I’ve used a lot of featherboards, both shopmade and manufactured, and Bow’s FeatherPro stands out from them because of its high-density foam fingers. The foam is dense but with enough give that when set firmly against a thin board, the fingers roll slightly over the board’s top surface while still pressing against its edge. This holds the thin board down to the table and snug against the fence, and effectively prevents the board from chattering as you feed it through the blade. Also, because of the foam’s nature, the fingers have enough give to let a board pass through the blade easily, but also a tremendous amount of resistance to movement back toward the front of the saw and the operator.

The foam fingers are replaceable and available in two different finger profiles: standard and ultralight. They fit into a sturdy plastic holder that locks securely in a miter slot. For use with thicker stock, you can stack one featherboard atop another.

-Rolland Johnson

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