How to cut a bevel on a small piece of wood vertically.

[jtpr]

Anybody know of a good, safe way to cut a 15 degree bevel on the end of a small (3" x 6") piece of 5/4 curly maple? In other words I need to have the piece resting on the end grain with the 6" vertical, and then run it over a left tilt blade set to 15 degrees. I'm thinking I can make a jig that straddles my fence, clamp it to that and do it. Seems fine on the surface, but with something like this I like to check others to see if I'm missing something with regards to safety or accuracy. This is for the top of a small box I am giving as a gift.

I don't have a router bit to do this, and can't get one at the moment, so that isn't an option.

Thanks for any advice.

-Jim

[Charley]

Why not hot glue it to the side of a big block of wood. It'll give you much more to hang onto while passing it over the saw and it'll hold it in a perfect vertical position. A sharp rap with a dead blow hammer will break the hot melt glue joint after you make the cut.

[Gary A in KC]

That's the perfect use for a tenoning jig. What you're describing doing is just a home made tenoning jig. Just make sure your piece is clamped well to your jig. Think every shop should have one of these whether it's a store bought Delta or a homemade. Just about every wood magazine has had some sort of design for a home built tenoning jig over the years. Maybe like this one:

2 cents

Gary in KC

[Swingman]

Look at the spline cutting jig, used for cutting the slot for splines in mitered joints, on my website, Jigs and Fixtures page, then remove the part that holds the mitered parts. Should take you ten minutes, and some scrap plywood, to build the versatile little jig.

[Dave W]

There is a tool available for this sort of problem. It is inexpensive, very versatile, leaves a wonderful surface but it takes a little patience and practise to use well. Thats probably why no one would even think of using a PLANE. Two marking guage lines, a few swipes with a sharp plane and thats it. Please don't tell me your curly maple cannot be planed. Its just a matter of a sharp blade and a small (see through) chip. Router bit.....what is the world coming to? Dave

[Swingman]

Left tilt table saws?

... he has one. So do I, and lots of planes, but I'd still go to the table saw for that task. Different strokes ...

[David]

I was going to mention essentially the same (and apparently unthinkable) suggestion--plane the edge...

Dave

[Frank Drackman]

A bit pompous, don't you think?

[Guess who]

Start with a relatively much larger piece and cut the bevel first. Then cut the rectangle. So, you wind up with some scrap ...don't we all? If concerned with cost of wood, make only a little longer, and screw it to a larger block of scrap, and again cut the bevel, then finish the recatangle. You'll have only a little loss from wood screws.

[Joe Barta]

Pompus? In usenet? What is the world coming to !!!???

Joe Barta

[Swingman]

Or possibly the "when you get your first hammer everything looks like a nail' syndrome? ;)

A couple of obvious points that seems to have gone over some heads:

It's a sure bet that if the OP was proficient in the use of planes, and owned the best plane for that job, he would not have asked that particular question in the first place.

And heading him in the direction of utilizing a tool he specifically stated he did have would better serve his request.

[Leon]

So define "a few swipes" with a plane. I am thinking 40 or 50.

[Leon]

Cut a piece of 3/4" plywood to about 6 or 7" square. Set your rip fence to the correct location for depth/width of cut. Use the square piece of plywood to push and back up the piece you want to cut.

[bridgerfafc]

use a chisel.

[David]

isn't it only 3" of wood that needs trimming??

Dave

[Leon]

LOL

[Leon]

I guess but when removing a few thousands or hundreds of an inch of wood on each pass...

[john]

How about a tenoning jig??

John

[Swingman]

You never know, but I would have thought that it he had one he would have figured that out. If he doesn't have one, the plywood jig I pointed him to works on the same principle.

[Bugs]

Buy a tenon cutting jig. They are perfect for this job and you can set several compound angles very accurately with a sine bar setup. or . . . Make your own tenon cutting jig from wood. My old homemade one still has application for some projects. Bugs