4"-thick step-off piece is used to cut the tenon on the end of the drawer fronts and backs. Not only does this simple block add a bit of safety against binding, but it also allows you to make this second lock joint cut without having to reset the blade or fence.

stack as well, requiring only the two outer blades to make a 1 ⁄4"-wide dado. And as an added benefit you can actually set the saw and fence once for both cuts. Using the fence and your miter gauge to guide the stock, cut the 1 ⁄4" x 1 ⁄4" dado in the workpiece. The stock is held flat against the saw table and snug against the fence face. To cut the mating tongue section, you essentially want to shift your dado cut to the end of the board, rather than 1 ⁄4" in from the end. To do this, use a 1 ⁄4"-thick spacer against the fence. Set the tongue board flat on the saw table as before, using the miter gauge again as your guide. Slide the board against the 1 ⁄4" spacer and then push the board forward toward the blade. The spacer remains behind, leaving a 1 ⁄4" space between your board and the fence face. Hold the piece tightly against the miter gauge and make your cut. That’s all it takes – you have your 1 ⁄4" x 1 ⁄4" tongue that should fit your dado perfectly.

The advanced spline joint is one used to reinforce miter joints. Depending on how a miter joint is oriented, you can run the splines either horizontally or vertically. Also, you can choose whether to cut the spline before or after you assemble the miter joint. Splined miters in which the grooves are cut after the parts have been assembled are sometimes referred to as open spline joints, because both ends of each spline are clearly visible. PW

Illustration by Len Churchill

Illustration by Len Churchill

Lock joint

plywood or hardboard. Solid wood is best if the spline is decorative and the grain runs perpendicular to the joining pieces. Plywood is excellent when the top plys run with the grain of the joint making a good glue surface while the cross-grain plys add strength. Hardboard, which has no grain direction, is good for any grain direction. Making a spline groove is no different than making an ordinary groove. Use a saw blade or dado cutter to cut a groove as wide as the spline is thick. Cut the depth about 1 ⁄32" more than half the spline’s width to allow excess glue space. If centering the spline is necessary, simply run the board twice with opposing faces against the fence. Start with the blade near center on the edge, then sneak the fence over till the groove is exactly the right width. Dry-fit your spline. Half the spline should fit in one groove and half in the other, with just a little side-to-side slop. If everything checks out, spread glue on the adjoining surfaces, the splines and in the grooves, and assemble the joint.

Spline joint for frames

Splines

A spline is a small board, usually just 1 ⁄4" to 1 ⁄8" thick, that spans the joint between two boards. The spline rests in two matching grooves – one in each board. You also can install a spline in matching rabbets or dados if needed. Splines can be made of solid wood,

For splines, make a quick carriage to help support the assembly as you move it past the blade. The blade height should be just shy of the joint’s inside corner. For flat frames, you can saw right through the carriage’s supporting pieces. Just be sure no screws are in the path of the blade. – Excerpted from Cutting Edge Table Saw Tips & Tricks, by Kenneth Burton (Popular Woodworking Books). popularwoodworking.com

63

JIG JOURNAL

Microadjustable Finger-joint Jig

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This finger-joint jig uses a #10-32 machine screw so you can fine-tune the fit of your fingers.

Because the machine screw has 32 tpi, one turn will move it precisely 1 ⁄32"; one half-turn moves it 1 ⁄64"; one quarter-turn is 1 ⁄128". When the flat head is resting against the face, the face will move a precise amount. No guesswork! Make the tenon and stop from hardwood such as oak or maple. Drill


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a 5 ⁄32"-diameter hole for the machine screw and then cut threads in the hole with a tap. (You can purchase a #10-32 tap at most hardware stores.) To make it easier to turn the machine screw, simply install a knurled nut on the end and tighten a stop nut against it.



 


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Popular Woodworking January 2007

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his finger-joint jig is designed to make evenly spaced, square notches in the ends of adjoining boards, leaving multiple tenons that interlock to form a finger joint. A standard finger-joint jig has just three parts: a back that you attach to your miter gauge, a movable face that feeds the wood into a dado blade to cut the notches and a tenon that aligns the wood for each cut. To space the fingers properly you move the face right or left to adjust the space between the tenon and the dado blade. If the fingers are too close together, they will be too tight to assemble easily. If too far apart, the joint will be loose. Positioning the face properly is often a frustrating loop of trials and errors. Cut a finger joint, test the fit, move the face, cut another joint and so on. By adding one more part to this jig – a small wooden block that mounts a #10-32 machine screw and serves as an adjustable stop – you can make this adjustment simple and accurate.

WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

6

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

Special Techniques

A

lthough the table saw was invented to cut large boards into smaller ones, that’s not all it will do. With the proper accessories, you can use it to cut a variety of woodworking joints, and an astonishing number of simple or complicated decorative shapes and profiles for your projects. One such accessory is a moulding head or moulder. A moulder mounts on the saw’s arbor similarly to a dado set and also makes broad cuts. But unlike a dado cutter, the kerf left by a moulder is rarely square. There are a variety of knives that fit in the moulding head and each cuts a different shape. With a good selection of moulding knives you can make decorative cuts or complex joints. In this chapter we also discuss how to cut raised panels for doors and cabinetry. Plus, we show you step by step how to cut delicate tapers for table legs.

Using a Moulder

A moulder is used very much like a dado cutter, with one important difference. While there are only two basic dado cuts (dados and grooves), there are as many different cuts as there are moulding knives. The shape of each moulding cut is determined by the shape of the knives used to make it. Furthermore, you can create hundreds of additional shapes by passing a board over the moulder two or more times, using different knives for each pass. Although there are many different

moulding profiles, they can all be grouped into three categories: Single-purpose Knives These knives are designed to cut just one shape, such as a cove, a bead or an ogee. And they do that very well. ■

Multi-purpose Knives These knives cut two or more shapes. Usually one side of the knife is ground to cut one shape and the other side is ground to cut another. This saves setup time required to change knives. ■

SAFETY TIP: Many mouldings are created on smaller strips of wood. Don’t attempt to mould narrow stock or any workpiece that’s too small to safely control on the table saw. Instead, mould a larger board and then cut the smaller piece from it. Another option is to make a quick jig that captures the small piece to immobilize it while you create the profile.

Photos by the author

Work Large, Then Small

TIPS & TRICKS SAFETY TIP: Right at Hand

Ogee-and-bead knife

Ogee knife

Tongue-and-groove coping knives

The ogee knife (left) is a single-purpose knife because it cuts only the ogee shape. The ogeeand-bead knife (middle) is a multi-purpose knife that will cut two different shapes, depending on how you set up for the moulding cut. The tongue-and-groove coping knives (right) are precisely matched – one cuts a groove and the other cuts the tongue to fit it.

With all of the special saw techniques in this chapter, safety is even more important. With the blade extended further than normal and when using larger cutting knives, the possibility for accidents is increased. Keep your safety gear nearby. In fact, keeping a push stick stuck to your saw fence is a great idea. If you have a metal saw fence, inset a couple magnets in the handle of your push stick to keep it always handy. If your fence isn’t metal, hook-and-loop fabric will work just as well.

PRO TIP: Historic Profiles One of the great advantages of using a moulding head is the ability to create your own profiles. This is especially useful in reproducing existing moulding such as baseboard and crown mouldings found in older homes. These mouldings can’t be purchased any more and the only option is to grind your own knives. If possible, mixing and matching existing moulding knives may accurately reproduce these complicated profiles. If not, you still have the option of creating your own knife profiles. By using a blank set of knives (flat topped with no cutting edge) you can copy the pattern onto the knives and then carefully grind the required shape with a special grinding wheel or rotary tool. The knives must be nearly identical and equally balanced. The finish may not be as perfect as a manufactured profile, but it’s much cheaper than having custom knives made. 66

Popular Woodworking January 2007

Coping Knives These cut interlocking joints. They come in matched sets – one part of the set cuts one half of the joint, while the other part cuts the other half. ■

Setup and Use

Moulding knives normally come in sets of three. This is a good idea because it helps balance out the moulding head. Using only two knives can cause excessive vibration during the cut. Three knives also improves the quality of the cut, creating more cuts per inch. Each knife in a set is ground identically to the others. (Coping knives come in six-knife sets containing two matching sets of three.) To mount the knives in the moulding head, slip them into the slots in the cutterhead.

Make sure the flat surfaces all face in the direction of rotation. Tighten the screws that hold the knives in the head, then check each screw again. With a standard table saw operating at 3,500 rpm, you don’t want one of these knives coming loose. Set the position of the rip fence and the depth of cut as you would for a dado cutter and cut test pieces to check your setup. If you plan to cut two or more shapes in the same piece (for example, if you want to cut an ogee and a cove in the same board to form a crown moulding) cut several test pieces after you fine-tune the first setup. Use these pieces as samples to test successive setups. As you’re making your cut increase the arbor height in increments to get

Common Moulding Knives

Cove

Quarter-round

Ogee

Cove & bead

Flute

V-groove

Planer

Cloverleaf

Glue joint

Door lip

If there are no available throat plate inserts for the moulder you wish to use, you can easily make your own. First make an insert blank by using the existing insert to match the perimeter shape. Then lower the moulder height below the table. Bring the fence over until it covers the insert plate, but make sure it isn’t covering the location where the moulding knife will come through. If you’re unsure where the knife will come through, you can clamp a scrap board across the insert instead of using your saw fence. Start the saw and slowly raise the cutter up through the insert only as high as needed.

your finished profile. Feed the wood slowly over the cutter. If you feed the wood too quickly, the shaped surface will show ridges or mill marks. However, be careful not to feed the wood too slowly, especially when moulding hardwoods. If the moulder dwells too long in any one spot, it will heat up and burn the wood. The advantage of a moulder over a router or shaper is that it will cut all three surfaces – the face of a board as well as the edges and ends, and it can do it in one pass in some instances. Shapers can also cut in one pass, but cut only edges and ends, while the decorative face cuts you can make with a router are limited. To mould the ends

Cove and quarter-round

Tongue & groove

Quarter-round & bead

or edges, position the rip fence next to or partially covering the moulder (see photos at right). To cut the face, move the fence away or use the miter gauge to guide the work (see the photos below for details). When cutting moulded shapes with the board on edge, you must not reduce the width of the board. If your moulding profile shapes the entire edge you need to carefully set the depth of the cut so the moulder does not plane the board. If the moulder removes too much wood, the board will rock forward toward the end of the cut, making the moulded edge crooked. This is especially important when cutting coped edge joints, such as rule joints, and tongues and grooves.

Combination quarter-round

Rule joint

Three-bead

Cabinet door

To cut a moulded shape in the edge or end of a board, position the rip fence next to or partially covering the knives. Place the face of the board on the table and slowly feed the stock over the cutter. Here, a moulder forms part of a corner bead in the bottom edge of a table apron.

You also can mould an edge with the face of the board against the rip fence and the edge on the saw table. Here, the same apron board has been turned to cut the second part of the corner bead. Note: If the board is significantly wider than the rip fence is tall, use a tall fence extension to support it.

Three-flute

When moulding the face of a board, use a miter gauge to guide the board if cutting across the grain and a rip fence if cutting with the grain. Here, a moulder cuts three beads down the center of a table apron using the same knives that made the corner bead shown in the previous photos. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP:

Spacing and the proper bevel on a raised panel will make a perfect fit in the door frame. That is, until the panel shrinks because of humidity changes. Then the door will rattle and shift in the frame. A new concept (and product) to counteract this (and to make the initial panel-fitting simpler) is called Space Balls. The concept is to place small rubber balls (.26" in diameter) into the groove in the frame. As the panel is placed in the groove the balls compress, perfectly spacing the panel in the frame. At a later time when the panel shrinks, the balls will decompress, maintaining the panel spacing and keeping it from shifting. Space Balls are fairly inexpensive (about $5 for 100) and are available at a variety of woodworking supply houses, including Rockler (800-279-4441 or rockler.com). If you’re feeling really thrifty, foam strip insulation will also work well, as will thin beads of silicone caulk

Illustrations by Mary Jane Favorite

Even, Quiet Spacing

Bevel too steep

Panel too thin

Bevel correct

Panel splits frame

Panel loose in frame

Panel snug in frame

When making a raised panel, the bevel angle is critical. If it’s too steep (left) the panel could split the frame that it’s mounted in. If you thin out the panel too much (middle) the panel will be too loose and will rattle every time the door is moved. The bevel should be angled so it barely touches the groove’s side when the edge of the panel rests in the groove’s bottom, as shown above (right). In situations where wood may shrink or expand because of humidity changes, you must leave the panel slightly loose to avoid damaging the frame.

Making Raised Panels

Raised panels are a staple in much traditional and contemporary woodworking. They form an attractive solid-wood panel for doors and cabinet sides, and even can be used for most of the pieces (sides, bottoms and tops) required for a variety of boxes – both decorative and functional. They allow solid wood to be used in large physical applications without concerns for wood movement caused by seasonal changes in humidity.

When not in a door frame, raised panels are also used as bottoms in most traditional drawers, allowing a thin groove to support the bottom, while still offering full-width support for larger drawers. When using the table saw for specialty work, such as raising panels, it’s important to remember that pushing a table saw to perform tasks that it wasn’t originally designed to do can create a safety problem. If you overextend the

PRO TIP: Finish First Raised-panel doors can create a finishing problem that can be easily avoided. Because the panels are designed to float or move in the frame, unfinished wood can be exposed if the door is stained and finished after assembly. To avoid this, once your door has been successfully test-fit, remove the panels, and sand and stain them to their finished color. A thin coat of clear finish (if you’re using one) is also a good idea at this time. It will keep the final staining of the frame from clouding or smearing the stain on the panel.

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To account for the seasonal shrinking and swelling of solid-wood panels, you’ll need to trim a bit off the width of the panel before assembly.

