Question on making a cut

[Frank Hagan]

As far as ripping 1/4" thin strips, there are two safe ways I do it. I rip a LOT of 1/4" wide strips and thinner, and have learned by my mistakes. (There's still a foot-long strip of 3/4" x 1/8" walnut lost somewhere in my shop as the result doing everything the wrong way, before I got smart.) One way is to rip a wide board, and let the 1/4" piece be on the "waste" side of the blade -- the side away from the fence. That way you're dealing with a 2" or 3" or 4" wide board between the blade and the fence. The other way, and better if you need multiple pieces and don't have a very accurate, repeatable fence (like an Incra) is to set the blade 1/4" from the fence, then use the Grrripper to guide the wood through the blade. The Grrripper seems a bit pricy on first glance, but it's the best $50 I've spent for the shop in a long time. I also strongly recommend using a splitter. I use the MicroJig splitter, from the same company that makes the Grrripper.

There's a third way that allows you to repeatedly rip thin pieces without moving the fence using a homemade jig. Use a 3" wide piece of stock with a strip on the end of it that is at least 3 1/4" wide (but you can make it much more of a "L" shape at first and just cut off the excess with the first cut). Position the fence at 3 1/4". Place your stock so that the back of it is resting on the L-strip stop. As you rip the piece from the stock, you clear the table and then reposition the stock against the jig, and run it through again. You get a bit faster operation but most importantly, all the strips are the same size.

[Doug Shepard]

Doug,
I appreciate the feedback and this seems like a very good and safe way to do this. The one question I have is would you make this cut with chalkboard out or in from the fence. If I did it in, I would only have 3/16" between the fence and the blade. Doing it with the chalkboard side out seems easier to setup. Any thoughts on that? Thanks!

Steve

Well since you'd not actually end up with a narrow cutoff piece trapped between the blade and the fence it might not make a lot of difference. The "cutoff" would still be attached to the frame so shooting back isn't really possible. But it might just feel a little saner going with the fence further out from the blade. I did forgot to mention that if you go this route you should probably attach a taller temporary fence to your TS fence for support. A piece of scrap ply or MDF would work well as long as it's flat. The easel frame would be rather tall and you don't want the chance of having it be tippy as you're making the cut. The back end of the aux fence could be held with the same clamp that's holding the stop block. The closer end I leave up to you. You might just be able to put another clamp on it if that doesn't interfere with the size of the frame and how much it has to travel. Otherwise you might need to countersink and bolt it through one of the holes on your fence. Featherboards to keep it snug to the aux fence also isn't a bad idea.

[Steven Kamp]

Well since you'd not actually end up with a narrow cutoff piece trapped between the blade and the fence it might not make a lot of difference. The "cutoff" would still be attached to the frame so shooting back isn't really possible. But it might just feel a little saner going with the fence further out from the blade. I did forgot to mention that if you go this route you should probably attach a taller temporary fence to your TS fence for support. A piece of scrap ply or MDF would work well as long as it's flat. The easel frame would be rather tall and you don't want the chance of having it be tippy as you're making the cut. The back end of the aux fence could be held with the same clamp that's holding the stop block. The closer end I leave up to you. You might just be able to put another clamp on it if that doesn't interfere with the size of the frame and how much it has to travel. Otherwise you might need to countersink and bolt it through one of the holes on your fence. Featherboards to keep it snug to the aux fence also isn't a bad idea.

Sounds like great advice. I really appreciate the help!

Steve

[Dan Stuewe]

When I made this for my kids I made the cut per the directions. As I recall the biggest concern I had was damaging the part. Now, I have a low powered table saw and have not used one with a lot of umph, so that may have deluded me into feeling I had control.

One problem I've had with the easel over the 4 or so years we've had it is it's weight! We like to move it out of the playroom when lots of kids com over just to keep the potential mess down, as well as giving them a bit more room to play in. Like any flat surface in your (my) shop, the storage space is great for collecting markers and crayons, so it really doesn't get folded up very often.

oh, btw, we went with the white board instead of chalk board for that side of it.

[Steven Kamp]

When I made this for my kids I made the cut per the directions. As I recall the biggest concern I had was damaging the part. Now, I have a low powered table saw and have not used one with a lot of umph, so that may have deluded me into feeling I had control.

One problem I've had with the easel over the 4 or so years we've had it is it's weight! We like to move it out of the playroom when lots of kids com over just to keep the potential mess down, as well as giving them a bit more room to play in. Like any flat surface in your (my) shop, the storage space is great for collecting markers and crayons, so it really doesn't get folded up very often.

oh, btw, we went with the white board instead of chalk board for that side of it.

I am glad to hear someone else built it. I am excited to see my daughter play with something I built. It is just not the same as buying something from a store. I just hope she likes it!

Steve