How to get perfect edges for chessboards/cutting boards?

[Matt Clara]

I bought a finish blade for the table saw and passed some pieces through against the fence. They were pretty good, but some slight gaps were there. So, I made a sled, made sure it was square, added some toggle clamps to hold the work pieces down, cut a couple of strips and--slight gaps. Any advice?

[daryl moses]

A jointer works wonders.

[Brian Henderson]

If you are getting gaps on your table saw, there's something wrong with the setup. Your blade is not parallel to the fence or your sled isn't parallel to your blade. Try running the five cut method on a piece to make sure that every cut is perfectly square.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Wrong type of gaps do you mean? Are they kind of random along the length or are they on the ends or just the center. I ask because I know for sure my tablesaw is right on the money. I spent time and got it right on. I picked up a used (for pretty cheap) a Starrett digital caliper good down to .001 and measure some test pieces. Even with that when I try to glue up right off the tablesaw there are usually small gaps at the ends or just in the middle. I think that is from the wood moving when slight stresses are relieved.

Before I dialed the saw in I would get some "random gaps" along the edges. Those is think were caused by the setup, causing the blade to dig in a bit more in spots then others. I noticed this when I cut cherry because it burned so easy it showed exactly where it was digging in. Also my feed technique was off. I was pushing too hard against the fence and causing an uneven feed rate.

The problems went away once I dialed the saw in and stopped "white knuckling" it when feeding the stock.

Again, I still will get gaps here and there but they are caused by the wood ever so slightly bowing after the cut. Slight clamping pressure closes it fine.

When I do end grain cutting boards I slice all the 1 1/2" strips after the initial glue up. I then take the amount I'm going to glue up and rip a hair off both sides right before I glue up. It takes longer but I find they glue up easier and flat. If I don't and they sit for a bit, about half of them bows at least a little bit. And when your doing your cutting board pattern if you end up with two "opposite" bows the gap can get larger then you would want to have to clamp together.

[David C. Roseman]

Matt, I'll offer my view. I agree with Daryl on the jointer for cutting boards, as the precise width of individual components is not so critical. After glue-up and surfacing, it's easy to trim the outer edges to precise final dimensions, then rout the groove and well for run-off juices if you want that. By contrast, chessboard components really need to be spot on before glue up. That can be done with a jointer and very precise measurements (before cross-cutting the squares), but if you're going to make more than a couple boards, that will take a lot of time and patience, and may suck the fun right out of it for you. So for chessboards in a home shop, I think it's back to precise set-up on a well-tuned TS or BS, with a very good blade. If you're planning to make very many, a power feeder is worth considering.

To Jebediah's and Brian's comments, if you'll describe more precisely what problems you're experiencing (post pics if possible), there are folks here who can help with tune up and set up.

[Matt Clara]

Thanks guys! The gaps are intermittent, so a slight wobble to the blade could explain it. I'll give the table saw a tune up and then report back the results!

[John T Barker]

I bought a finish blade for the table saw and passed some pieces through against the fence. They were pretty good, but some slight gaps were there. So, I made a sled, made sure it was square, added some toggle clamps to hold the work pieces down, cut a couple of strips and--slight gaps. Any advice?

If I were to make a chessboard I would rip strips and if the fence is parallel all the strips will be right. I would take the strips to my miter saw and cut the ends square and then set up a stop so that each piece I cut was square and the same size.

[Jim Becker]

Use a sled if you don't have a sliding table saw...a sled that you can clamp the workpiece down to achieve the level of precision you want for your cuts. You will not likely be able to get that with any hand-held cut. And using a sled can be safer, too...workpieces are fixed and hands are nowhere near the blade.