To determine the proper bevel angle of a raised panel, draw a full-size crosssection of the groove and the panel on edge as shown. Decide how thick the panel should be at the perimeter. (Most woodworkers prefer not to cut it thinner than 3 ⁄16"; if the beveled area Bevel angle becomes too thin, the panel will be weak.) Measure that thickness along the bottom of the groove from the bottom left corner of the groove and make a mark. From this mark, draw a line that Not less 3 ⁄ than 16" just touches the top right corner of the groove. With a protractor, measure the angle between the side of the groove and the last line you drew – that’s the bevel angle you want to cut. Tilt the saw blade to that angle.

table saw, you can easily lose control of the workpiece. This, in turn, makes the operation dangerous, inaccurate or both. When trying new techniques, you must maintain safety, accuracy and control. Often, the easiest way to do this is to build a simple, sturdy jig to hold or guide the workpiece. A well-made jig is a tool in its own right, with its own capabilities and limits. For raised panels I highly recommend using a tall fence extension. The standard fence on a table saw is just too short to fully support a door panel being run on edge. Along with the tall extension, a featherboard to hold the piece tightly against the fence will make things safer, and also will ensure a quality cut with fewer saw marks. A raised panel is a board with edges and ends that have been beveled or tapered so the stock is thicker in the center than it is at the perimeter. This panel is usually mounted in a frame that allows it to expand and contract without stressing or distorting the project. You can raise a panel on a table saw by beveling the ends and edges. Before you can do so, you must decide what angle to cut the bevels. Most raised panels are designed to fit into grooves in their frames. If you make the bevel too steep, it will act as a

Field Rip fence Step

Saw table

Saw blade

wedge in the groove – when the panel expands, the bevel will split the sides of the groove. If you make the bevel too shallow, the panel will be loose in the groove. The bevel must be angled to just touch the groove’s side when the edge of the panel rests in the groove’s bottom. When you’ve determined the proper bevel, tilt the saw blade to that angle. Next, decide whether the raised panel will have a step between the field (raised area) and the bevels, and how large that step will be. Most woodworkers prefer to make a 1 ⁄16"- to 1 ⁄8"-deep step (about the same width as the saw teeth). This helps delineate the field from the bevels and makes the visual effect more dramatic. If you decide to make a step on the

Raised panels often have a step between the field and the bevels that emphasizes the design. If you decide to make a step, you must carefully position the rip fence so just the outside corners of the saw teeth break through the surface of the wood. The tops of the teeth will create the step. To make a shallower step, simply raise the blade – the teeth will protrude farther from the panel. To make it deeper, lower the blade, changing the width of the raised panel.

panel, place the rip fence so that just the outside corners of the teeth break through the wood as you cut. Make several test cuts to get the fence positioned just right, then cut the bevels in the ends and edges of the panel. Because the blade was tilted when you cut the bevels, the step won’t be square to the field. Depending on the grind of the saw teeth, it may not even be flat. It is best to correct this by trimming it with a second series of saw cuts. However, if the step is tiny you can use a file, scraper or sandpaper. When you make your cuts, start with the ends of the panel first, then the long edges. If there’s any tear-out while you’re cutting across the wood grain, it will be removed when you cut the two bevels that are parallel to the grain. One other note: On many table saws the blade tilts to the right. This means the fence must be placed to the left of the blade (away from the tilt) when raising panels.

After it’s cut, the step will not be square to the field. Some woodworkers prefer to correct this by trimming it with a second series of saw cuts. However, the step is so small that all it really needs is a little special attention with a file, scraper or sandpaper. If you use sandpaper to correct the angle of the step, wrap the paper around a hard, square block to make the step as flat as possible. popularwoodworking.com

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TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Optical Illusion When making legs, whether for chairs or tables, choosing your wood carefully can make the difference between beautiful and bizarre. The grain direction in your lumber can make or break the look of a piece. This goes double for tapered legs. If your grain direction is running in contrast or in harmony with the taper on your legs, it changes the look. The illustrations below help explain this. Angled grain (in either direction) gives your leg a barber pole appearance. Your best wood selection is a straight grain (rift cut) pattern with as little cathedral as possible. This is not only better for aesthetics, it also makes for a stronger leg.

Hypotenuse

Rise or side

On a sheet of scrap paper, draw a large right triangle with the same slope as the taper you want. Use this as a gauge to set the tapering jig to the proper angle: Align one arm with the base of the triangle and the other with the hypotenuse.

Making Taper Cuts

Angled

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Straight

Angled

Popular Woodworking January 2007

To taper a board, you must reduce its width gradually from one end of the board to the other. That requires holding the board with its length at a slight angle to the blade as you rip it. A tapering jig is one common tool for this job. This jig (detailed in Chapter 2) consists of two long arms, hinged together at one end. A ledge is glued to one arm near the end opposite the hinge. A metal brace lets you adjust and lock the angle between the two arms. The arm without the ledge guides the jig along the rip fence, while the other holds the stock at an angle to the saw blade. To set up for a taper cut, you must know the slope of the taper. You also should know whether you will cut a single taper (on a single side or two adjacent sides) or a double taper (with tapers on two or more opposing sides). Shown at right are two tapered table legs, each 24" long. The one on the left has a single taper; the one on the right, a double taper. The foot of both legs is the same width. The rise is equal on both. On both legs, the taper begins 4" from the top and continues to the bottom, making the rise 20" (24" – 4" = 20"). The run is not equal. Although both legs are 11 ⁄2" wide at the top and

then narrow to 1 ⁄2" at the bottom, the single-taper run is 1" (11 ⁄2" – 1 ⁄2" = 1"), and the double-taper run is 1 ⁄2" ([11 ⁄2" – 1 ⁄2"] ÷ 2" = 1 ⁄2").

11 ⁄ 2"

11 ⁄ 2"

4"

4"

24"

24"

1 ⁄ 2"

1 ⁄ 2"

Single taper

Double taper

Rise=20", Run=1"

Rise=20", Run=1 ⁄ 2"

Using scrap stock, cut several test pieces to the same dimensions as the workpieces you will taper. Lay out the tapers on each of these pieces. Place the jig on the table saw with the guiding arm against the fence and place a test piece against the ledge on the other arm of the jig. Position the fence so the inside edges of the teeth brush the layout line that marks the start of the taper.

To set the tapering jig to the proper angle, draw a right triangle on a large sheet of paper. The base on the triangle must be the same length as the rise, and the side of the triangle must be equal to the run. Place the jig over the triangle, then adjust it so one arm is parallel to the base and the other is parallel to the hypotenuse (see photo top left). If the slope of a taper is given in degrees, you don’t have to calculate the rise. Simply draw the triangle so the angle between the base and the hypotenuse matches that given for the slope. Next, transfer your taper to a test piece of wood. Place the jig on the table saw with the guiding arm against the fence. Position the fence so the taper will begin at the proper point and make a test cut in a piece of scrap. If the test results are acceptable, cut the good stock. To cut a double taper, make the first pass as if you were making a single taper. Then flip the board so the cut edge faces the jig. Place a wedge-shaped shim between the workpiece and the jig to hold the stock at the proper angle and make the second pass. Because the most common use for tapering is table legs, there is one other thing that should be kept in mind during this process. If you will be using mortise-and-tenon joinery to build your table, it’s easier to cut the mortises in the legs prior to tapering them. It’s much harder to form an accurate mortise on a shape that doesn’t have flat sides. PW

Turn on the saw and slowly push the jig forward, feeding the stock into the blade. As you do so, monitor the cut to make sure the blade follows the layout line. If it does, the setup is correct. If not, readjust the angle of the jig or the position of the rip fence.

Make the first pass of the double taper as if you were cutting a single taper.

Shim

To cut a double taper, you must make two passes. Use a wedge-shaped shim (shown above) to position the stock on the second pass. The dimensions and slope of this shim are the same as the triangle you drew to set the angle of the jig. Lay out the shim on scrap stock, place the scrap in the tapering jig and cut the shim. Saw to the inside of the layout line. popularwoodworking.com

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JIG JOURNAL

Height Gauge

T

his simple gauge has a wide stance so it can stand on its own, leaving both hands free to make adjustments. The large shoulder makes it easy to position the gauge over the blade or cutter and you can adjust the width of the base to fit the distance between fence and cutter. To make the gauge, cut the parts to the sizes and shapes needed. Drill the bases for bolts and dowels, and rout a groove in the slide. Glue the dowels to the short base and fasten the plastic shoulder to the slide with screws. Cut slots in the tall base, sawing from the ends into the holes. Also, glue a scale to the tall base so the measurements run from the bottom edge up. Fasten the shoulder/slide assembly to the tall base with carriage bolts and screws. Insert the dowels through the holes in the tall base. To clamp the tall base to the dowels, drive screws through the slots from the top edge.

31 ⁄ 2"

10" 3"

31 ⁄ 2" 11 ⁄ 2"

#12 x 2" RHWS and washer (2 req’d)

1 ⁄4"-dia.

pilot hole above kerf

3 ⁄4"

1"

5 ⁄ 8" (typ)

11 ⁄ 2"

11 ⁄ 2"

31 ⁄ 2"

1 ⁄ 16"-wd. saw kerf 3 ⁄4"-dia. thru

1 ⁄ 2"

11 ⁄ 2"

31 ⁄ 2"

21 ⁄ 2" #6 x 3 ⁄4" FHWS (2 req’d)

Paper scale

61 ⁄ 2"

5 ⁄ 32"-dia.

11 ⁄4" 1 ⁄4"-thick acrylic plastic

illustrations by mary jane favorite

Shoulder

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

carriage bolt, washer and wing nut (2 req’d) 3 ⁄4"-dia. x 12"-lg.

dowel

Short base

Dowels

Tall base

5 ⁄16"-dia. x 13 ⁄4"-lg.

Profile

pilot hole below kerf

Elevation

Slide

4d finishing nail (2 req’d)

Exploded view

3 ⁄4"

1" 31 ⁄ 2"

WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

7

BY NICK ENGLER

CHAPTER

n this chapter I’ll be sharing some advanced techniques you can use on your table saw to do some amazing things. How about cutting coves for crown moulding? That’s just one application for a coved shape, and with a couple of simple jigs you can match any size cove you want. And how do you get an odd-shaped piece of wood such as a tree slab into shape to move on to the next woodworking step? A couple of tricks with a sled make this advanced technique easy.

Cutting Coves

Pattern sawing is another trick I’ll discuss. If you have a project that requires multiple multi-sided shapes, this technique will save you time. And finally, my favorite: How to bend a straight board into a curved board without steam bending. I’ll show you how to do it all with a technique called kerf cutting. Once you try these advanced table saw techniques, there’s no end to the ways you’ll be able to put them to work in your woodworking projects.

Photos by the author

i

Advanced Techniques The concept of cove cutting on a table saw might sound strange. You’re essentially using the side of the blade’s teeth to make a dishing cut along the length of a board. While this isn’t an operation most saw or blade manufacturers would suggest, it isn’t bad for the blade or the saw as long as the cut is taken slowly and in small increments. And it’s also plenty safe as long as you use the correct jigs and techniques. The depth of the cove is determined by the height of the blade above the table. The width of the cove is determined by the angle of the board to the saw. This is where it gets a little tricky. To determine the coving angle, some woodworkers use a trial-and-error method until they get what they want.

TOOL TIP: Using The Right Blade When cove cutting on the table saw it’s helpful to use a blade with the proper tooth configuration. I don’t say necessary, because you can make this cut with any type of blade. But it’s more helpful to use a combination or ripping blade than a crosscut blade because the inside of the cove will be easier to sand. A crosscut blade uses an alternate, top-bevel tooth arrangement that will leave score marks on the cove. Ripping and combination blades add a flat-topped raker tooth, leaving a cleaner surface on the cove.

TIPS & TRICKS

#8 x 1" FHWS (4 req’d)

3⁄4" 1⁄2"

TRIM TIP:

1" (typ)

One of the most common usages for cove cuts is in making crown moulding. This type of moulding is referred to as a sprung moulding because it will lean out from the surface to which it’s attached. The two mounting faces of a sprung moulding can be cut at any angle, but the two angles must add up to 90°. To complete the moulding you need to double-bevel the edges of the moulding stock on the table saw. If you cut only one bevel (shown at right) the remaining faces will look odd. The example (below left) has been double cut and now looks like a proper crown.

Pilot hole location detail

Rule Rule 1⁄2" (typ)

Stretcher 18"

Parallel Rule Jig

A parallel rule consists of four pieces of wood – two rules and two stretchers. Join them at the ends with screws, making a parallelogram. All the screw holes must be centered between the edge of the rules and stretchers, and they should be the same distance from the ends of the boards. Tighten the screws until they’re snug, but not so tight that the parts won’t pivot easily.

60º

30º

Right

30º

Wrong

TRIM TIP: Mixing Coves By combining coves made on your saw and other profiles using a moulding cutterhead you can create complicated mouldings for dozens of projects.

I prefer something a little more precise, so I use what is known as a parallel rule jig. You can make one for yourself very simply by following the illustrations and instructions above. Once your jig is made, raise or lower the blade to the desired depth of the cove. Next, adjust the parallel rule to the width of the cove by widening or collapsing the rules. Then place the parallel rule on the saw table so the rule straddles the blade, front and back. Turn the rules at various angles to the blade while slowly spinning the blade by hand. Find the position where the teeth of the saw blade brushes both rules. Holding the parallel rule in that

Measure the distance between the two lines made with the parallel rule, then draw a third line halfway between and parallel to them. This marks the precise middle of the cove cut. Use all three marks as references to determine both the angle and the position of the coving fence on the saw table. For example, if you want to cut a cove down the middle of a 5"-wide board, the fence must be parallel to and 21⁄ 2" away from the middle reference line.

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Exploded view

101⁄4"

Illustrations by Mary Jane Favorite

Sprung Mouldings

60º

Stretcher

1"

Popular Woodworking January 2007

position, draw two pencil lines across the saw table that trace the inside edge of each rule. The angle formed by the saw blade and either one of these lines is the coving angle. The next step is to determine the distance from the lines (and the blade) to position your guide on the saw. The illustration below will help you find this information. To guide your cut, you can simply clamp a straightedge to the saw table or you can use a coving fence positioned at the proper angle and distance from the blade, as shown above right. I’ve included plans for a simple coving fence at the end of this chapter (page 80).

Stop line Middle line

Start line

Fasten the coving fence to the rip fence and adjust the angle parallel to the three reference lines. Then move the rip fence sideways until it’s the proper distance away from the lines. When the fence is positioned, turn on the saw and raise the blade.

