Hi,
I was just checking out compasses and other woodworking gadgets on the Lee Valley website earlier and I came across a wooden featherboard for only $13.95 (Canadian) I’m thinking of going ahead and ordering one. The table saw books I’ve read on the subject of ripping advise using them when ripping and bevelling boards. Are they effective at preventing kickback like the books claim? How many woodworkers here at the forum use featherboard?
Wanda
Replies
Depending on what I am doing I may or may not use feather boards. I made several different ones out of scrape plywood. Easy project and worth the time. Don't think I would buy one as I would sooner spend my money on other things.
Scott C. Frankland
"This all could have been prevented if their parents had just used birth control"
I tend to agree with Scott, featherboards are very easy to make and different sizes might be better for one application than another. I have made several and the wood comes out of the scrap box, hardware adds about a buck to the cost of making your own. Here's a link that shows how easy it is.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/krumy/featherboards/featherboards.html
Steve
Wanda,
Krumy used the fancy handles in his feather board jigs...they cost $1.99 at woodcraft...the black star shaped handles are $.99 each.
Also, as the others have shown, you need different size feather boards for different jobs.
Hi,
If you're only ripping boards no wider than 8 inches on the table saw or bevelling them wouldn't an ordianary featherboard like the one pictured in the Lee Valley catalog do??
I had a look at that webpage... the one with all the pictures. That's a fine looking featherboard. Wonder where I could get a pair of those black handles. Only problem is I haven't learned to use my plunge router yet. Plus I don't relish the idea of my fingers being anywhere close to the table saw blade. I'm a big chicken! If I had any scraps around I'd probably attempt to make one. But for now I'd be better off just buying the one in the LV catalog. So what kind of jobs is the featherboard pictured in the LeeValley catalog used for????????????
While we're on the topic of saftey....... Have any of you guys used a half fence/auxilary fence when ripping boards? I made one using the design from one of my woodworking books. It's supposed to prevent anti kickback. The wood doesn't get pinched between the saw blade and the fence. I have yet to attach it to my fence. I have to buy a drill bit that can cut metal.
Wanda
Wanda,
"If you're only ripping boards no wider than 8 inches on the table saw or bevelling them wouldn't an ordianary featherboard like the one pictured in the Lee Valley catalog do??"
Actually, the featherboard featured in LV is great for holding small stock against the fense of the TS or the fense of the router table. However, it does little to prevent kickback, for that you need to attach featherboards to the top of your TS fense, holding the stock down on the table..
Also, for an 8" wide board you need something much more substantial than a 2" featherboard ...maybe an 8" wide featherboard.
I'm just getting ready to make a short board for ripping wood. I'm not sure how I will attach it to the fense....however, I noticed today while wathing Norm he had a board attached to his fense and could easily apply or remove the board....not sure yet how he did it...
Hi BG,
when you figure out how to attach it to the table saw fence please let me know. I have never seen featherboards attached to the Table saw fence. so for now till I find out more about these featherboards I won't bother ordering the one from the Lee Valley catalog.
wanda
Hi BG,
HOw about Krumy's featherboard... is that one you could attach to a table saw fence? What kinds of jobs would you use that particular featherboard for?????????
Wanda
Wanda,
Krumy's feather boards are quite nice...but only attachable to a TS fense if you first attach a taller fense to the TS fense. I would use a featheboard on a fense when using the router table or on a TS when cutting a bevel...they scare me a bit. However, there is a school of thought that says the more you attach the more problems your likely to have. Personnally, when i'm scared..I do what ever to keep me and my hands out of harms way until I feel more comfortable.
I think your smart to wait on the featherboard....I bought one of those on sale and have used it very little
BG-
Norms TS fence has all the bells and whistles. He can attach a sacrificial strip for doing rabbets, a stand off block for making , say, dados in narrower stock and he can attach a hold down feather board. These gadgets look factory made to me.I think it's a Delta fence, but not sure about that.Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of standing still. chinese proverb
Lostarrow,
In the particular show I saw Norm on Saturday, he was using a Bies fence...or maybe I should say one of his Bies fences...lol.
Anyhow, he attached what looked like a 'stop block' (as you would see on an infeed table for a CMS) which he used to put his stock against and then push the stock thru the saw with a miter attachment....so the block ended well before the wood made contact with the saw blade. The interesting part was that the stop block was attached to the top of the fence on the bies...and I could see a star handle on it...but that is all I could see.
I'm thinking you could probably construct something using a version of those rubber tipped hold downs.... push pull toggle clamp? Attach it to a board that fits on top of the bies....and put the point (the part that moves) through a board that would sit against the fence...when you throw the lever it squeezes the bies fense and holds it snug...maybe
Edited 8/4/2003 1:26:06 PM ET by BG
Make your own! I only use them in special applications. Once you learn how to rip safely on the saw you won't bother with such things.
