Undercut on Table Top

[Waymon Campbell]

What is the safest way to make this undercut on a table top? Top is 22" x 42" x 3/4"? Thought about building a tall jig that slips over the TS fence and would allow me to make the cut, but am interested in other ideas...

[Mark Kelly]

Dare I say here...use a hand plane. Just make sure you have marking lines on the outside so you don't over do it. It would be quicker than fabricating a jig for a router, I think.

[Jim Becker]

I used a tall fence on the TS when I did this for the Shaker-style night stands I built for my neices. That said, I'd still use the TS next time, but would build a sled so that the material can be clamped for the cut...it's hard to do without variations by hand. A sharp hand plane can then be used to clean up the cut.

[Donnie Raines]

I used the table saw for the the same thing. worked great.

[Lee Schierer]

I make raised panels on my table saw all the time. I have an article at my website on how I do it. You oculd use the same type of fence and set up I do for raised panels.Raise Panel Procedure

If you position your feather boards correctly, you will get almost no variation in thickness as long as your panels are flat. The guide piece I use along the top of the fence can be thicker which will help flatten a bowed panel. I use a ROS to clean up the slight kerf marks.

Do not attempt this if oyur saw is not closely aligned witht he fence parallel tothe blade. A fence that tails away behind the blade will give you grief cutting raised panels.

[Chris Padilla]

Waymon,

Is your TS right or left-tilting? Obviously, you want to make sure the flat of the panel is against the fence. Lee's TS is a left-tilt so he is ready to go...if yours is a right-tilt, you'll want to move the fence to the other side of the blade or make an auxilliary fence.

[Ted Shrader]

Waymon -

This is one of those great examples of a favorite saying, "There are at least three way to do everything in woodworking. Suggestions that came to mind are

• Table saw with sliding jig so the top can be clamped to it and passed through the blade (which is going to be R E A L high - be careful.
• Router jig to hold router with straight bit at the desired angle.
• Do the whole thing with a hand plane. Rig up a jig - while not technically a shooting board, something along that line - to make the edges steady and consistent

The first two would have to be cleaned up witha few strokes of a plane.

This post was not meant to ignore the other suggestions made by Mark, Jim, Donnie and Lee, but to hightlight the "3 ways" rule and add one more.

Regards,
Ted

[Waymon Campbell]

Waymon,

Is your TS right or left-tilting? Obviously, you want to make sure the flat of the panel is against the fence. Lee's TS is a left-tilt so he is ready to go...if yours is a right-tilt, you'll want to move the fence to the other side of the blade or make an auxilliary fence.

Chris - It's a Griz 1023 left tilt. I'm leaning toward the jig on the fence approach but what's making me think real hard is the height when I cut the end grain sides. I may see if I have a router bit that is close to the angle I want and the hand plane the rest.

Oh, well...I'm gett'in ready for the Dallas BBQ. Leaving at O Dark Thirty for Big D.

[Dave Brandt]

Why couldn't you use a panel-raising bit on the router table?

[Jim Becker]

Why couldn't you use a panel-raising bit on the router table?

Good question, Dave. I suspect the answer is held in the dimensions. That's a 3" exposure, so a shaper would be required...it's too big for a router since you'd need something like a 7" cutter to effect the cut.

[Steve Cox]

Unless you have multiples of this to do, a handplane would take care of this PDQ. I'd probably have it done by the time you figured out how to jig it up and most likely be alot safer doing it.

[Brian Hale]

I vote for the hand plane. Most likely take an hour or 2 to finish, much less time then planning/building a jig, plus that's a big piece to stand up on a TS