You now have all the information and parts to cut your cove. The photo above shows the steps to set up your fence on the saw. Remember to place the fence or straightedge on the infeed side of the blade. The rotation of the blade helps hold the stock against the fence during the cut. Adjust the saw blade so it projects no more than 1 ⁄16" above the saw table. Turn on the saw and place the workpiece against the fence. Slowly feed the workpiece from the infeed side of the saw and against the direction of rotation. After completing the first pass, raise the saw blade another 1 ⁄16" and make a second pass. Repeat until you have cut the cove to the desired depth and width. On the last pass, feed the wood very slowly – this will make the surface of the cove as smooth as possible and reduce the amount of sanding needed.

Cutting Odd-shaped Boards

Occasionally, you will need to rip or crosscut a board that doesn’t have an edge that’s straight or square enough to hold against the rip fence or miter gauge. Sometimes the board is crooked or warped, other times it’s cut or shaped to a particular pattern or contour. The best solution would be to straighten one edge before you cut, but there are times when you can’t do this for whatever reason.

To safely cut an odd-shaped board, mount it on a holder that has at least one good guiding edge. This holder doesn’t need to be a complex affair; a scrap of plywood with several straight edges makes an excellent holder. Nail the workpiece to the plywood or secure it with double-faced carpet tape. Place the holder against the rip fence or miter gauge, and feed both the holder and the workpiece past the blade (shown below).

To cut an odd-shaped piece that has no guiding edge, secure it to a rectangular scrap of plywood with nails or double-faced tape. Place one straight edge of the plywood against the rip fence or miter gauge, then guide the piece over the blade, cutting both the plywood and the piece. popularwoodworking.com

75

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Small Material Safety

Shoe

Cutout

Cutting and machining small parts can be one of the biggest challenges a woodworker faces. Beading, mullions, muntins and small mouldings are difficult to make accurately and safely. Small pieces can bend and twist when meeting a saw blade. The usual methods of controlling stock can make it hard to move the parts and add unnecessary labor. The advice of milling large pieces and cutting the small parts from them sounds sensible, but isn’t always practical, and it’s rarely efficient. You still reach a point where you’re working with small pieces in close proximity to a saw blade. Here’s one method I’ve found to keep control of small pieces on the table saw while keeping my hands at a safe distance from the blade. Plus, it virtually eliminates the chance of kickback. When ripping small stock on the table saw, a zero-clearance insert is a must. The other essential is a push block (shown above) that rides along the table saw fence. The top of the push block is the same width as the rip fence, and the two vertical pieces keep it securely held in a straight line. On the blade side, the actual shoe is held on with a couple of screws, so it can be easily replaced when it gets worn, or replaced for holding different size material. The cutout in the shoe should be close to the thickness of the wood to be ripped, so that the push block doesn’t tilt during use. A small piece of scrap on top serves as a handle, keeping my hand well out of harm’s way.

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Spacer

Whether cutting a straight edge on a round object, or adding a stopped groove in the center of an oval piece (as shown here) this sliding table holds the odd-shaped piece in place and references off the miter slot to ensure a straight cut.

You also can use a sliding table to hold the piece as shown above. The table itself is simply a piece of mediumdensity fiberboard or plywood with a runner attached that is sized to fit in your miter-gauge slot. Secure the piece to the jig using the built-in, disc-shaped clamps, letting a portion overhang the sliding table’s edge. Don’t let the disc-shaped clamps tilt or tip when you tighten them. If they do, they will put sideways pressure on the workpiece and it may shift as you cut. To prevent this, place a spacer under the clamp, opposite the workpiece, to keep the clamp level.

When the workpiece is secured, fit the jig in the miter-gauge slot and slide both the jig and workpiece forward and into the saw blade. This same sled and clamp configuration can help you work with rough-cut log sections, not just flat materials. Simply use longer bolts for the clamps and you can cut up to a 3"-thick chunk of wood. You’re only held by the maximum depth of cut of your blade.

Pattern Sawing

Many woodworking projects require that you make duplicate copies of certain parts. This is easy enough when

Tall fence extension Pattern-sawing guide

Rip fence

Guiding edge

Template Blank

Saw blade

Position the pattern-sawing guide so the outside edge is parallel to the saw-blade plate and flush with the outside edges of the saw teeth. The guiding edge of the jig must be high enough above the saw so that it will contact the edge of the template, but not the blank.

the parts are rectangular – simply rip the stock to the same width, then cut the parts to the same length. But what if the parts are cut to a triangle, pentagon or some other odd shape? As long as all the sides of that shape are straight, you can reproduce precise copies by pattern sawing. To saw a pattern, first cut a single part to the shape you want. This will serve as the template for all of your duplicate parts. Then cut rectangular blanks for the duplicates, making each blank slightly larger than necessary. Adjust the height of the saw blade to cut through the thickness of a blank. Mount a tall fence extension to the rip fence and attach a pattern-sawing guide to the extension. I’ve included plans at right for making a pattern-sawing guide that will work on nearly any table saw. Align the outside edge of the guide (farthest from the rip fence) with the outside edges of the saw teeth. Then adjust the height of the guide so the bottom surface is 1 ⁄4" to 1 ⁄2" above the blade. Fasten the template to a blank with nails, screws or double-faced carpet tape. Holding the edges of the template against the guiding edge of the jig, saw each side. Repeat for each blank until you’ve made all the parts you need. It’s also possible to cut a curve on the table saw – up to a 3 ⁄4" arc per foot when cut in 3 ⁄4" stock. Stock thicker than 3 ⁄4" isn’t recommended as it’s pushing the limits of the blade. You use the same pattern-sawing guide as used with straight cuts. By keeping the curves shallow, the kerf can’t bind on the blade because the offset of the teeth keeps the concave side of the kerf away from the blade body.

Pattern-sawing Guide The mount and the braces are made from hardwood, but the guide is made from clear acrylic plastic. This lets you see the saw blade and monitor the saw cuts as you make them. Cut the parts to size and rout the slots in the mount. Fasten the braces to the mount with glue and screws, then attach the guide with screws. Drill mounting holes in the tall fence extension and bolt the jig to the extension.

Mount

Guide

41⁄2" (typ)

11⁄8" (typ)

Brace

3⁄4" (typ)

43⁄4"

3⁄4"

Plan

6"

Exploded view

1⁄4"-thick acrylic plastic

24" 41⁄2"

41⁄2"

15"

7⁄8"

11⁄2"

4" 53⁄4" 3⁄8"-wd.

Profile

slot thru

41⁄2" 3⁄4"

7⁄8"

Brace profile

5"

Saw blade position

Variable

15"

1"

Variable

Tall fence extension layout

Attach the template to a blank and rest it in front of the saw blade on the infeed side. Butt one of the template edges against the guiding edge of the jig. Turn the saw on and push the template forward, cutting one edge of the blank. Turn the template and cut another edge, repeating until the pattern is cut. popularwoodworking.com

77

TIPS & TRICKS PRO TIP: Extra Bending Flexibility While the whole idea of kerf bending is avoiding steam, a little hot water can help. If the wood is hard to bend or breaks when you bend it, soak a towel in boiling water. Then wrap the kerfed portion of the board in the towel and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Unwrap the towel and bend the wood immediately, before it has a chance to cool.

PRO TIP: 3D Bending Straight kerfs will give you a nice curved piece of wood. But what if you want to play a little and twist a piece of wood? Kerf bending still works, except rather than cutting kerfs perpendicular to the wood, you’re going to cut them on a diagonal. There’s probably math out there to find exactly the correct angle to set your miter gauge, but happily, it’s not necessary. Start with a 30° setting, using fairly tight kerf spacing, about 1 ⁄4" between each kerf. When you’ve made your cuts you can carefully twist the spiral to test the flex. The math isn’t necessary because you can usually bend the spiral more or less to match your required shape. It you do need a tighter spiral, reset the miter to 45°.

As with the straight cuts, start with a template affixed to the duplicate piece. If the offcuts will be too large to fit between the blade and the rip fence, trim the offcuts before cutting. Remember, shallow curves are OK, but if you feel any resistance during the cut, stop the saw and find another way to cut your curves.

Kerf Bending

Most often when you think of bending wood, pictures of steam bending and lots of clamps come to mind. Steam bending is a good way to bend smaller thicknesses of wood. But when you need to bend a 6"-wide apron for a demilune table there’s a better way than steam bending – it’s called kerf bending. You can bend a board of any thickness and width if you first cut several kerfs in one side – usually the side you won’t see on the assembled project. These kerfs must not sever the board, but should leave about 1 ⁄16" to 1 ⁄8" of stock at the bottom of each cut. The depth of the cut and the thickness of the stock at the bottom of the kerf will depend on the species of wood – some must be cut thinner than others to bend easily. Experiment with scraps

until you can make a smooth, even bend without cracks or splinters. Even if you cut deeply without cracking or splintering, you need to be cautious of leaving “flats” showing on the curved surface. Kerf bending isn’t only for solid wood. In fact it may even be a more common practice with plywood. This makes lots of sense. With the crossgrain orientation of the layers in the ply, you can get great strength from two thin layers when you kerf-cut the rest of the layers. The radius of the curve you want to bend determines the spacing of the kerfs – the tighter the radius, the closer the kerfs. To get a smooth, even bend, the kerfs must be evenly spaced. Gauge the spacing of each kerf by driving a small nail into the face of the miter gauge extension and using it as a stop. (See photo at right.) If you happen to need a curved piece that will be visible from both sides, kerf cutting still works. After kerfing one side, a form is used to bend the piece to the required shape. Then a layer of thin material (usually 1 ⁄8" thick) of the same species is glued to the kerfed side and clamped in place.

Scrap

Radius of

curve

Kerf spacing

Calculating kerf spacing

Workbench

To determine the proper spacing between the kerfs, cut a single kerf in a long scrap board of the same thickness and species as the wood you want to bend. Fasten the board to a workbench, placing the clamps to one side of the kerf. Measure along the board out from the kerf and away from the clamps, and mark a distance equal to the radius of the bend you want to make. Lift the free end of the board until the kerf closes. Measure the distance from the board to the workbench at the radius mark – this will give you the spacing. In practice, I’ve found it best to space the kerfs a little closer than necessary, so the kerfs don’t quite close when you bend the wood. Also, I never space the kerfs any farther apart than 1". If they’re too far apart, the bend won’t look smooth.

78

Popular Woodworking January 2007

This is also a valuable technique if you are trying to achieve a free-form curved piece, rather than attaching the piece to a frame. The glued “veneer” will serve as a form to hold the planned shape. This is great for making glasstopped tables and even bookcases.

Cut the kerfs only in the area where you want to bend the wood. After kerfing, carefully bend the wood to the radius needed. To prevent it from straightening out again, brace it or fasten it to the project (see photo below). S-curves also are possible by kerfing

the wood on opposite sides. This could require adding a veneer layer to both sides of the wood to hide the kerfs, but it can offer a new dimension (or three) to your woodworking designs. PW

Fasten an extension to the miter gauge, positioning it to pass over the blade when you cut. Cut a single kerf in the workpiece and through the extension. Drive a small brad into the extension to the right or left of the cut (shown at left). The distance between the brad and the cut must be equal to the spacing between the remaining kerfs you want to cut. Place the workpiece against the extension with the first kerf over the brad. Cut a second kerf, move the board so the second kerf is over the brad and repeat.

When you bend the wood, you must fasten it to something to hold the curve. If you can’t fasten the board to the project itself, fasten a brace to the board.

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79

JIG JOURNAL

Coving Fence

T

his coving fence is easy to position accurately and mounts to your rip fence. It consists of two long assemblies, hinged at one end. The mount assembly remains stationary, while the face assembly swings out and can be locked at any angle. Cut the face from hardwood and the remaining parts from plywood. Rout the grooves for the braces and drill the holes required. Cut a recess and a slot in the mount to hold the arm. Glue the mount and the mount brace together to make the mount assembly, then glue the face, face brace and hinge block together to make the face assembly. Hinge the two assemblies together and attach the arm to the face brace with a carriage bolt, washers and nut.

5 ⁄16" dia. x 41 ⁄ 2" lg.

carriage bolt, washer and wing nut 2" 23⁄8"

Mount

3⁄4"

Profile

Arm

blind groove

groove

5⁄16" dia. thru with 3⁄4" dia.

x 1⁄4" dp. c’bore

3⁄4" wd. x 3⁄8" dp.

3⁄4" wd. x 3⁄8" dp.

1⁄16" slot

3⁄8" dia.

holes (typ)

1" radius

3⁄8" dia. x 2" lg.

11⁄2" x 3" hinge 11⁄4"

3⁄4"

Face

carriage bolt, washer and wing nut

1" (typ)

1"

15" 30"

Plan Face 3⁄4"

3⁄4"

31⁄4"

Elevation

31⁄2"

43⁄4"

Arm Mount

2"

Cross section illustrations by mary jane favorite

80

Popular Woodworking January 2007

3⁄4"

15⁄8" 281⁄2"

24" 221⁄2"

11⁄2" 3"

3⁄4"

4"

Holes sized and spaced to fit rip fence

editors pick their favorite

Accessories A few shop-made or commercial products make all the difference.

M

a ny newly mi nted woo dworker s a re shocked when they find out that the table saw they just bought isn’t exactly the table saw they need – no matter how much they spent or which brand they purchased. Unlike some machines in the shop, table saws generally need a few accessories to become the board-ripping, panel-trimming, joint-cutting monster we all dream of. In fact, I like to think of the table saw as if it’s a personal computer. Fresh out of the box it’ll do the job, but once you start adding accessories (software, printers, memory cards, extra storage, etc.) it becomes the machine you need. Because everybody’s woodworking is a bit different, I asked some fellow editors at Popular Woodworking and some of our savvy contributing editors and authors for a list of their most useful table saw accessories.

by Christopher Schwarz Contact Chris at 513-351-2690 ext. 1407 or [email protected].

A few of our favorite accessories for the table saw, from top: a Penn State Industries overhead blade guard, a shop made zero-clearance throat insert with a Micro-Jig splitter, a JessEm MasteRSlide sliding table, a Stots Saw-Aid and Bench Dog Push-Loc push sticks.

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81

accessories The Jointech SmartMiter is accurate, versatile and has a huge crosscut capacity. Its phenolic sled is remarkably stable, too.

The Freud Dial-A-Width dado stack allows you to tweak your dado’s width in tiny increments by simply turning the collar.