I use them quite frequently, and I own 8; 4 for the miter slot and 4 for the T Slot on a high extension fence. Two for each direction. I use them to hold the piece against the fence when cutting narrow pieces, and use them as holddowns. Both will keep the board from wandering, and therefore reduce kickback.
Regards,
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
Wanda, I use the GripTite magnetic featherboard system for most of my featherboard needs. The basic advantage is that it doesn't need to be clamped to anything -- the ultra-strong bar magnets hold it in place on the table saw and, by the way, on the Lee Valley router table top.
I started with just one featherboard, but upgraded with a full kit at last year's WWing show, getting 2 more FBs with hold-down rollers and the steel fence plate for my aluminum fence. The rollers attach to featherboards placed on the fence and very effectively hold stock down and against the fence while ripping. I watched the company's demo several times before buying the kid, and the ease and safety of ripping even 1/4" wide pieces repeatedly off the edge of the stock was very impressive.
The web site doesn't show the product terribly well, but here the link:
http://grip-tite.com/
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Hello,
OMG! So much information to assimilate. LOL So we have people who are in favour of using featherboards and those who are not in favour of using them. hMMMM!
Here I am concerned about kickback and I don't even use the guard that came with my saw. The guard that did come with the saw( King Industrial) was useless! The plastic guard scraped the boards I was ripping. Plus it really cut down on visibility. So I removed it. It was just too cumbersome to bother using. Otherwise I have no complaints with my t/s. I love the Cast iron table top with the expansion wings. Plus the 2 hp. Ive ripped a lot of boards using that saw and haven't run into any problems yet.
I'm in the process of trying to make ripping boards safer. After reading the book on the Table Saw(published by Taunton press) I'm terrified of using my table saw. LOL Sure would feel a lot less apprehensive if I had a proper guard and anti spitter installed. I do have an auxillary fence built but haven't gotten around to attaching it to my alluminum fence.
Forest Girl do you think you could post a picture of your GripTite magnetic featherboard kit. I checked out the web link you sent but as you said the pictures weren't very clear. Sure would be neat to see this featherboard kit in action. A demo would be great. Just wish we had woodworking shows to go to where I live. Lucky if they offer any courses on woodworking.
How much did your kit cost???????????
Wanda
Wanda,
It sounds like you are a little confused about the relationship between kickback and featherboards. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to get your attention. Frankly, your posts are a little bit scary to read.
If you follow this doctrine, you will not have kickback. It should be followed every time you use your saw.
1. Keep the fence exactly parallel to the blade.
2. Keep the workpiece flat on the table.
3. Keep the workpiece snug against the fence.
4. Push the workpiece through the cutting area, using push sticks. NEVER pull it backwards.
5. Do not stand in line with the blade.
6. Keep your balance.
7. Keep the work area clean.
8. Use the splitter that came with your table saw and have it lined up exactly with the blade. Check it for lineup every time. There are only a few occasions when you have to take it off to make a certain type of cut. Basic ripping operations aren't one of them.
9. Use some sort of off offcut table to support offcut.
10. Be able to stop the saw and allow the blade to come to a complete stop if you have trouble with reaction wood (wood that twists and tries to curve onto the back off the sawblade as you cut it.)
Featherboards simply assist you in being able to do #2 and #3 on this list. But your brain is more important than any featherboard. Use your brain to follow the safety rules.
I know you have been reading books, but you may want to get with an experienced person to work with you a little bit on the tablesaw.
Lastly, if you ever want to realize the importance of each and every one of your fingers, learn how to play "Dueling Banjos" or Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" on acoustic guitar.
Good Luck and Be safe. Ed
Hi Ed,
I read your doctrine. thanks for passing that along. See where it says " keep the fense exactly parallel to the blade". Actually it is advised that you set it 1/64th of an inch away from the blade and not exactly parallel. Anyways as long as it is not pointing towards the blade. You're absolutely right reading helps but it doesn't come close to having a knowledgeable person right there with you demonstrating how to rip and crosscut on the table saw.
