Recommend me a featherboard (opinions on Grip-Tite?)

[glenn bradley]

I have a few of the Rocklers. some stacked, some not. I have a couple of the universal Magswitch units as well. The prices on these things have gotten a little silly. If I were going after some today I would probably just make them.

http://woodworking.about.com/od/wood...herboard_2.htm

http://www.provenwoodworking.com/featherboard.html

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how...ard/index.html

[Scott Loven]

I like the Milescraft feather boards as well as the bench dog line.
Scott

[Jerome Hanby]

I just popped over to the owes site to see if they listed the feather boards and availability and when I searched for benchdog, I saw these. I guess Rockler doesn't have any god given rights to the idea, but I was shocked to see third party bench cookies so quickly...

Bench Dog feather boards are on clearence at Lowe's now reg price was $24.97 now $12.47, they are clearing them out and will be replacing them with units from Kreg. They fit 3/4" miter slots.

[Valentine Azbelle]

Thanks a lot guys! Lots of useful info. I will check out all other featherboards suggested here. Also will look into the push blocks (just got to ripping narrow stock in the Bosch manual - yet another revelation ).

Is there a way to make (or rather attach a pre-made) steel (or other ferrous) fence to the Bosch fence?

[glenn bradley]

I just popped over to the owes site to see if they listed the feather boards and availability and when I searched for benchdog, I saw these. I guess Rockler doesn't have any god given rights to the idea, but I was shocked to see third party bench cookies so quickly...

I believe Rockler bought Bench Dog.

[Steve Rowe]

+1 for making your own

Easy to do and a good introduction to using a new TS. While your at it you can hammer out a couple push sticks. This will allow you to make them to suit your needs.

+2. This is one area where shop made is usually better than most commercially available options.

[Valentine Azbelle]

Any of the magnetics are out as I think the Bosch has an aluminum table. After the magjigs my favorites are the Jessem featherboards, they are pretty innovative.

I can't yet decide if JessEm's are better than the other ones - I don't know what to look for really. I think I would like to be able to affix the featherboard to the fence (rather than to the table) probably on both sides of the blade to keep down a 1.5" thick piece. I don't know how weather it's possible to do with the Bosch 4100 fence. Would I need an auxiliary fence? Can I buy one (instead of making one myself)? Can it be made of ferrous metal?

Oh and congrats Valentine on your purchase, keep us informed on your project!

Thanks, Van. Spent the better part of yesterday putting together the Gravity stand and reading the manual for the saw (also putting together the stand for the Milwaukee CSMS - looks totally bad-ass). I have found a source of a 1.5" thick MDF. The same place even has ultra-light MDF in both 3/4" and 1.5" thickness. 1.5" ultra-light is way too expensive for my purposes and I most likely will go with a laminated 3/4" ultra-light (which isn't that cheap either). Although considering the cost I might just stick with regular 1.5" MDF (need to find out how much heavier it is than pine or fir). Now I only need to learn to rip it into 1.5" squares without leaving my limbs on the table or getting hit in the face with a piece of MDF and I'll be all set.

[Valentine Azbelle]

+1 for making your own

Easy to do and a good introduction to using a new TS. While your at it you can hammer out a couple push sticks. This will allow you to make them to suit your needs.

+2. This is one area where shop made is usually better than most commercially available options.

Um... It appears that to make your own featherboard you need to use the saw without a featherboard... Also you need to stop in the middle of the cut and back the piece out. I am a total novice to the whole TS thing and I've been scared out of using table saw without extra protection. Besides I need this whole thing for a particular project and going beyond that isn't in the plans (at least at the moment). I just need to be able to cut (SAFELY) 1.5" squares out of 4' x 3' sheets of MDF.

I saw a Grip-Tite demo on you-tube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR0TkOdsfzk&NR=1 ) and it seemed like something that would work perfectly for my purposes - repetative cuts of a small width. Now I only need to figure out if I can apply that on my saw, and if not, then what similar solutions I can use.

[Neil Brooks]

I own a 4100.

My brother's the representative for MagSwitch.

The two won't work together

I use a few shop-made featherboards, a couple that I got from Kreg, with purchase of my router table, and a few cheapies from Harbor Freight. I also just picked up a couple of Kreg jig hardware sets that I'll use to increase the flexibility of my shop-made versions.

All work well in the (they ARE 3/4") Bosch's miter slots, and/or clamped onto the aluminum table or my auxiliary fence.