Some are pricey ($500 or more) while others won’t cost you a dime (such as shop-made push sticks). But all of them will help you squeeze a little more convenience, power or accuracy out of your table saw.

the Freud SD608 Dial-A-Width Dado ($230). It allows you to tweak the width of your dado without removing the blades or adding shims. (Freud: freudtools. com or 800-334-4107).

Crosscutting Accessories A Good Saw Blade In an effort to be funny, a couple of our contributors said their two favorite accessories were “electricity” and “a saw blade.” While none of them are going to make it big in the comedy clubs with jokes like that, they do make an excellent point. Most blades that come with a table saw aren’t ideal for woodworking. We suggest you spend the $50 to $100 to buy at least one nice combination-tooth blade. Without a good blade, no amount of tweaking will make your saw accurate. Contributing Editor Troy Sexton also recommends that one of your blades be a thin-kerf blade. That extra 1 ⁄ 32" of wood the thin-kerf blade leaves behind actually makes a difference when he’s trying to squeeze the maximum number of rails and stiles out of his lumber. David Thiel, executive editor of Popular Woodworking Books, says every table saw should have a dado stack set. He’s partial to

82

Table saws are designed mostly for ripping, but with an accessory or two they can be almost as adept at crosscutting stock. Here are a few ideas: Crosscut Sled: Publisher Steve Shanesy recommends a large wooden sled that rides in both miter slots. “It is so much more versatile than the slot miter gauge, and safer, too,” he says. “It nicely supports the work, it’s always at a 90° setting and it provides convenient clamping for a gauge block when making shorter repeat cuts.” Even simpler is the sled used by Contributing Editor Bob Flexner. It’s basically just three pieces: a section of plywood for the bed, a single scrap that guides the bed in the miter gauge and a piece of wood at the back that acts as a fence. Aftermarket Miter Gauge, Sled or Table: There are dozens of these gadgets out there that replace or upgrade the

Popular Woodworking January 2007

stock miter gauge. One favorite is the Jointech SmartMiter JSM-48 sled. This $260 accessory handles all your mitering and crosscutting chores for pieces up to 48" long. (Jointech: jointech.com or 800-619-1288). For a bit less money, David likes the $190 Osborne EB3 Miter Gauge (Sommerville Design: excaliburtools.com or 800-357-4118). The only real disadvantage to some smaller aftermarket gauges is that they cannot easily crosscut wide boards. To fix that you can step up to a sliding table. We’ve used both the Excalibur (from Sommerville Design) and Exaktor sliding table systems and have found that they’re quite similar in construction and in their quirks. Both do a pretty good job and cost between $500 and $860. (Exaktor: exaktortools.com or 800-387-9789; Excalibur: excaliburtools.com or 800-357-4118.) The new JessEm MastRSlide 7500 is our favorite sliding table (JessEm, 866-272-7492 or jessem.com).

A Quality Fence A good rip fence is the heart of the machine. One nearly universal favorite is the classic Biesemeyer fence system ($270 to $340).

“I have owned and used several aftermarket fences, and, in my opinion, none is as consistent, reliable and accurate as the Biesemeyer,” Troy says. Many companies have cloned this front-locking fence design, and it has become the industry standard as well as a favorite. (Biesemeyer: biesemeyer.com or 800-782-1831.) No matter which fence system you use, contributing author Jim Tolpin recommends souping it up with what he calls a “Tfence” – essentially it’s an add-on to your fence that allows you to cut patterns and curves on your saw using a template. The fence is featured in his book “Table Saw Magic, Second Edition” (Popular Woodworking Books).

Aftermarket Splitter And Guard We were surprised by how many of our contributors also were fond of the Biesemeyer aftermarket splitter and overarm guard. Aftermarket Splitter: This critical safety device “is a dramatic improvement over the splitters that come equipped on table saws,” says Lonnie Bird, a woodworking instructor. “A splitter works to keep the stock off of the back of the blade and

Steve Shanesy’s oversized featherboard adds accuracy and safety to many tricky table saw operations.

The MastRSlide takes up little space, is lightweight, has all the capacity a traditional shop would want and can be used on a saw with a mobile base.

lowers the risk of kickback.” The Biesemeyer replaces the flimsy stock splitter on many brands of contractor and cabinet saws, and pops out easily when you need it out of the way. It’s pricey ($130), but worth it. “The Biesemeyer splitter has become one of my most important allies at the table saw,” adds Paul Anthony, who edits Popular Woodworking’s “Tricks of the Trade” column. “It is rock-solid and does not go out of adjustment, although it can be a bit fussy to align initially.” L on nie a l s o li ke s t he Biesemeyer aftermarket guard ($430 or more), which is a clear Lexan basket that hovers over the saw blade. Stock guards and splitters are usually flimsy and a chore to use, so it’s worth your while to upgrade and work safer.

Featherboards You can easily increase your ac cu r ac y a nd s a fet y w it h featherboards, which press your stock against the fence or table during a cut. The following featherboards scored high on the list of accessories everyone should own.

Commercial featherboard: David really likes the FeatherLoc featherboards from Bench Dog ($25-$35). These lock into almost any miter slot and are easy to adjust and move as you work (Bench Dog: benchdog.com or 800-786-8902). Shop-made featherboards: Matt Bantly, who illustrates Popular Woodworking’s “Tricks of the Trade” column, uses a shop-made featherboard version that locks into his miter slot with a knob, a bolt and a T-slot nut. Meanwhile, Steve has a huge featherboard on his table saw with more than 10" of bearing surface (we call it the “motherboard” in our shop). It actually hooks onto the saw’s table and is particularly useful for cutting joints on the saw.

More Safety Equipment There are a number of additional devices that you should add to your machine: Push Stick: Steve recommends a shop-made push stick similar to the one shown at the top of page 22. “The elongated forward section keeps pressure down on the work toward the back of the blade, where the

dreaded kickback always starts,” he says. The store-bought push sticks pictured in the opening picture on page 83 are of a similar design. Oversized Stop Button: Jim is a big believer in modifying your saw’s switch so you can turn it off without taking your hands off the workpiece. His device is essentially a long board that fits over the saw’s switch. When you tap the board with your hip or foot, a dowel in the board pushes the machine’s “stop button.” “It’s probably saved my life on more than one occasion,” he says. Zero-clearance Throat Plate: You might not think of this as safety equipment, but it is. With this accessory you have almost no gap between the blade and the throat plate, so fall-off pieces can’t get thrown back at you, David says. Plus, when cutting joints, you have more bearing surface for your work to ride on. It also reduces splintering, especially in plywood, and helps line up your work to the blade.

Other Accessories Here are a couple that I’m personally fond of: Delta Arbor Nut: An aftermarket product for Delta saws (item #36-659) combines the nut and flange into one piece. The nut is knurled so you can easily hand-tighten it on the arbor, and you can grip it more securely while removing it. This accessory is an easy $20 upgrade (Delta: deltawoodworking.com or 800-223-7278). 10" Sanding Disk: You can put this disk (item #129272) on your saw’s arbor for just $17. It turns my cabinet saw into a 3horsepower tiltable disk sander with built-in dust collection. (Woodcraft: woodcraft.com or 800-225-1153.) Powertwist Belt: If you have a contractor saw, this is a great upgrade. This belt, commonly called a “link belt,” makes your saw run smoother and with less slipping. It costs about $7 a foot (you’ll probably need 4'), but it’s worth it (also available from Woodcraft). PW

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83

Table saw

Tenon Jig A simple and inexpensive accessory to cut accurate joints.

by Bill hylton Bill is the author of several books about furniture construction and router operations. When he isn’t writing about woodworking, he’s doing it in his home shop in Kempton, Pa.

84

Photos by the author

T

he mortise and tenon is one of those fundamental joints you’re obligated to master. It’s used for building frames of all sorts (including postand-beam architectural frames), as well as tables and chairs. Over the years, especially in the last decade or two it seems, a variety of substitute joints and alternative constructions have been contrived to circumvent the mortise and tenon. I don’t know why. The joint can be cut many ways, using different tools. For every woodworker, regardless of tooling, experience and self-perceived skill level, there must be a method that can be mastered. If you’re still looking, here’s yet another approach for cutting tenons. It’s router-free. If you want to saw your tenons, the band saw and the table saw are the obvious choices. Cut-

ting tenons on the band saw has its devotees, but I’m not one of them. Of the two saws, I prefer the table saw for this job, primarily because the finish cut is better for the purpose. Cheeks and edges cut with a table saw blade are smooth and flat, while bandsawed surfaces tend to be finely ridged, and occasionally hollowed or bellied. On the table saw, you can cut tenons with a dado head, or with a regular blade and jig. I favor the latter approach. (If you want to try the dado-head approach, refer

Popular Woodworking January 2007

to “Mortise & Tenon Basics” in the April 2004 issue (#140.) While you can buy a highquality tenoning jig, I use shopbuilt ones that depend on the rip fence for positioning. (Plans for jigs that ride in the miter slot are common, too.) The one I’m currently using is shown above. Obviously, the rip fence must be parallel to or angled slightly away from the blade, or the jig won’t work. (If you’re a woodworker who favors having the rip fence ever-so-slightly angled away from the blade, this jig will

work because the front tooth does all the cutting.) I n b r i e f, my t e n o n i n g sequence is this: Elevate the blade to match the tenon length, set the tenoning jig on the rip fence, adjust the fence to position the cut, clamp the workpiece in the jig, and cut the cheeks (and, sometimes, the edges). This leaves the cheek waste attached to the workpiece. To form the shoulders and separate this waste, lower the blade to match the shoulder width, then use the miter gauge to guide the cuts.

Table Saw Tenon Jig Saw accurate tenons with this shop-built jig. You simply drop it over the rip fence and use it with your table saw’s work-a-day blade. You can build one, including the cam clamp, from a small amount of 3 ⁄4" plywood, a couple scraps of hardwood, and some commonplace fasteners in two or three hours. The jig isn’t original. You’ve undoubtedly seen photos of it in magazines and books, and perhaps you’ve made one yourself. My iteration has a replaceable work support that’s backed up by a blade-guard block. This work support may get chewed up. By backing out a pair of connector bolts, you can replace it. (Note that the lower bolt must be located high and clear of the blade.) The blade block will house the segment of the blade that passes through the work support. To secure the workpiece, I opted for a shop-made cam clamp. The clamp is easy to make, and its location can be adjusted to accommodate different widths of stock. I oriented the clamp pivot

so it tightens onto the work as you pull the handle toward you. If the workpiece wants to creep as pressure is applied, it will be pushed against the saw’s table, rather than being pulled off the saw’s table. The exploded drawing and the cutting list should make the construction clear. The drawing shows biscuit joints, but you can use screws or nails.  — BH

Buttresses

Blade block

Trap fence 3 

3

3

Fence ties

Fence Cam clamp

3

Cam layout

Exploded view 























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No.

item

dimensions (inches) T W L

3 ⁄ 4 ❏ 1 Fence 3 ⁄ 4 ❏ 1 Trap fence 3 ⁄ 4 ❏ 2 Fence ties 3 ⁄ 4 ❏ 3 Buttresses ❏ 1 Work support 1 ❏ 1 Blade block 1 3 ⁄ 4 ❏ 1 Cam clamp *width of rip fence 2 - 1 ⁄4" x 20 connector bolts, 2"

material

11 17 Baltic birch 51 ⁄2 17 Baltic birch 4* 17 Baltic birch 43 ⁄4 43 ⁄4 Baltic birch 2 11 Hardwood 53 ⁄4 4 Hardwood 4 9 Baltic birch

  

2 - 1⁄4" T-nuts 1 - Roundhead stove bolt, nut and washers, 1⁄4" x 11⁄2" 1 - Roundhead stove bolt, nut and washers, 1⁄4" x 2" 2 - Fender washers, 1⁄4" i.d.

popularwoodworking.com

85

TENON JIG

With the jig straddling the fence, slide the jig up to the blade, and measure from the jig fence to the outside of the blade.

Now, this may seem out of order. It’s certainly not the way I sawed tenons at the start. When I cut the shoulder first, those wafers sliced away by the cheek cut were trapped between the jig and the blade, and would crunch disconcertingly. They would then either fire around the table or virtually explode. Now, the wafers of waste accumulate, harmlessly, to the right of the blade.

Set the Saw and the Jig Setup is easy: Determine how long the tenon is to be and crank up the blade to that height. Position the tenoning jig next. I make the cheek cut on the side of the workpiece that’s against the jig. That way, I can turn the workpiece 90° between passes, and cut the cheeks and edges in sequence (assuming the shoulders are a uniform width). To make the coarse fence setting, measure from the jig to the outside of the blade’s front tooth with a metal rule. The fine fence setting is made after cutting the cheeks on a test piece of the same thickness and seeing how it fits in the mortise. Just remember to trim both cheeks each time you adjust the fence, so the tenon remains centered on the workpiece.

86

With the workpiece seated squarely against the table and the vertical work support, pull the cam clamp to secure it, and make the cheek cut.

I micro-adjust my fence with a shop-made reference block I park on the fence rail. • To move the fence closer to the blade (thus increasing the tenon thickness), I butt the block against the fence and clamp it. I shift the fence, insert a shim at the end of the block and move the fence back against the block. The new position is offset from the old by the shim’s thickness. • To move the fence away from the blade (thus reducing the tenon thickness), hold the shim against the fence, push the reference block against it and clamp the block. Remove the shim and seat the fence tight against the block. The thickness of your shims controls the movement. You can use feeler gauges, shim stock or paper to make the adjustment. Measure the test tenon with a dial caliper, and compare that measurement with the mortisewidth dimension. You can nip off the waste on the band saw to expose the tenon for a test fitting, too. The shoulder need not be perfect for you to determine whether or not the tenon fits the mortise. With the blade and jig set (proven through a test tenon that fits the mortises properly) cut the cheeks. Stand the workpiece on

Popular Woodworking January 2007

Making the shoulder cuts after the cheek cuts simplifies accurate setting of the blade height, and eliminates flying offcuts. A stop on the miter gauge ensures consistent cuts all around the tenon shoulder. To cut the slip joint’s halves, use a tenoned piece to reposition the rip fence. Cut the notch’s inner cheeks and reset the fence to remove the waste. The added screw shaft on the jig fence keeps the cam-clamp handle away from the blade.

end, clamp it in the jig, and feed it through the cut. Use both hands to advance the jig. After cutting the first cheek, release the clamp, rotate the workpiece, reclose the clamp and cut again. With the cheek-cutting completed, set the tenoning jig aside, slide the fence back and lower the blade. Get out the miter gauge; now, all that’s left is to cut the shoulders. Clean and accurate shoulder cuts are important for final appearance and strength. Use a real tenon, one from which you’ve pruned back the waste to expose the cheek, as a gauge to set the blade height. At top dead center, the teeth should just graze the cheek. Because you’ll be severing waste from the piece, you shouldn’t use the rip fence to govern the tenon length unless you use a stand-off block. I use a stop on my miter gauge to control the tenon length. You can set the stop at the far end of the piece, or you can use a mitergauge fence that extends well beyond the blade to the right and locate the stop there.

