Push sticks should be outlawed. I can't fathom why anyone would use one since they offer NO resistance to the blade pushing the stock upwards. They are slightly less dangerous than using your hand.
Use a shoe that holds the stock down to the table as it pushes it through the blade. Push sticks are for idiots... and I say that un-apologetically.
The idea is to keep your fingers out of the rotating parts. They aren't intended to fix kick-back.
I often use featherboards and was looking at these at Woodcraft, yesterday.
Well, I guess you could spend 300 bucks on those or make a shoe in 5 minutes out of a buck's worth of scrap wood.
I stand by what I said. Those crow's mouth type push sticks are for those who don't like being able to count to ten.
krw wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
They aren't intended to encourage kick-back, either, but that's what those dangerous birdsmouth push sticks do. If you put downward pressure on the very edge of something like a board, the board will tend to lift at the opposite end.
Considering how easy it is to make a push device that fixes that problem, there's no reason to ever use the birdsmouth style push stick. Ever.
The best saw to use the birdsmouth push sticks on is the compound miter saw. Hold it square against the fence, and make a cut. Now you've got a scrap to use to double check the squareness of the fence.
Puckdropper
Puckdropper wrote in news:55bd4354$0$21668$b1db1813$ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:
Best idea is to do both. You can buy featherboards that will lock into the miter gauge slots on the tablesaw, which makes them very convenient to use; and make several more to clamp to the router table or a fence or other places where there isn't a slot.
Certainly once you've used them you realize how simple and effective they are for controlling the work.
John
Puckdropper wrote in news:55bd4507$0$42769$c3e8da3$ snipped-for-privacy@news.astraweb.com:
Yeah, I had one like that, too. I think Delta used to supply a drawing for that style stick in their manuals (cut it out of the manual, glue to a piece of plywood, cut plywood to make stick). I never felt comfortable with it.
John
Over 60 years of using that/similar design on a table saw and that has never been an issue.
Different strokes ... folks should use what is comfortable for them.
The delta manual with that plan is one of the links from the article.
That's actually similar to the design I use to move "well controlled" stock through. With featherboards on top and side the board isn't going anyewhere unless it rips the fence off in the process and the notch helps me keep the stick where I want it. But sometimes the stick has to be narrow to push under the featherboard (yeah, I know, I need to make up some thinner featherboards for those cuts.
The magnetic featherboards work really well (on cast iron tops, obviously), too.
I use featherboards on the fence, too, but have to be careful so they don't lift the fence.
$250 at Woodcraft but yes, they're expensive. They also do the job of the featherboards (in both planes).
Nonsense. As long as your fingers never go past the blade you're not going to get 'em chopped off. Push sticks keep them out of the blade. You might get hit in the gut with a hunk of board but that's why it's good not to stand behind the workpiece.
If the piece is that warped, perhaps. The birdsmouth is intended to push towards the blade, not down.
Perhaps a square is a better tool?
Yes they do, BUT not so well if the magnets happen to fall directly over the miter slot, it is surprising how many times that happens to me. Additionally the magnetic one that I use will not let a Gripper pass if the Gripper is wider than the stock being cut and the stock is 3/4" thick. I have to go to my wooden feather board which fits in the slot and is less than 3/4" thick.
What's holding the stock down to the table when the blade it trying to lift and throw it? Many things we cut on the table saw aren't heavy enough to stay against the table surface when cutting.
I've seen guys use two seperate bird's mouth push sticks to try to push the stock through the blade AND hold it down at the front.
Again I ask, why not use a simple shoe type push guide that controls the stock in both directions and only takes one hand to use?
Someone sells long, steel miter slots inserts that lock into the slot and bridge that gap for magnetic feather boards.
I'll have to find the link for these, I was going to get some but the move made me forget.
I have both types. Once I made the shoe type, I don't think I ever used the bird again. The one I made has a handle like a handsaw and you can get a firm grip on it.
If I suspect that anything bad could happen, a featherboard. If the stock is true, I don't bother.
Featherboards.
I will use two push sticks. One to push and one to hold down near the blade. I have a strict rule when using the table saw; no fingers beyond the blade until it stops spinning.
Because the fingers have to go past the spinning parts.
Not if you put the handle back far enough.
Then you've got the same problem as the birds mouth push sticks.
Ed Pawlowski wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
How far back would the handle have to be? By the time it's back far enough to push the wood completely through the saw, wouldn't it tend to be rather cumbersome to handle?
If you make the handle tall, then the hand can safely pass over the spinning parts to complete the cut. The cut isn't complete until the wood has passed by the blade completely, at least on the fence side.
Puckdropper
want to try it with sandpaper to allow applying some pressure toward the fence too
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