Wazee Products has designed a Biesemeyer-style rip fence, called the WondeRip, that takes a lot of the risk away from ripping small parts. With the WondeRip, you start the cut in the normal manner. But for the last few inches of the rip, when your fingers would be most in harm’s way, a mechanism inside the fence comes into play.

At that point, your right hand grasps the knob of a lever on top of the rip fence. Almost as soon as the lever is pushed forward, a small aluminum finger slides out from inside a long slot in the fence. As you continue to push the lever forward, the aluminum finger follows along in the slot, pushing the stock all the way past the blade. A pair of hold-downs helps keeps the stock from lifting off the table. And your pushing hand gets no closer to the blade than the top of the rip fence.

The WondeRip is smart and well made. And it works. Plus, it performs just fine as a regular rip fence because the finger stays out of the way when it’s not needed. When you become adept at using the mechanism, you’ll see an improvement in cut quality. The hold-downs and aluminum finger let you hold and push the workpiece more steadily, so the cut is straighter, and the edges have fewer saw marks.

The WondeRip must be used with a tablesaw splitter. Also, keep in mind that for the narrowest of ripcuts, the WondeRip can’t be used with most blade guards.

My only complaint concerns the slot for the finger, which is 5/16 in. wide and runs the length of the fence face. I worry that thin workpieces, such as 1/8-in.-thick plywood, might slip into the fence face and either cause a kickback or ruin the cut.

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