Slip Joint Years ago, before I mastered mortising, I used the slip joint instead of the mortise and tenon

for frames such as simple doors. I could cut both halves of this joint on my table saw using the same jig. The joint is strong, but it doesn’t look as clean as the mortise and tenon. The slip joint, in case the name is new to you, is often called the open mortise and tenon. There’s good reason for this. The rails have a tenon, and the stiles have a mortise that’s open at the top, bottom and on one edge. Essentially, this open mortise is a notch. A subset of the slip joint is one that joins the end of one piece to the middle of another. This is called a bridle joint. A major advantage of the slip joint is the ease with which it’s made. Its disadvantage emerges during assembly: In addition to clamping the tenon shoulder tightly against the mortise (as you do in all mortise-and-tenon glue-ups), you must clamp the mortise cheeks to ensure they bond to the tenon cheeks. We were all beginners at some point. If you have a table saw, you can make this joint. If you have a table saw but no mortiser, no plunge router, and no desire to test your hand-tool skills, even with an assist from a drill press, don’t fret. Use the slip joint for your frame constructions. PW

A slip joint features a tenon shouldered only on the faces (no edges) and notch, or an “open” mortise, instead of a regular mortise.

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87

Jim tolpin’s

Universal Rip Fence A simple fixture lets you cut curves, patterns and tenons in one pass on your saw.

M

y universal fence fixture – the heart of my table saw system to which an entire galaxy of accessories can be attached – greatly expands the utility and ease of use of the table saw. With this system you can easily create a wide variety of joints with speed and precision: tenons, tongue-and-grooves, splines, raised panels, rabbets and more. It revolves around a single auxiliary fence that quickly bolts to my table saw’s existing Biesemeyer-style rip fence. Used by itself, this fixture (which is generally left in place as it does not interfere with most table saw operations) guides wide stock on edge through the blade. This fixture also incorporates a “Minitrack” T-slotted aluminum extrusion that accepts the 1 ⁄4"-20 attachment bolts of two or more shop-made hold-downs to keep stock flat to the table.

Building the Fixture I recommend building the fixture from 3 ⁄ 4"-thick plywood that’s by jim tolpin Excerpted from “Jim Tolpin’s Table Saw Magic, Second Edition” copyright 2004 by Jim Tolpin. Used with permission of Popular Woodworking Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc.

88

Popular Woodworking January 2007

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Auxiliary rip fence free of voids and warp. Generally speaking, the more laminations the better. Take your time to get the cuts straight and square, then securely glue and screw the fixture together. I use biscuits to strengthen the butt joints – fulllength shop-made splines would give even more strength if you want to take the extra effort to make them. Careful construction of this fixture will ensure that the accessories that depend on it will run smoothly and accurately.

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To attach the fixture to your saw’s rip fence, you may only need to drill and tap a hole in its metal top surface to accept the hold-down bolts as I did with the Biesemeyer-style fence at left. If, however, your particular rip fence is not a square steel box, you may have to get a little creative and extend the vertical face of the fence to run down past the face of your rip fence all the way to the saw table. You can then run bolts horizontally through the wood fence (with the bolt heads buried into a counter-



bore) and then through your table saw’s rip fence. To reduce friction (on this and all other fixtures), note that I use 1 ⁄16 "-thick strips of ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) plastic on the bearing surfaces of the fixtures where they run against each other or on the table surface. These strips and the aluminum extrusions (which I set into grooves to accept attachment bolts for accessory fixtures) are available from the suppliers listed on page 92. In this article I will introduce

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rip fence you to three of my favorite accessories that I regularly use with my universal rip fence fixture system: the rip fence sled, the pattern fence and the rabbet fence.

The Rip Fence Sled The most versatile and probably most popular of the fixtures is the rip fence sled, which nests and slides on top of the basic fixture. It offers a multitude of uses depending on how it is set up. It can act as a short rip fence; a tenon jig with integral clamps and replaceable backing strips; an end-bevel cutting and shaping jig; or a feather spline miterjoint carriage (for frames). An adjustable guide system

allows you to tweak the amount of sliding friction. The use of this sled brings precision, efficiency and control to many common table saw processes. Here I will explain just a couple of its applications including: cutting tenons on the end of a board and creating a feather spline joint in the corner of a mitered frame.

Cutting Tenons with the Rip Fence Sled I often use the rip fence sled to cut tenons vertically. It’s a fast and accurate process. To cut both cheeks of the tenon at once, I install two identical blades. The one caveat is

augmented by paper or plastic dado-blade washers for fine-tuning the width. Note that the washer width must be greater than the tenon width to account for the fact that the blades’ carbide tips are wider than the sawblade plate. I install a fresh throat plate and set the fence to a story stick. (A story stick is simply a scrap piece of wood with a particular project’s dimensions transferred to it.) Begin by test-cutting a scrap piece. When satisfied, clamp the stock in place and begin making the cuts in steps, never more than 1" in a pass – less if dense hardwood. On the last cut, in which the blades reach the shoulder

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that your saw must have sufficient power (2 horsepower minimum is recommended) to run two blades simultaneously through the type of material you are cutting. I also recommend using a 24-tooth, thin-kerf rip blade – here you’ll need two – to ensure best results. If you do not have these blades, you could use the two outer blades from a standard dado stack set. Be aware, however, that they won’t cut as efficiently as the thin-kerf rip blades and will require more step cuts. Setting up the double blades requires a plywood washer (don’t use solid wood, as its thickness can change with the humidity)

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

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The rip fence sled, set up with a vertical backstop and clamp, carries a board on end through a set of double blades to create a tenon’s cheeks.

cuts, push the sled all the way past the blade and turn off the saw. After you cut these cheeks, finish the tenons by cutting the shoulders.

Cutting Feather Spline Joints with a Rip Fence Sled I often use “feather spline” joints on the corners of a frame to add decoration and strength to an existing miter joint. I often make the feathers out of a contrasting hardwood (with the grain running perpendicular to the miter line for strength). To simplify things, I make the spline the same thickness as the kerf of one of my saw blades. Of course, if you want a thicker feather spline, you can use a dado blade instead. Just be sure the slot isn’t too tight or there won’t be any room for glue when it’s time for assembly – you want a slip fit, not a pounding fit. To set up to cut these feather joints on the rip fence sled, I install a pair of stock supports (with attachment bolts that fit into the sled’s integral T-slot, as shown above). These will carry the frame at an exact 45° angle to the table surface. In this way, the slot made by the blade will cut an even distance along each side. Set the first support up with a drafting triangle. The second support is then set up square to the first using a carpenter’s framing square, as shown in the photo above right. Then lock the supports tightly against the sled. Tape a piece of thin hardwood to the face of the rear support to serve as a replaceable backing board for the exiting blade. This helps prevent tear-out. Set the distance between the sled and the blade by measuring to a story stick and then lock down the rip fence. Make test cuts in scrap to ensure accuracy. At this point it’s simply a mat-

ter of setting the frame (which I previously glued together – it’s fragile but strong enough for this operation) in the crotch of the two supports, clamping it down and pushing the sled along the universal fixture. Use a series of cuts if the slot is going to be more than 3 ⁄4" or so deep.

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The Pattern Fence Pattern-cutting on the table saw offers a quick and accurate way to create duplicates. The pattern fence (see page 92) acts as an index for a template so that the blade makes its cut in the stock precisely along the perimeter of the template. Slotted holes in the fixture allow it to be adjusted to the blade at any height. The pattern fence also can make long straight cuts and gentle curves. I start by making an exact template of the shape I want to reproduce. Be careful to get it right because all the other pieces will be its clones. I usually add a handle to the template to provide a more secure grasp. The next step is to rough-size the workpiece within 1" of its finished shape. Try to avoid a larger waste margin as the offcuts might get trapped between the blade and the fence. Next, attach the template to the workpiece with protruding pins (brads) or screws if their hole marks are not going to show on the finished workpiece. If both sides must be clean, I use a vacuum clamp system or go the easy route with double-stick tape. The tape should last for five or six cuts before it needs replacing. To help the tape stick better, I sand the bottom of the template and brush or spray on several coats of shellac or other sealer. To ensure a good grab to the tape, I tap the template onto the workpiece with a rubber-faced mallet. To set up for the cut, raise

Set up the fixture to cut the feather splines. A drafting triangle set between the underside of the stock support (attached to the sliding rip fence fixture) and the saw table makes quick work of securing the first support at a precise 45° angle.

Use a 24" framing square, such as the one shown above, to set the second support square to the first.

the height of the pattern fence so it’s equal to the thickness of the workpiece, plus another 1 ⁄4" (use a piece of 1 ⁄4" plywood as a spacer). Next, move the fence system over until the outside reference edge of the pattern fence comes flush to the outside of the blade, then set the height of the blade to just a fraction below the fence base; it should almost touch. Make a note of the cur-

sor reading on the rip fence for future reference. The magic is now ready to begin. Index one facet of the template against the fence ahead of the blade and, with a steady motion, move the template (with the rough-cut workpiece below) forward through the blade. Work carefully to keep the edge of the template tight to the fence. Then rotate the workpiece counter-

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clockwise to the next facet and cut again. Repeat this process until you’ve cut all around the template. In just moments, you’ve created a perfect replica of the template – it’s really that simple. If you’ve used tape, remove the template by lightly tapping the side with a hammer.

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The pattern fence system also is an excellent way to gain a straight edge on a board of any length without using a jointer. Simply attach a known straightedge to the board precisely along the cut line and you’ll have one clean edge in no time. On any work more than 1' long, I recommend screwing (rather than taping) the guide in place. Screws are more secure. If the guide board is wide enough (the longer the board, the wider it needs to be, about 1" per 21 ⁄2' of length), you need to screw the guide board only at the ends. If your guide board is perfectly straight (be sure to check its bearing surface against a known straightedge) and you are careful to keep the guide against the pattern fence, you will come up with an edge as true as one you would gain from a jointer.

Supplies Woodcraft 800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com • 1 ⁄16"-thick x 3"-wide strips of UHMW plastic #16L65, $19.99 Vertical slots allow for height adjustment

In combination with the pattern fence, a template attached to your workpiece will quickly and accurately clone the shape.

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Kreg 800-447-8638 or kregtools.com • Mini Trak aluminum extrusion, available in 4' lengths, #KMS7506, $18.99 Prices correct at time of publication.

Curved Cuts with the Pattern Fence I was happy to discover that it’s possible to cut a curve on the table saw – up to 3 ⁄4" per foot arc in 3 ⁄4"-thick stock. (I do not recommend cutting curves in stock thicker than 3 ⁄ 4", as the forces involved become huge.) I discovered the use of the table saw for curve-cutting when I set out to cut planks for a small boat from 4' x 10' sheets of plywood. I found that I could cut these planks nearly four times faster on the table saw than with a jigsaw or circular saw. I also discovered that the table saw produced such an accurate cut that no trimming (other than a bit of

handplaning) was necessary to make the planks fit precisely. The trick to making curved cuts is to use a curved-edge template, or batten, fixed to the stock, in conjunction with the pattern fence and a 40-tooth combination blade (don’t use a thin-kerf blade). If you keep the curves shallow, the kerf cannot bind on the blade because the offset of the carbide tips keeps the concave side of the kerf away from the blade plate. The saw blade doesn’t care that the cut line runs along a curve as long as you carefully control the stock so it can’t back into the blade. This is where the pattern fence comes into play.

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rip fence The first step to making a curved cut is to lay out the curve. At this point you have two procedural options: You can fix a batten in place to points directly on the workpiece (which leaves little nail holes to fill but is remarkably fast), or you can lay out and then cut a curved template in a piece of sheet stock. You can attach this with screws or carpet tape. Screws do leave small holes but in the long run, they’re more secure. The latter procedure is preferable if you intend to make a number of pieces to one curve. With the template or batten affixed to the workpiece, the next step is to set up the pattern fence as described earlier for template-cutting. If the offcuts of the stock will be too big to fit between the blade and the rip fence, you must first trim any oversize areas. Mark the location of the front of the blade on the top of the pattern fence as a visual reference. This is where you must keep the template or batten in contact with the fence as you proceed through the length of the cut. Feed the stock smoothly and steadily through the spinning blade, keeping the guide tight to the pattern fence at your mark, as shown in the photo on page 93. Be sure to set an outfeed table to catch the stock. If you encounter resistance and/or see wisps of smoke, the curve is too tight for your blade. Stop feeding immediately, lower the blade and remove the board. Try another blade with greater tip clearance. If this isn’t available or doesn’t help, you’ll have to use another cutting method.

The Rabbet Fence You can cut a rabbet quickly and accurately in a single pass by using a dado blade and this

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Rabbet fence specialized rabbet fence that bolts securely to the universal fence fixture. The fixture’s T-slot accepts bolts to secure my shop-made featherboards as needed to hold the stock flat to the table. The cavity cut in the fence lets you “hide” a portion of the dado blade

within the fence itself, allowing you to adjust the width of the rabbet simply by setting the position of the fence rather than changing the width of the dado blade by adding, or subtracting cutters or shims. Wit h t he cutter height adjusted to the depth of the

rabbet, you need only to run the workpiece against the fence to produce the finished cut. Be sure the featherboards are secured firmly in place, as any lifting of the stock up from the table will cause the rabbet to fluctuate in depth. PW

More accessories for the universal fence The following is a list of additional fixtures that I’ve devised for this system. You can find a complete description of their construction and use in the fully revised and updated second edition of “Jim Tolpin’s Table Saw Magic, Second Edition” (Popular Woodworking Books). The first two fixtures slide on the fence; the rest quickly bolt to it: ■ Carriage-type taper jig and straight-line ripping fixture: Features a unique adjustable clamping and guidance system, which simplifies set-up and ensures accurate cutting action. ■ Raised-panel jig: Features easy sliding action, integral hold-downs and an adjustable field angle. ■ Vacuum-powered rip fence: Works with a shop vacuum to keep delicate, thin slices tight to the fence. ■ Long-extension fence: Used to support and guide panel stock and long boards ahead of the saw table. ■ Edge jointer: Cleans up and straightens edges of boards and panels. ■ End-stop fence: Features easily adjustable stops for setting up single- and double-blind slots and grooves.