Good luck!

[Valentine Azbelle]

I own a 4100.

I use a few shop-made featherboards, a couple that I got from Kreg, with purchase of my router table, and a few cheapies from Harbor Freight. I also just picked up a couple of Kreg jig hardware sets that I'll use to increase the flexibility of my shop-made versions.

All work well in the (they ARE 3/4") Bosch's miter slots, and/or clamped onto the aluminum table or my auxiliary fence.

Do you use them in conjuction with the Bosch guard system or do you take it off when using the featherboards?

[Joe Kieve]

I used one of these featherboards at a friend's shop recently and loved it. Lowe's had them for $19.98 and I just bought one for myself. Haven't used it on my saw yet but know I'm gonna like it.
Just go to Lowe's website and type in "featherboard".

joe

[Neil Brooks]

Do you use them in conjuction with the Bosch guard system or do you take it off when using the featherboards?

I only take off the guard system for operations where you must ... like ... using my tenoning jig or crosscut sled.

[Valentine Azbelle]

OK, I went on a shopping spree last night - hit Woodcraft, HD and 2(!)Lowe's.

At the Woodcraft I asked about fence steel overlay for mag featherboards. The young guy at the counter didn't know anything about it except that "Grip-Tite sounded familiar". We walked over to the featherboard area and after 5 minutes I spotted 2 Grip-Tite steel fenceplates - they were just propped against a ceiling column and not on the shelf. Turns out Woodcraft did not carry these anymore (I guess Grip-Tite discontinued them). One was 36", the other - 42". They were the same price. Not knowing which one to get I grabbed... both.

Question 1: Is there an advantage to having a longer fence? Both of these are longer than my table but should I keep the 36" fence (which is closer to the width of my table) or the longer 42" one? How do I mount them onto my fence? Make an auxiliary fence out of plywood or MDF first?

The HD run was uneventful - just wanted to see what they got in terms of featherboards. Turns out... nothing.

Then I drove to Lowe's. All Lowe's are kinda far from where I live so I called ahead to make sure they still had those Bench Dogs. The guy said they had two. I got to the store and they had only one. From what I understand it is preferable to have two featherboards - one in front of the blade and one behind. (is that correct?) I made the guy to look up where else they might have the Bench Dog Feather-Locs. The other store had 3 and was 40 minutes away (something I didn't realize at the moment). I called the store and asked them to hold the items for me. Got there right before closing. Just in case I grabbed all 3 Bench Dogs.

Question 2: How many featherboards do I need? Is there a need for 4 featherboards? I guess I could mount 2 vertically and 2 horizontally (2 in front of the blade and 2 behind). Is that good or bad?

At the Woodcraft I saw a GRR-Ripper push block. The store guy couldn't tell me anything about it but when I got home I looked it up and it appears to be the next big thang.

Question 3: Should I just get 2 GRR-Rippers and not bother with the featherboards? I will be cutting narrow stock and it seems to be the best solution. One thing that I'm a little iffy on is the fact that the wood piece is not held to the table/fence mechanically (by a featherboard) and instead is held by a human. In the case of kickback is it enough to hold it down? It doesn't look like it's possible to use the GRR-Ripper with featherboards (at least on narrow stock)... so is there a case when a featherboard is prefered to a GRR-Ripper?

[Stephen Edwards]

Question 2: How many featherboards do I need? Is there a need for 4 featherboards? I guess I could mount 2 vertically and 2 horizontally (2 in front of the blade and 2 behind). Is that good or bad?

Valentine, For the table feather board you should use only one featherboard in front of the blade. Do not use a table mounted featherboard behind the blade. The reason for this is that you run a high risk of "pinching" that board against the blade after you've cut through the board.

So, for the table mounted FB, use only one, in front of the blade. I can't think of any reason to not use two FB on the fence. Perhaps others with more experience can chime in on that question.

[Ray Newman]

Think about a dado cutter or a moulding head. There is no splitter or often no guard used (some guards like the Unisaw Uni Guard will protect the operator). It is beneficial for a better cut and safer --IMO --to hold the board down onto the table as well as against the fence when cutting with the dadao set or moulding head. "Board Buddies" do this. Or a featherboard attached to the fence to apply downwards pressure of the stock.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2003...y-Rollers.aspx

Board Buddies really shine when cutting sheet stock or wide boards and dadoes -- my primary uses for them....