Must be the time of year when people look to improving their table saws. Yesterday, I bought Lee Valley's magnetic featherboard combo set. Still trying to figure out how by turning the knobs on top, the rare earth magnets let go.
Customize and build yourself a sturdy combo hold-down/push stick "fence straddler" ala Shopsmith.
Excellent point, originally lost on me.
I like shop-made jointer style push blocks with replaceable expendable faces (Staples $1 mouse pads contact cemented in place ), with the blade only slightly higher than the work, for small and narrow parts. Think "tightwad's Grrrriper".
Cutting squares or smaller pieces increase the chance of kickback. I like to stand out the "kickback danger zone." A bandsaw would be a safer choice. I use a canvas apron but not for family-jewel protection.
That should work...;~)
I ended up buying the Gripper only after seeing it demo'ed at the show. I was more convinced when I learned that you can buy replacement parts.
My thoughts when I read the OP saying he was cutting a 4" square workpiece into bits.
That's not long enough to ride the rip fence and it's not big enough to use a miter gauge.
A cutoff sled maybe; better a bandsaw.
Sun, Jun 3, 2007, 2:16am leemichaels*nadaspam*@comcast.net (Lee=A0Michaels) doth sayeth: That little point is SO important. Like my old shop teacher used to say.
My shop teacher didn't say that. What he did was explain what kickback was, then he purposely caused one, so we coud all see it. VERY impressive. Then he told us to stay out of the way of a kickback and we wouldn't have any problem. That was 1955, I was 14 1/2. That was the first year we were allowed to use the table saw on our own, before then all cutting was done by the shop teacher. I still remember that every time I use my saw.
JOAT What is life without challenge and a constant stream of new humiliations?
- Peter Egan
Very true. Any time the length of the cut is not greater than the distance to the fence, especially if cut length is also less than the length of the exposed blade, you're in a crosscut situation and it should be treated as such irrespective of whatever direction the wood's grain is running.
IMO, the terms "rip" and "crosscut" relative to wood grain direction have meaning in the Neander world because of the difference in handsaw tooth form and sharpening. Normites at the tablesaw should forget grain direction and look strictly at cut geometry in treating a cut as a "rip" or "crosscut" and act accordingly. Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
Forget the apron, unless it has a steel plate in it.
For that kind of cut, use a sled.
I would have been using a sled for anything that small, especially since at that size, it's difficult to really guarantee square cuts without a sled.
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