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■ Fence for thin sheet stock: Guides and controls thin, flexible parts. ■ Edge-band trimmer: Allows precise flushing of edge bandings. ■ Coving jig: Lets you cut multiple flute patterns; accepts a quick-bolt hold-down fixture; a simple spacing system ensures even flute spacing with speed and precision. — JT

what you must know about

Motors Learn to shop smart so you get the right motor for the way you work.

I

f you’re an electrical engineer, you can stop reading this article right now. This story isn’t for the gear heads – it’s for the rest of you woodworkers who use power tools every day but are occasionally stupefied by amps, volts, watts and horsepower. I’ll warn you, there’s just the tiniest bit of math to learn here. But if you can multiply and divide two numbers, you will open up a whole new world of understanding when it comes to the subject of motors. The first thing to understand is that there are two kinds of motors that power almost all of the machinery in a home workshop: induction motors and universal motors. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses. The reason that you need to know the difference between the two is that some tools (table saws, planers and jointers, for example) can be powered by either type of motor. So you need to educate yourself so you’ll choose the right motor for the kind of work you do. by christopher schwarz Contact Chris at 513-351-2690 ext. 1407 or [email protected].

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BRUSHES ■ These rest against the commutator.

END CAP ■ Holds the rotor in place inside the stator.

FIELD ■ Surrounds the armature, becomes magnetically charged.

ROTOR ■ Spins freely inside the stator. Its magnets are attracted and repulsed by the magnets in the stator.

COMMUTATOR ■ Gets current from the brushes. ARMATURE ■ Becomes magnetically charged with the current from the commutator.

CAPACITOR ■ Gives the rotor the boost it needs at startup.

FAN ■ Cools motor; makes noise.

STATOR ■ Current magnetizes the copper poles inside.

THE UNIVERSAL MOTOR ■ Universal motors are appearing in more tools, including benchtop table saws and portable planers.

In general, induction motors power stationary machinery that must run for hours on end, such as big table saws, planers, band saws and jointers. Universal motors power mostly hand-held stuff: routers, jigsaws and sanders. However, this is changing. These days you’ll find more and more

Popular Woodworking January 2007

THE INDUCTION MOTOR ■ Induction motors are found in heavy-duty stationary machines.

universal motors in benchtop table saws, small jointers, spindle sanders and portable planers. I like to think of the two motors as the tortoise and the hare. Induction motors are the tortoise of the pair. They’re rugged, quiet, large, heavy, turn more slowly and can be stalled under

heavy use. They are great for the long haul. Universal motors, on the other hand, have a shorter life span, they’re smaller, they make more noise, they operate at very high speeds, they offer the most horsepower per pound of any alternating current motor, and they are very difficult to stall.

Universal motors provide large amounts of power in quick bursts with constant torque and at variable speeds. It might help to think about how you use tools with universal motors. If you’ve got a chop saw, you need a burst of power for three or four seconds to make your cut. You need torque and you need it fast. Same goes for biscuit joiners and routers. Unless you are running parts for 100 doors on your router table, chances are that these tools are on for five minutes and then off for a while. Now think about how you use a jointer or a planer with a hefty induction motor. You might have 100 board feet of lumber to surface. Each board might have to go through that machine five times. Your machine might be running for hours on end. So each type of motor has a type of job at which it’s really good. And it all has to do with the way that the motor is built. Here’s the inside story:

Induction Motors The reason they are called “induction” motors is the way they convert electricity into a spinning rotor. To understand how induction motors work, let’s say you’ve got one of these puppies in your table saw and you’re about to turn it on. As you flip the switch, power flows into what’s called the “stator” and magnetizes it. The stator is a mass of copper windings that surround the rotor in the center, which is what spins the saw’s blade through a series of belts and pulleys. Inside the stator are two or four “poles” that become magnetically charged because of the electricity running through the wires. When the electricity changes direction or cycles, as it does 60 times a second in the United States (hence the term 60 cycles), each pole changes its

magnetic strength, from a positive to a negative value or from a negative to a positive value. The induced poles in the rotor are then attracted and repulsed by these ever-changing electromagnets in the surrounding stator. The motor isn’t running, but the rotor is excited. What this hunk of iron and copper now needs is a shot of power from another copper winding (called a “starting winding”) that is out of phase physically and electrically with the main winding. And that’s where the capacitor comes in. In most modern tools a capacitor (which is in series with the “starting winding”) helps with the starting torque. Then, when the motor reaches 85 percent of its speed, the capacitor and the starting winding drop out of the circuit and the motor runs on its main winding. Whew. So, this is the long way to explain why these are called induction motors. As you can see, the rotor spins because it is “induced” by the electromagnets in the stator. Induction motors are large and heavy because the induction process takes a lot of iron and copper (a 1 ⁄ 2 hp induction motor weighs about 25 pounds; a 1 ⁄2 hp universal motor weighs 21 ⁄2 pounds). Induction motors are reliable because they’re simple, their parts are built for long life and they run at slow speeds (so they don’t generate as much motor-damaging heat). In fact, a well-built induction motor won’t heat up more than 40 degrees centigrade over room temperature. Induction motors are slow because the revolutions per minute (rpms) are governed by how many poles are inside the stator and the number of times per second that your electricity cycles – which is standard at 60 cycles. So now you can understand why

different kinds of power for your home shop You probably know that most of your house is wired for 110-120 volts. And you might know that certain appliances, such as your electric range, dryer and big air conditioners, are wired for 220-240 volts. And perhaps you’ve heard about three-phase power. What’s the difference between these, and which should you be using in your shop? 110-120 volts ■ This is the standard current that most of your hand power tools run off of. And except for special circuits that power 240 appliances, this is the voltage to all the outlets in your house. Remember that voltage entering a house can vary. So some people get 110 volts, some people get 120. Tools and appliances can handle a 12-volt variation, so don’t worry. 220-240 volts ■ This heav y-dut y circuit uses two hot lines from the main panel that act as returns for one another. These heavyduty circuits are good for a variety of reasons. First off, machines on these circuits use only half the amperage as they would on 120-volt circuits, so you are less likely to trip a breaker or blow a fuse on a well-wired 240 circuit. Plus, 240 circuits are much less prone to voltage drops than 120 circuits. This means you can have a table saw that’s more than 20 feet from your service box. OperHere’s the box on the motor for our old ating a motor at low voltage Jet table saw. You simply move a couple causes the torque to drop and leads and your saw is then ready to take the motor to heat up (short- 240 — as soon as you change the plug, ening the life of the motor). that is. Many induction motors can easily be switched over for 240 power. In the box on the motor where the electric cord goes in there will be a diagram to show you how to reconnect the different leads. If you can afford the wiring change, do it. However, one myth about 240 power is that it is cheaper. Don’t believe the myth. You buy power by the watt. Three-phase power ■ What’s three-phase power? Well, the power coming into your house is single-phase power. This means that there’s one electric pulse changing direction 60 times a second. Three-phase power has three of those pulses changing direction at slightly different times. The fluctuations are timed so that when one phase is at its lowest power, another phase is at its highest. The result is a very steady stream of energy. Three-phase power is typically used in factories, not homes. You need a special motor to run three-phase power, but three-phase motors are less expensive, extremely reliable and more efficient than single-phase motors. Three-phase power is not available to most residences. But you can purchase a “phase converter.” Some manufacturers don’t recommend static phase converters but say that rotary phase converters are OK. Bottom line, for the home shop, it’s cheaper to buy a single-phase motor for a saw than it is to convert your juice to three-phase power. — cs

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motors you wouldn’t want your router powered by an induction motor – you could barely lift it, and it probably would be too slow and not have enough torque.

Universal Motors Universal motors get their name from the fact that many of them can operate on both alternating current (from an outlet) or direct current. The way that universal motors work is a little more complicated than their induction cousins, but there are similarities. Instead of a rotor, universal motors have what’s called an armature that spins in the center. Instead of a stator, universal motors have what’s called a field, usually consisting of two coils surrounding the armature. Universal motors also have some parts that induction motors don’t. On one end of the armature is a part called the commutator. This part is round like the armature, but it is usually smaller in diameter and is made of small bars of copper. It’s through these

bars that the armature winding is energized. Universal motors also have what are called “brushes.” Brushes are made from a carbongraphite material and are usually held in place against the commutator by small springs. When you turn on a universal motor, current travels in what’s called a “series circuit.” One side of the electrical line goes through the field, then through the brushes, into the commutator, then the armature, and back to the other side of the line. Each of the bars in the commutator changes polarity as it contacts a brush, and this changes the polarity in the magnets in the armature. The magnetic forces in the armature react with the electromagnets in the field coils and the motor develops torque. Universal motors make a lot of noise because they spin at a dizzying speed – sometimes seven times faster than an induction motor – and their fans suck a lot of air through the motor, which makes noise. Universal motors are less reliable for three reasons.

quick tip: Motor care The universal motors in most of your hand power tools will live longer if you follow this simple tip: blow clean air through the motor regularly. Universal motors suck a lot of air through them because the motors turn at a high speed and they have large fans to keep the motor from overheating. Think about your shop. Pretty dusty isn’t it? That dust is being sucked through your router and is slamming into your armature like a meteor shower. This dust can also build up, cause the motor to run hotter and shorten the life span of the tool. If you regularly blow compressed air through the vents of the tool, you’ll dislodge the dust and keep your motor healthy. In addition to sawdust, the carbon-graphite material from the motor’s brushes also builds up on the commutator. Blowing air through the tool also helps dislodge that stuff, too, and this also prolongs the life of your tool. — cs

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Assembled armatures and commutators at Makita’s plant in Georgia. We were impressed with the rigorous tests Makita performed on its universal motors. Note the small bars on the commutators.

The motor generates more heat, which can cause the components to break down. Second, the carbon brushes wear out. If they can be replaced then it’s a quick fix. If they can’t, you’ve got trouble. And third, the big fan that cools the motor brings in a lot of junk such as sawdust and foreign objects. This junk can damage the windings and insulation.

Learn to Shop Now that you know the differences between induction and universal motors, you need to know how to compare motors when tool shopping. First consider how you will use the tool and whether it should be powered by an induction or universal motor. If you need your table saw to be portable or you’re only turning it on for short times, a universal motor will do. But if you expect to sometimes run your saw for longer periods of time, get an induction motor. Things become more complicated when you start comparing one motor to another. Motors are measured differently by dif-

ferent manufacturers. Should you use horsepower? Amperage? Wattage? Motor efficiency? All of the above? The answer is that all these factors are related and all play a part in judging whether a motor has got a lot of guts or is just a loafer on the job. First off, let’s clear the air about horsepower, which is the way you measure induction motors and some universal motors. It’s almost a meaningless number, unfortunately. That’s because there are several ways to measure horsepower, and this makes comparing two 1-hp motors almost impossible. Some manufacturers measure horsepower with the motor under no load. Some measure horsepower as the saw almost reaches the point where it is about to stall – called the point of “breakdown torque.” Some lock the motor in a dead stall, turn on the power and see how many amps the motor pulls from the outlet and calculate the horsepower from that. This is one way to measure “developed horsepower.” Developed horsepower is

probably the least accurate measure of the motor’s day-today abilities. When you lock the motor in a dead stall and turn it on, the motor will pull a lot more amps than normal because it’s trying desperately to pull itself out of this stall. Instead, try to find a “continuous-duty” horsepower rating, which is found on most highquality induction motors. If the motor’s nameplate doesn’t state its horsepower rating is for continuous duty, ask the sales person. If they don’t know, have them find out, or call the manufacturer yourself. Why is this so complicated? Keep in mind that there are a couple different formulas to calculate horsepower. One way is to multiply the rpms of the motor by the amount of torque (which is in foot-pounds). Divide that number by 5,250 and you have a horsepower rating. Keep in mind that a universal motor’s really high rpms skew this equation. The other horsepower formula involves the electricity going into the motor. For this calculation you need to know how amperage, voltage and wattage are related (this is that math that I promised you). Almost every basic electricity textbook explains these different terms by comparing the electric lines in your house to a water hose. Voltage is like water pressure. The more voltage you have, the more force with which the electricity moves through your wires. Amperage is like the amount of water in a hose. You can have the faucet on low or high. Wattage is harder to explain. It is, in electric terms, the amount of energy that a device consumes. You can calculate wattage by multiplying the amperage of a tool (usually found on the information plate on the motor) by the voltage (which for

home shop people in the United States is 120 volts or 240 volts). Why would you want to calculate wattage? Because 746 watts equals one horsepower. So with that formula you can attempt to calculate the actual horsepower (as opposed to the advertised horsepower). This is one of the most important aspects of this whole article. Remember it. Here’s an example of how you can estimate how much horsepower a tool has compared to how much horsepower a tool says it has on the box: Does a 9-amp router live up to the 2 horsepower rating on its box? Let’s see: 9 amps multiplied by 120 volts equals 1,080 watts of power. To get horsepower, we divide 1,080 watts by 746. The answer is 1.44 horsepower. Hmmm. You can probably guess that either this router will develop 2 hp right as it’s ready to crash and burn, or that the manufacturer used that other horsepower equation, which uses rpms and torque, to calculate horsepower. And as pointed out earlier, universal motors in routers have very high rpms, which can skew that equation. (My apologies to the gear heads here because I left out some of the other complicated factors in calculating power, such as the power factor and line losses). So if horsepower is a bogus measure, what does that leave us with? Amps. Amps tell you how much power a tool consumes, and that’s the simplest way to compare similar motors, especially universal motors. Unfortunately, a lot of manufacturers tell us that the amperage on the nameplate is not always the amperage you get. Three different 7-amp motors can all draw a different amount of current. Even worse, amperage doesn’t tell you how much of that energy is wasted. Here we’re talking

