I put off building one of those carriage fixtures for straightening crooked-edged boards for several years. The fixtures require expensive hold-down clamps, and they reduce the possible depth of cut by holding the workpiece off the saw table. The real problem was that the length of the regular rip fence is too short.

Then I noticed an 8-ft-long piece of aluminum channel leaning in the corner of my shop. I clamped the channel to the rip fence, as shown, to produce an auxiliary fence that would guide fairly long stock in a straight line. To use the auxiliary fence, I just put the concave side of the board against the long fence and push it through. It works.

William Mondt, San Diego, Calif.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, December 1995 No. 115

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