featherboards

I make all my featherboards as these are easy and cheap to make and you can custom make the ones you need. I thought about buying a magnetic featherboard for my cast iron tablesaw, but the ones I've made work just fine. A good router table should have places on it to allow clamping featherboards both vertically (to the fence) and horizontally (to the table).

I have to second that. One of my favorite things to do is make a featherboard. I have lots of them. It is the same way I feel about buying sawhorses. Why buy one when you can make one exactly like you want it?

I bought some for $1 and the one you show on Amazon was $5.

At those prices, I don't have time to make them.

BTW, I use lots of featherboards, especially for ripping on a table saw.

Lew

Do featherboards normally go bad? To tell if it's bad is if it isn't stiff anymore? Also, no matter what brand, they all will become soft?

Chuck

CNT wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

I picked up two of those for alot less money. If I had paid $10 each, I'd be livid at their performance.

Since I paid about $3 each, I'm happy with them. I just use QuikClamps to attach them where I want them.

CNT wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

I wouldn't think it. Especially with your qualifier "normally".

I have two of the "Amazon" ones, one Bench Dog brand and a few home-made. So far, none have lost their 'push'. Seems to me if they do, you'd just snug them up a little tighter.

make yer own.

I have one of those and it really sucks. Got if free with something or other and paid too much. Just make your own. I have a free plan at the link below.

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I agree, make your own. I've got a bunch that I made out of 3/4" pine in a variety of sizes. They're trivial to make. I've experimented with finger length to get just the amount of springiness that seems right to me. Some I fancied up with hold-down knobs, others I just clamp to the table/fence/whatever.

I once went nuts and bought one of the commercial hardwood featherboards you can get from most catalog places. It sucked. There wasn't enough spring in the fingers, it was too short, it came with some silly metal piece that I still have no idea what purpose it was intended to serve. One day, it failed to prevent a kickback and self-destructed in the process. I salvaged the knob and the cute little thingie that fits in a table saw slot, and wrote the rest of it off as a mistake.

For some uses, old nylon cutting boards are just the job for making featherboards - cafes and restaurants need to replace them regularly and throw the old ones out.

John

======================= I have been making sawdust for 40 years and my daughter gave me a couple of Bench Dog featherboards about 5 years ago as a gift.

All I can say is I WAS A DUMB... HARD HEADED .. SKIN FLINT (cheap guy) for not buying a couple years ago.... they are absolutely easy to use and work fantastic.. so much better then any of the ones I had either made or purchased that I have not once, not a single time used one of the old ones since day one...

BTW: I use them on the tablesaw alot....

Just my opinion...

Bob G....

I agree the Bench Dog ones are the best there are - supports the saying "you get what you pay for..." I use them on my Unisaw and my router table and wouldn't be without them.

BillyB

I got one like this at Woodcraft of all places. It's okay, but obviously a cheapie. Rockler has some that are black in color and quite a bit beefier, meaning they lock into the miter slot much more solidly. It was probably more like $12 or $13 but I'm happy with it. If I felt I needed several more or many different kinds at this stage of my woodworking, I'd probably learn to make them.

Tom

See ABPW.

Lew