about the elusive “motor efficiency.” Motor efficiency is not something advertised on many universal motors, but you can sometimes find it on the nameplate of induction motors. It is a percentage, usually between 50 percent and 80 percent, that explains how much of the amperage going into the motor is converted into work coming out. When you shop for an induction motor, look for a motor with the highest efficiency, highest amps and best horsepower for the job. If you can’t tell a motor’s efficiency, there are other ways to judge it in the store. One expert told us to peer through the vent fans in a tool with a universal motor to see if you can see the bars on the commutator. The smaller the bars, the better the motor. Smaller bars mean there are more coils in the armature winding, and that makes a smoother-running motor. If you can’t see the commutator bars, there’s still one final way to choose a motor: buy a trusted brand name. A few years ago our publisher toured several manufacturing plants in Taiwan. At one facility,

his tour guide pointed to a pile of rusting commutators sitting outside. Those, the guide explained, would be cleaned up, repaired and put into motors for off-brand tools. Installing used parts isn’t something that happens just in Taiwanese off-brands. And don’t assume this is a typical practice of Taiwanese manufacturers because it isn’t. Manufacturers of cheap motors anywhere can lower the cost of a tool by reducing the amount of iron and copper in a motor. This will lower the life span of the motor because all that metal acts as a heat sink to dissipate heat generated by the motor. They also can skimp on the brushes. So do the math when you shop for motors. But even that can be misleading. One 14-amp chop saw can be $100 more than a similar-looking 14-amp chop saw. What’s the difference? Probably the motor. Should that deter you from buying the cheap saw? No. If the tool won’t get heavy use, a less expensive tool will allow you to spend that money somewhere else. But it should make you think twice about what you’re buying and what to expect in the long run. PW

induction v. universal? You make the call In the old days, table saws, planers and jointers had induction motors. Small tools had universal motors. Alas, that line has blurred in the last decade. Some manufacturers, such as Ryobi, DeWalt and others, put universal motors in their table saws. The universal motors are much smaller and are much less likely to stall in a cut, but they are much noisier and their life expectancy is shorter. Universal motors have also become the mainstay in portable planers – a tool that would have been a lot harder to design with a huge induction motor driving it. If you think you can run a table saw or planer for an extended period of time and it’s powered by a universal motor, you’ll be replacing the motor a lot sooner than you think. How can you determine if your tool has an induction or universal motor? Turn on the tool. A really noisy motor indicates it’s probably a universal motor. If you’re still not sure, look at the motor. Many universal motors have coin-opened hatches so you can easily change the brushes. — CS

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the best ways to

Stop Rust Now If it’s metallic, odds are it’s rusting. But why? And how can you slow down the process?

R

by Michael A. Rabkin Michael is a former associate editor for Popular Woodworking.

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PHOTO BY AL PARRISH

ust is the bane of woodworking tools. Once it appears, it seems to spread like cancer. For woodworkers in humid, salty climates (such as Hawaii or Florida), it’s a never-ending battle. But for most, it’s still a skirmish that must be fought regularly. You’re probably aware of many ways to combat rust. We’ve looked at the science and we think we’ve found some good ways to deal with this problem. But first you need to understand how rust works: When iron combines with water over time, it forms iron oxide, also known as rust. Pretty simple, right? Well, there’s more to it than that. First of all, know that iron is the most common and most useful metallic element. It is inexpensive, heavy and relatively easy to cast into shape, so you likely have it all over your shop. Odds are your planer and jointer beds, as well as your table saw’s table and drill press,

all are made out of cast iron. But not everything in your shop will be cast iron. Some of it likely will be steel, which is made when iron is alloyed with carbon. There are two kinds of steel most prevalent in workshops: high-carbon steel and stainless steel. • High-carbon steel is found most in cutting tools such as saw blades, chisels and plane irons. It’s great for cutting tools because it’s hard and can be sharpened easily. And following Murphy’s Law, because these must be the sharpest, they rust the easiest. • The great news about stainless steel is that it resists (but is not impervious to) rust. The bad news is that it’s a poor cutting tool. If you’ve tried sharp-

ening a stainless-steel tool, you know that it just won’t take a keen edge. Stainless steel contains iron and chromium. The chromium forms a strong surface oxide, which is very protective. Unfortunately, the chromium also combines with the carbon in the stainless steel to form chromium-carbide particles, which rob the steel of carbon. When you sharpen the steel, these hard particles tear out of the edge, leaving the piece jagged instead of sharp. That’s why you find stainless steel in jigs instead of tools that cut. • Another common metal in workshops is aluminum, which most people assume is rust-proof. They’re wrong. Pure aluminum

reacts so readily with oxygen that aluminum powder is used as solid rocket fuel in space shuttles and Sidewinder missiles. Fortunately, when aluminum metal is placed in the air, a thin layer known as aluminum oxide forms on the surface and protects the aluminum from further rust. • You also are likely to find items made of carbide, bronze and brass in your shop, but because those materials don’t rust, we’re not going to write about them here.

What Causes Rust? So now that we know what materials will rust, we need to learn what actually causes rust. “In a nutshell, steel is reacting with water and forming a hydrox-

ide,” says David Burleigh, associate professor in the Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Department at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, N.M. You might think your shop is dry just because it’s indoors, but your tools still will rust because you don’t need 100 percent relative humidity to form a water film on your tools. A little salt can jump-start your problem. Particles of dust can contain salt, and even a little bit on a steel surface is hygroscopic, meaning it wants to absorb water from air. Table salt can start absorbing water and rusting steel at 40 percent relative humidity – this is why handling a freshly polished steel surface with sweaty hands will show a rusty fingerprint.

an unscientific rust experiment Almost any coating will offer protection from rust in a normal shop environment. We wanted to see just how good some products currently on the market are at preventing rust, so we devised a little test. One of the editors brought in an unrusted cast-iron wing from a table saw that he was willing to let us experiment on. We sanded it clean to remove all the excess moisture. Then we sectioned it into eight equal areas using blue painter’s tape. Next, we sprayed or rubbed one each of seven products onto each section (Japanese Camilla Oil, Slipit, Bostik TopCote, WD-40, Fluid Film, Boeshield T-9 Rust & Corrosion Protection and Perma Blue Liquid Gun Blue, following the muanfacturer’s directions for each – see the Supplies box on page 104 for more information). We left one section untreated. We then placed the wing on two small blocks of wood outside our woodshop in a grassy area on a Friday afternoon in October. No rain fell that weekend, so we just counted on relative humidity and dew to see if the object would have any rust. (Cincinnati’s average relative humidity for October is 84 percent in the mornings, 56 percent in the afternoons.) When we returned to work on Monday morning, we weren’t sure what to expect. Would these products all hold up and be able to protect the metal during this short period outside? Would

the natural environment and humidity be too much for them? As you can see in the accompanying photo, we got a bit more than we bargained for. The results varied widely, and some products that have worked well for us in the shop didn’t do so well outside. Here’s how the products fared, from left to right: ■ Camellia Oil: Thick, bubbly, layered rust throughout the section. ■ Slipit: Dark splotches along both ends and a thin layer throughout. ■ TopCote: Dark, blotchy, thick layers of rust scattered in random areas.

■ WD-40: Slight rusting was starting to appear along edges near the tape. ■ Fluid Film: Area was moist with either water, the product itself or a mixture of the two, but no rust visible. ■ Boeshield T-9: Light rusting appears throughout; darker patches at ends. ■ Gun Blue: Light layer throughout, with partial layer of darker rust in one area (perhaps from uneven application). ■ Untreated: As expected, this had the thickest and toughest rust. While this experiment is in no way scientific, and the conditions extreme, we found the results to be intriguing. — mr

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stop rust now Hand saws are rust magnets. The highcarbon steel takes a keen edge, but it also reacts readily with water. Wipe your saws clean after every use to prevent rust.

Pollution also can accelerate indoor corrosion because pollutants often contain sulfur compounds that start absorbing water from the air and rusting steel at 80 percent relative humidity. “We often think that something is wet only at 100 percent humidity, but even with 50 percent humidity salt particles on the surface start sucking up the water from the air,” Burleigh says. Let’s take a closer look at the process. Now you know that rusting occurs on a microscopic

Supplies Lee Valley 800-267-8735 or leevalley.com 113 ⁄4 oz. • Fluid Film, #AG750, $9.95 Woodcraft 800-225-1153 or woodcraft.com 12 oz. • Boeshield T-9 Rust & Corrosion Protection, #03Q56, $14.99 1 can • Slipit #124948, $11.50 Japan Woodworker 800-537-7820 or japanwoodworker.com 1 bottle • Camellia Oil (8 oz.), #15.574.77, $12.95 Area sporting goods store

1 bottle • Gun Blue, $5 Area home-supply stores 1 can • Bostik TopCote, $12 1 can • WD-40, $3 Prices correct at time of publication.

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scale when dust particles containing salt or pollutants absorb water from the air. Within these microscopic sites, some places become alkaline and others become acidic. If chlorides are present from salt, the moisture can become a dilute hydrochloric acid (or muriatic acid) and the rusting is accelerated. The brittle rust we see on the surface is the result of the microscopic corrosion cells that are active during high humidity and might shut down completely during low humidity. This process is slow, but given enough time, the rust grows thick enough to flake off during the dry spells. Rust can be either red or black. Red rust is caused by moisture and is what most people are talking about when they discuss rust. (Black oxide, on the other hand, is caused by heat and is actually a good protector. Black oxide doesn’t grow or flake. If you know what you are doing, you can coat steel with black oxide by heating it in very hot sand or boiling the steel in high-temperature, high-pressure water.) Salt water will cause an object to rust faster because the chlorides break down the surface oxide film, making the water a diluted acid, which causes pitting. Heat also speeds the rusting process because most chemical reactions occur faster when it is hotter. This is why caring for your tools by the sea – think warm, wet and salty air – is almost a full-time job. But the cause of rust isn’t

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what keeps many of us awake at nights – what we want to know is how to prevent it from invading our shop and damaging our tools.

Stay Dry to Fight Rust Many people talk about rust as if it’s actually alive and you must kill it to stop the metal from being ruined. We’re not too sure about that, but it does lead us down an interesting path. Because rust appears anywhere there is water, you should be able to protect metals if you keep them dry. But it’s not that easy. “Anything is better than nothing,” Burleigh says. “Anything that works is better than just having bare steel out there to rust.” That said, there are a couple of different ways that you can combat this dreaded scourge: • Paint or wax the metal. The paint helps prevent the iron from being directly exposed to water or air. Paste wax, applied regularly and often, should work well as long as you make sure to avoid waxes that contain water. There are many proprietary products on the market that contain organic compounds that bind to the surface of the steel and prevent or slow rusting. These compounds work by many different methods, but mainly they provide either a thick barrier to the moisture or a thin surface that repels the water. A common worry is that these products will impede the finishing or staining of the wood. If you first cut a test piece with your freshly coated tooling to remove

any excess rustresistant compound, these products shouldn’t affect finishing or staining. (See “An Unscientific Rust Experiment” on page 103 for what we learned about these products.) • A breathable canvas tarp or fitted tool cover can be quite effective. The cover keeps dust and pollutants in the air from settling on your tools. But try to avoid a cover that goes all the way to the floor, as that will just trap the moisture and encourage condensation. • A dehumidifier, which takes moisture out of the air, is a great way to prevent rust in your shop if it is a closed room or cellar. If you’re in a drafty garage, it won’t help, but the garage may not be as humid as a cellar, so you should be a bit safer out there. • There are some products on the market considered to be organic rust converters. These contain acid that converts rust to black oxide and polymers that

useful Rust What? You mean this disgusting stuff all over my tools can be useful? Say it ain’t so! Oh, it’s so. If you go camping, live someplace cold or enjoy being outdoors when it’s cold (at, say, a football game) but want to stay warm, you likely already know about disposable pocket warmers. But did you know these devices are a good example of rust doing good? When iron rusts, it gives off heat. Disposable pocket warmers are designed to use this heat. The warmers are made out of iron powder, which rusts slowly. By adding water, salt and activated carbon, the rusting process speeds up. When a warmer is removed from its packaging, the iron powder becomes exposed to air, making the iron rust and give off heat. — MR

bond to rust. Instructions tell you to remove all loose rust, paint on the product and let it dry. While these products have been known to work, oftentimes the resulting surface can be black and rough, and the converted rust might be less durable. • Manufacturers often use vapor-corrosion inhibitors to protect steel in sealed containers. These inhibitors are volatile organic compounds that condense onto steel and prevent rusting.

Our Preferred Method Despite all these methods (each with their own positives and negatives), we’ve found in our years of woodworking, research, talking with experts and fighting rust ourselves, our favorite method is simply to use a tight wooden box

to store small tools. Wood is a great barrier to dust, pollution and humidity. It might even contain a natural vaporcorrosion inhibitor. Dust is a huge magnet for moisture, so if you keep dust off your tools you will discourage rust. Of course, a toolbox isn’t perfect – after all, you have to take your tools out to use them – but until a completely rustproof metal is made that can be used for woodworking, we’ll stick with a tight wooden toolbox, tarps for the machines, regular cleaning and some sort of commercial rust inhibitor for the exposed surfaces.

