Table Saw Fence Relief

[Bobby O'Neal]

So I have heard a couple different schools of thought on this. If you put a little relief in the fence away from the blade at the back, then you eliminate burning because the blade is only cutting at the front of the work and not on the up and down stroke.

Or, you keep the fence parallel to the blade all the way through the cut and avoid anything being out of square as it follows the fence which is not parallel to the entire length of the blade.

Being new and learning as I go, I have had better luck with a parallel fence. It seems to be a cleaner cut. I'm using an old 2hp craftsman with a Delta T2 on it and it seems to line up well.

Thoughts, ladies and gents?

[glenn bradley]

I'm from the 'parallel to the blade' school (blade is parallel to the miter slot as is the fence). Easing the fence away from the rear of the blade draws the opposite side of the kerf into the blade, hmmmmm.

[Charles Cannon]

I always set the fence off the miter slot, close as I can get it without being closer on the rear. I believe the miter slot should be the bench mark for setting the fence and the blade.
Cannon

[Steve Bracken]

I always set the fence off the miter slot, close as I can get it without being closer on the rear. I believe the miter slot should be the bench mark for setting the fence and the blade.
Cannon

That is what I do, but it's not always the best thing.

In an ideal world, that would be the perfect solution ... a dead straight blade and a perfectly set up fence, parallel to the miter slot.

In real life it isn't always so. The miter slot *might* be dead straight along it's length, and the blade *might* be perfectly flat with no run-out.

On the other hand, a few thou out of square is pretty normal, and allowing say .003 relief on the fence can have real advantages. You woun't notice it in the cut, and you might very well reduce burning, esp. in woods like hard maple.

It's one of those areas where sometimes setup moves out of purely technical, and into *feel*.

[Will Overton]

Setting the fence at anything other than parallel to the blade is a compromise. If you don't need to, don't.

However, as mentioned above, all other elements are not always perfect. If everything else is set the best you can get it and you are having problems, by all means make that compromise.

[Van Huskey]

I have been struggling with this since some of the high end blade manufacturers started recommending it. In the end I have come around to the idea. I set up something like .0025 out in the back, the blade only cuts at the front which has multiple benefits and that is not enough to be of any real world issue with the squaremess of the cut.

[Thomas Canfield]

I firmly believe that the blade should be parallel to the miter slot first, and that the fence should be set parallel to the blade/miter slot. I worked this past week with a church group doing missison repair work using a universal motor table saw with very poor fence. I added a longer board to the fence to aid in ripping, and made sure to check the alignment of fence by measuring at the blade leading edge the distance from the fence to opposite miter slot and then checking that the fence was that distance at front and rear of table. My cuts had very little blade noise compared to the screaming when the fence was not parallel when some others were ripping and did not correctly set the fence. The saw did a reasonable job when a little extra time and effort was used. It did make me more appreciative of my commercial 52" Beisemeyer fence and outfeed table on a cheap Delta contractor saw.

A fence set parallel to the blade is less likely to have kickback and throw the board back at you.

[Steve Bracken]

I firmly believe that the blade should be parallel to the miter slot first, and that the fence should be set parallel to the blade/miter slot. I worked this past week with a church group doing missison repair work using a universal motor table saw with very poor fence. I added a longer board to the fence to aid in ripping, and made sure to check the alignment of fence by measuring at the blade leading edge the distance from the fence to opposite miter slot and then checking that the fence was that distance at front and rear of table. My cuts had very little blade noise compared to the screaming when the fence was not parallel when some others were ripping and did not correctly set the fence. The saw did a reasonable job when a little extra time and effort was used. It did make me more appreciative of my commercial 52" Beisemeyer fence and outfeed table on a cheap Delta contractor saw.

A fence set parallel to the blade is less likely to have kickback and throw the board back at you.

This is missing the point a bit.

We are talking a .002 to .003 taper AWAY from the blade at the back. This increases safety, not reduces it and will make no measurable difference to how parallel the cut is.

I am ripping some 2 inch walnut, so I'll try it an see if there is ay improvement for me.

[Joe Scharle]

If I'm ripping big chunks or iffy grain, I'll clamp a 'Euro fence' to my Biese. Simply a short (not past the arbor) aux fence.

[Ralph Barker]

I've always been a fan of parallelism. If the fence is out of parallel at the back, it's also out of parallel at the front, meaning that one is feeding the wood through at an angle to the blade. While a thousandth or two, or even 1/64th, might not make a practical difference in terms of squareness, I prefer to get as close as I can, and control the board through the entire cut (until it is clear of the blade). Burning at the back of the blade has always suggested to me that the fence was actually pinching the board, or that the blade was no longer sharp.

As Joe Scharle points out, a Euro-style, short auxiliary fence is always an option for problematic cuts.

[Greg Peterson]

For me, parallelism is the holey grail. If there is a problem with feeding any stock through the blade I would first examine feed technique and then make sure the blade is clean and sharp.

If after that, the problem is still occurring then I would do some fettling on the fence.

[kenneth kayser]

If the fence is parallel you can use it on both sides of the blade.

[scott spencer]

The most common problem posed by ripping is kickback caused by a fence that pinches in on the board. The philosophy of toeing the fence out by a miniscule distance of 0.001" to 0.003" is to prevent any possible pinching caused by minor undetected variations that are very difficult for most of us to detect and measure. It's not really a matter of whether or not you can dial in your setup perfectly, but an acknowledgement that "perfectly" straight doesn't exist realistically in the majority of tools we buy. The toe out is very minor, and is still essentially parallel for practical purposes, and is a very good safety precaution that has very little downside with no detectable flaws in the cuts. Beats the heck out of finding out the hard way that there's a deviation in the fence or front rail that caused pinching and kickback.

[Matt Hutchinson]

I'd have to vote for the parallel setup. To ensure there is little to no bow in my Beis fence, I actually flattened both faces on a granite surface plate. It works great, and I have the blade and fence set as close to parallel with the miter slot as possible. That said, a few thousandth pinch on the back of the blade is rather unlikely to cause a kickback (but I suppose anything's possible). So if you can't seem to dial it in just right, erring away from the blade is probably okay. For me, the real issue is the smoothness of the cut and ability to work both sides of the fence. Then again, my setup is probably not perfect, so it's gonna be out on one side of the blade.

Hutch

[Lee Schierer]

I also set up my fence parallel. It is easy to do with even a cheap dial indicator. I don't get kick backs and I don't get any burning and I work with maple and cherry. A Beismeyer fence can be used on either side of the blade so taper is not a good thing. I have used my fence to the left of the blade more than once.

I see no real problem with a .003 taper away, but it does in theory at least pull the off cut piece into the blade by that same amount. YMMV.