I've followed everything under your doctrine. Only thing I'm guilty of is not having a splitter on my saw. I'm extremely careful whenever I do any ripping on the table saw. And I always use a pushstick to make sure the piece of wood continues cleanly right past the blade. I always stand to the left of the blade so if kickback does accur the piece of wood catapults over my shoulder and doesn't strike me in the face. I make sure the board isn't warped and is free of loose knots. I keep the board flat and against the fense. (feeding it with my right hand in a straight line and keeping it pressed against the fence with the fingers and thumb of my lefthand applying just enough pressure to prevent the board from wandering away from the fence) I don't have an outfeed table so I use a helper whenever I need to rip boards on the table saw. I'd never consider ripping boards by myself especially since I don't have an outfeed table. I just finished reading about kickback. (actually it was here on the Finewoodworking website) Terrific article! I have witnessed the dangers of kickback before when I was taking a beginner's woodworking class. Actually it was the instructor that wasn't being too careful. I was working 20 ft from the table saw and all of a sudden this piece of board comes catapulting across the room..... luckily I wasn't in it's flight path. I would never attempt any operation on the table saw onless I was 100% sure of what I was doing. Unfortunately I don't have an experienced woodworker around to show me how to do various techniques on the T/Saw. Maybe I should advertise for a woodworking tutor. Someone who could come in and show me how to get the most out of my table saw. They just don't offer many quality woodworking classes where I live. I might consider signing up for the finewoodworking class this fall if they still offer it at the college. Doesn't come cheap though. Costs $260 plus the cost of your project.
You're absolutely right I need to get a proper guard/splitter for my table saw. The sooner the better.
I would love to hear Bach's Jesu on acoustic guitar that would be COOL!
Sounds like you are well on your way, Wanda! I feel very good after reading your last post. Best of luck to you and be safe. My own capacity for stupidity is just about unlimited so I'll go back to minding my own bus. and taking care not to do anything dumb like working when I'm too tired - a temptation I've come close to in the past.
Good luck! Ed
Forgot the links on home-made splitter. Actually, one of them is featured in the article at FWW on kickback. There are others around. I'm going to provide a link to a Google search, the first 4 or 5 are definite hits:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=tablesaw+splitter+shop%2Dmade
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Hi everyone,
I had no idea I'd get this kind of feedback. I'll check out those links you sent Forest Girl (Jamie) when I get back from my holidays. You won't be hearing from me for 2 weeks. LOL
It nice to hear so many varied opinions.
Wanda
Wanda, the pictures may take a bit, but I must pass this along: There is no reason you can't be using a splitter of some sort, even if you're not using your guard. A simply shop-made pin-splitter or wedgie-type wood splitter will go a long way toward protecting you from kickback. These are both installed in your table insert, in back of the blade. Gotta go right now, but when I get back this afternoon, I'll find a couple links that show these safety things.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Wanda, I found Dennis' thread where he provided pics of his GripTite set-up last October. Link is below. He modified one of the GT's with a Lexan guard that provides additional protection from the saw blade.
He describes basically the same production ripping technique as you would see the man doing at the shows: When you have several pieces of the same width that need to be ripped, you set the fence-to-blade distance for that width, you start ripping the first piece (down to 1/4" wide!) and when the end of the stock gets close to the blade, you pick up your next stock piece, and butt it up against the first piece (using it as a push-block). Then that 2nd piece starts cutting. Everything stays snug against the fence and the table.
The complete set for fence use runs around $140 +/- [I paid $99 at the show] That includes 2 featherboards, 2 rollers, a 14 ga. fenceplate (needed if your fence is aluminum or other non-magnetic material), splitter pin, and a video. The video is a must-see for specifics about safe set-up.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Wanda -
There may be some who say "I don't use them" and others that say "I use them all the time" but there are always those shades of grey ...
Like Jamie (Forest Girl), I have some of those magnetic thingies ... they work pretty well but require adding the sheetmetal facing on your stock fence to use them as hold downs on the table saw. First of all, that makes me nervous having 16ga sheet metal anywhere on the blade side of my table saw fence. That said, even these things, as convenient as they are, take some getting use to. Like Jamie said, the magnets are really, REALLY strong on these things. You have to use the little lever thing on the back to break them off their bond.
But ....
I don't use them all the time. In fact I sometimes use home made featherboards for lots of ripping where I can simply clamp a featherbord to the fence. But there's a slight problem doing this or using the mag things with a Biesmeyer or Bies-clone T-square fence: you have to clamp the outfeed end of the fence down to keep it from rising with the pressure from any kind of feather board.
For 'casual', that is one piece or two, where I feel pretty comfy with the work piece and saw setup, I won't bother with a feather board. For production runs, they can't be beat. It all depends.
All generalizations are false, of course.
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
I sometimes use home made featherboards for lots of ripping where I can simply clamp a featherbord to the fence. But there's a slight problem doing this or using the mag things with a Biesmeyer or Bies-clone T-square fence: you have to clamp the outfeed end of the fence down to keep it from rising with the pressure from any kind of feather board
I seldom run into this problem because I don't use featherboards as hold downs when ripping. I use them to hold the board against the fence, usually in combination with a spliiter. If the board doesn't get lifted by the back of the blade rising then it won't kickback and get launched. The splitter takes care of it. I also run my blade fully exposed when ever possible because of the more favorable cutting angle (almost straight down) which tends to cut cleaner and hold the board down. My hands are protected by an Excaliber overarm blade guard. Works for me.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
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