Get Rid of Rust To remove rust once it appears, there are some options. Surface rust is the easiest to eliminate,

especially where excessive pitting has not formed, wrote Jeff Smith in a recent article for Hot Rod magazine called “Rust Busting.” He said that while there are a number of rust-removal products, the simplest is a quick scuffing with some light-grit sandpaper. You also can use chemical methods such as Naval Jelly, which is a phosphoric acid that neutralizes light surface rust, making removal easier with an abrasive. Unless rust is chemically treated or physically removed, it will continue to spread. The problem is not just removing the rust, but also removing the sulfur or chloride ions in the rust that are absorbing water and accelerating corrosion by forming acids.

a ‘shocking’ way to remove rust We found a cool electrolysis experiment online via metals.about.com (thepontiactransampage.com/rust.html) that seems to work well to remove rust from your smaller metal tools. All you need is a plastic bucket, a battery charger, some baking soda and an electrode. If you remember back to science class, a simple way to remove rust is to provide an electrical current – the rust will then move with the current. To get a current flowing, pour water into the bucket, adding about a tablespoon of baking soda per gallon of water. (Once the current is started, adding more soda will not make it go faster.) Put the piece of rusted metal into the water with the negative lead on it. (If it is part of a tool that has non-

metal parts, remove those parts, as you don’t want to ruin them.) Attach the positive lead to the electrode, which could be a nail, a screw or baking pan (stainless steel works best). Place this electrode in the water a few inches away from the rusted metal (which must be completely submerged in the water), turn on the battery charger and watch as the rust goes away. When it looks like the tool is clean, remove it (use rubber gloves because the water is dirty) and take the leads off it. Scrub the surface with a warm, soapy pad to get the crud off it and see if the rust is all gone. If not, just repeat the process until you’re satisfied. Then dry the objects and you’re ready to get back to work.  — MR After attaching the negative lead to the piece of rusted metal, attach the positive lead to a sacrificial piece of metal. Then place this object in the bucket a few inches away from the rusted piece. After a while, remove the objects and see how much rust is gone. We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

water’s role in rusting process When a water drop is present on the surface of steel, the iron atom loses two or three electrons and dissolves into the water drop as a positive ion. The free electrons wander through the steel to the other side of the water drop and combine with water and oxygen to form negative hydroxyl ions. These ions diffuse through the water until they encounter the iron ions, where they combine and precipitate, forming red rust. This process is accelerated if there are sulfates or chlorides present in the water drop.  — mr

Burleigh says it’s best to remove what you can with whatever method you are most comfortable, then wash the object with soap and water to remove the soluble sulfides and chlorides. Dry it well, then add a rust preventative on the surface. Adds Smith, of Hot Rod magazine: “Fighting rust is not an easy job. Typically, shortcut cures and quick fixes only delay the inevitable, larger rust-repair job.” These are just some of the best ways we’ve found to remove rust. There are many stories out there from woodworkers who have come up with solutions they say are great, just as there are many different products on the market. Until someone comes along with the perfect solution, our suggestion to you is to find something that works (whether it’s a dehumidifier, an airtight wooden box or simply buying new parts when the old ones get rusted over) and stick with it. But we’ll keep our eyes and ears open, too. After all, as actress Helen Hayes put it, “If you rest, you rust.” PW

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What’s new in

Table Saws Saws and accessories released in the last few years change the way we look at saws.

by Popular

woodworking staff

PHOTO BY AL PARRISH

F

rom the end of World War II to the turn of the 21st century there was only one major development in table saw design in the United States. In the late 1970s, the Biesemeyer fence was introduced. This simple design had an incredible impact on the way we worked with wood. Until then, setting a table saw fence was extremely fussy. Measuring systems and locking mechanisms were inaccurate and unreliable, and any change in fence position took awhile. No wonder cabinetmakers were considered slow and persnickety. Inventor Bill Biesemeyer’s innovation changed everything. This new fence clamped down solidly, and the scale was accurate and reliable. It was so good that he didn’t even bother to patent it. Hitting the market first with a great idea made him successful, even though other manufacturers were free to copy his innovation. Other than that, we didn’t see many changes. The Delta Unisaw of the 1980s was very much like the Unisaw of the 1940s. What changes we did see

The SawStop features a braking mechanism that brings the blade to a stop if your body comes in contact with it.

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w h at ’ s n e w

The pawl brake cartridge is shown here in place in the saw. The mechanism mounts over two studs and is held in place with a locking key. Changing out the cartridge (a wider pawl brake is required when using a dado set) is easier than we anticipated.

were on saws made in Europe and aimed more at industrial users rather than hobbyists. One feature that European saws had that American saws lacked was a riving knife. This simple piece of steel covers the back of the blade and moves with the blade if you change the height or the angle. This prevents an errant piece of wood from contacting the back of the blade, greatly reducing the chances of kickback. The splitters, guards and anti-kickback pawls on most American saws are clumsy at best. They are difficult to work around, and are most in the way when you get close to the blade and really need them. And they must be removed for many common operations such as cutting dados and rabbets. Many experienced woodworkers remove them in frustration. During the last few years we’ve been treated to several innovations that could have as much of an impact as the Biesemeyer fence: A device to instantly stop a saw blade if your hand should touch it, new saw designs, and a sliding table that can revolutionize the way you use a saw for crosscutting.

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Here you can see the results of a standard test of the saw. A hot dog (used to simulate a digit) was laid flat on a board and pushed quickly into the spinning blade. The pawl break cartridge functioned perfectly here, stopping the blade very quickly, and only nicking the hot dog.

SawStop

First Impressions

A safer table saw is the holy grail of woodworking machinery, and that’s how many woodworkers view the SawStop cabinet saw. We spent three months using the SawStop cabinet saw in our shop. We were impressed, but we had some improvements to suggest. First, let’s look at the concept behind the SawStop safety system. An electrical signal is passed through the blade and this signal is monitored for changes in conductivity. Wood and humans have significantly different electrical conductivity signals, and the system is able to recognize this difference. It doesn’t react when wood touches the blade, but when a person contacts the blade, the system reacts dramatically. The brake (a block of aluminum called a brake pawl) is launched by a spring into the saw blade’s teeth. The blade’s teeth cut into the pawl and bind, stopping the blade in about 1 ⁄ 200th of a second. At the same time the motor stops and the blade drops below the table. No other saw on the market has this safety feature.

The saw came into our shop in good shape, was well aligned and didn’t need much adjustment before our first use. There were a couple features that we were fond of right away. The blade-height adjustment was smooth and free of backlash, which made it easy to make small height adjustments. The riving knife is a feature that our entire staff thinks was overdue on an American table saw. In fact, we all agreed that this one feature is probably a more important safety feature than the SawStop mechanism. The oversized paddle switch is convenient, but the staff had mixed experiences with its location. Some liked being able to turn off the saw by pushing their leg forward. Others found that it was located so close to the table’s edge that it was accidentally turned off during a cut too frequently.

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Looking a Little Deeper After a couple of weeks of use we noticed some things on the saw that were slightly disappointing in a saw costing nearly $3,000. The rip fence is offered as an option and is priced about

the same as a Biesemeyer fence. But it fell short of the Biesemeyer fence’s high quality. When setting the fence, we found the cursor nearly unreadable. The saw has a two-wrench system for holding the arbor to change blades and that’s a good idea. But the wrench openings were slightly oversized, chewing up the nut after a short period. The opening in the tabletop to reach the blade has plenty of room to the left of the blade (where you never put your hand) and not enough on the right. That space is also the main access to change the SawStop’s cartridge. It’s necessary to change cartridges every time you switch between a dado set and a regular blade, and we found that changing the cartridge didn’t take too long after a couple swaps. We did find that one of the two posts that the cartridge mounts on isn’t visible from above. To get the cartridge started you have to do it by feel, or crawl under the outfeed table. We tested a 3-horsepower model of the SawStop cabinet saw (a 5-hp model is also available), and the saw performed much like a 3-hp Unisaw. The blade is shrouded to

A sliding table can improve both the quality and efficiency of your work. This version is the first we’ve seen that was worth the investment.

improve dust collection (which it does). A door is mounted on the right side of the shroud to allow access to the brake cartridge from below the table. We found that this door can be stuck open against the saw frame. If this happens, tilting the arbor can snap the door off (as we did). A lo n g w it h t he r iv i n g knife, a standard blade guard is included. While the guard was an improvement over most stock blade guards, it couldn’t be used when making very thin rips (when you would want to use it) and the anti-kickback pawls interfered with pushing work past the blade.

The Mechanism We have good and not-so-good news about the safety mechanism. The by-now well-known hot dog test provided dramatic and perfect results, stopping the blade immediately with little damage to the hot dog. But we also had an accidental firing of the brake mechanism. After changing the blade cartridge over to our dado set the cartridge fired as the saw was turned back on, damaging our expensive dado set. SawStop shipped a replacement cartridge overnight, but a misfire such as this would cost $60 to $70 for a

new cartridge as well as the price of a new dado set. Representatives of the company told us that the computer chip information from the fired cartridge indicated that the space calibration between the blade and the pawl was at fault, though we’d successfully used the same dado set and cartridge on the saw a number of times before the misfire.

The Bottom Line Overall we think the saw is a success. We had some disappointments that we chalk up to testing an early production model from first-time saw manufacturer. We feel confident SawStop is currently addressing these concerns in a proactive manner. As these improvements continue, the steep price of the saw will seem more reasonable in light of providing a safer saw alternative.

Stops on the fence and accurate angles are two of the great features of a sliding table. We also appreciate being able to quickly square the fence after cutting an angle or removing it for ripping.

the saw, the leg system needed to be readjusted to match. Other systems that avoided the floor problem included a guide bar that extended into the operator’s area that added what we consider a hazard. Our search for the perfect sliding table ended when we found the JessEm MastRSlide ($540). This is a sliding table that attaches to a standard table saw without extension legs. It takes up little space, is lightweight, has all the capacity a traditional shop would want and can be used on a saw with a mobile base. But the real reason we love it is this: You can make a square crosscut, remove the fence for ripping and then return to crosscutting without realigning everything. No other sliding table system has given us that feature day-in, day-out.

Capability Without Fuss A Better Sliding Table For more than a decade, we’ve struggled to find the perfect crosscutting attachment for our table saw. We’ve tried other sliding tables and just about every aftermarket miter gauge. There have been sliding tables available for years, but they required a single location for the saw because every time you moved

The JessEm does a lot of fancy mitering tricks, and the table offers three positions for its crosscut fence. The middle position is designed for mitered cuts. The front and rear positions allow the user to crosscut up to a 36"-wide panel that’s secured either at the front or back. The fence telescopes out to handle long stock, with a closed

capacity of 28" and an extended position that will cut a maximum length of 48" using the included flip-stop. Many sliding tables and aftermarket miter gauges are either too short to be useful or too long for everyday operations. The design of the fence locks in at 90° to the blade and stays there, even after you remove and replace the fence. One of our major frustrations with other sliding tables is the constant testing and retesting required whenever you re-attach the fence after removing it for ripping operations. The JessEm solves this problem by offering fixed attachment points for the fence when it is in the forward and rear positions. Other sliding table units rely on a system where the fence pivots and then rests it against a stop to square it to the blade. The stop is not always reliable, hence the need for test cuts. You may consider the price of the Jess-Em a little steep, but if you’ve ever wrestled with this problem you’ll be more than willing to pay the price.

Powermatic’s New Saw When we first looked at the newest cabinet saw from Powermatic, the most difficult concept to

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w h at ’ s n e w grasp was how the PM2000 would fit into the product line alongside the Powermatic Model 66 cabinet saw that has become an industry standard. In short, the Model 66 is designed for more physically demanding millwork situations, such as ripping hardwood lumber all day long. The PM2000 incorporates features that will appeal to a furniture maker who switches between setups throughout the day. The PM2000 has an integrated mobile base. See it in the picture? You won’t because it’s built into the cabinet of the saw. To use the mobile base you pull the blade-tilting wheel (on the right of the cabinet) away from the saw to engage a second geared mechanism. That handle raises the saw on the mobile base. It lifts the saw only a fraction of an inch off the floor, but that’s enough to get things moving. Once the saw is raised onto its casters, the extension table can be lifted easily enough (again, a fraction of an inch is enough) and the saw can be steered from

A riving knife serves as a splitter behind the blade, keeping material from binding after being cut. More important, it moves up and down with the blade and can be used when making grooves and dados, while a standard splitter can’t.

the extension table without causing any harm to the saw.

A Friendlier Saw Powermatic improved the bladechanging process as well, by adding an arbor lock that allows one-wrench blade changes, doing away with the stick that we all end up jamming against the blade to make the change. The lock is easy to use and a nice feature. Our favorite major change is the addition of a true riving knife, a feature also found on the SawStop and European saws. Powermatic has also added a dust shroud around the blade to improve dust collection and included a good quality miter gauge. We tested the 3-hp, singlephase, 220-volt model with the 30"-fence rail system. Conveniently, we had a 5-hp Model 66 sitting in the shop at the same time, so we were able to compare the motor performance between the two saws. We ripped pieces of 3"-thick white oak on both saws and found very little difference, a

strong positive statement for the smaller motor on the PM2000. To sum up, we like the performance and the features the PM2000 offers to both the home and professional woodworker. As a “next generation,” it stands proud alongside the Model 66, and costs less to boot ($2,199.99 v. $2,618.40)

New Kid on the Block On page 26 of this issue, we discuss the different types of table saws available. Hybrid saws, with a blend of features of both cabinet saws and contractors saws,

are appealing because of their small footprint and middle-of the-road price. While they offer improved dust collection and less noise, the drawback to them has been the trunnions that support the blade arbor being mounted to the saw table. This type of mounting, as found in contractor saws, makes the saw much harder to align, and transmits more vibration from the motor to the table. Until this year, only Craftsman has offered a hybrid saw with cabinet-mounted trunnions. A new manufacturer, Steel City Tool Works, has introduced a new line of table saws with beefy construction and some interesting features. Steel City’s lowest price saw is more of a small cabinet saw than a hybrid saw, a hybrid-hybrid if you will.

The Powermatic 2000 also features an arbor lock, making blade changes easier.

This saw has a built-in mobile base and a true riving knife.

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Popular Woodworking January 2007

Priced under $1,000, this saw has a 13 ⁄ 4-hp motor, cast-iron extension wings, and large trunnions mounted to the cabinet for easy alignment, increased stability and reduced vibration. We’re looking forward to testing this new saw, as well as some of this manufacturer’s larger saws.

Another Steel City innovation is a titanium coating on the tops of its larger saws. This coating promises to reduce friction and the possibility of corrosion.

On the Horizon We’re excited to see these innovations, and hope that other man-

ufacturers will join in with the introduction of new products. In Europe, riving knives have been a standard feature for years. We wonder why the safety regulations here don’t include them, but cling to the awkward splitter, pawl and guard designs that are required in the United States.

The other European feature we’d like to see more of is sliding tables that are an integral part of the saw. A good sliding table will open up many possibilities for faster, safer and more accurate work. There are a few imported and domestic models currently available. PW

Sources SawStop 503-570-3200 sawstop.com JessEm 866-272-7492 jessem.com

This small cabinet saw from Steel City Tool Works has most of the features of larger cabinet saws in a hybrid saw size.

Powermatic 800-274.6848 powermatic.com Steel City Tool Works 615-225-9010 steelcitytoolworks.com