Greetings,
Saw these on the New Yankee TV show; they prevent kickback while ripping on the tablesaw; you clamp them to the tabletop and the fence and feed the wood like you normally would.
They have fingers and cut at an angle; bend in one direction; away from you.
Would like to make a couple; tried index of back issues; no success.
What size are they; angle of cut; spacing of fingers etc.
Replies
They are called featherboards. I like to make mine about 5-6 inches wide and cut the groves with a bandsaw ever 1/16 to 1/8 inch. They are a great safety item and help immensely with router tables and TS.
Slacker Extraordinaire
Specializing in nothing but knowledge in everything.
Thank you Scott,
Found the info on featherboards; I had the wrong word (fingers).
FWW has several articles on these safety devices.
One other thing, Bench Dog makes some wonderful orange colored featherboards for use with routers or the TS. I highly recommend them.Scott
Slacker Extraordinaire
Specializing in nothing but knowledge in everything.
Thanks Scott,
They are on my wish list.
'Fraid I'll have to opt for homebrew.
I just can't figure out why anybody would 'buy' a featherboard? It's one of the easiest shop aids of all to make, second only to a pushstick...
Jeff
What's a pushstick?????????????????
Kidding; You can buy them too; color of your choice.
What's a pushstick?????????????????
keep that up an ye'll be sent to yer bed at 6pm with no supper!!
<moc stern look...
;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Us retirees are already in bed by 6 pm and supper is at 4; a black an tan wi kippers.
<chucklin...
lightweights... ;)Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Thanks for all the Thingies posts; my fingers thank you too.
Have made a couple from an old scrap of pine; work great.
Realise now the heading should have read Feathery Boardie Thingies.
slange e vah.
should have read Feathery Boardie ThingiesNO! Then I would have posted about this Lady that put up for the night after our date....
As Scott said, that's a featherboard. Dimensions aren't terribly critical. Make one and you'll find out quickly what you've done wrong. The next one will be just what you want.
The thickness of the fingers depends on the stiffness of the scrap stock from which you cut 'em. Don't make them from plywood! Also, I've found it's hard to clamp it with enough stability in a lot of cases, so it's good to add a groove and a t-nut you can tighten into your saw's miter slot.
These things, when stable enough, can really help when you're working with sheet goods, either cutting them to size or plowing grooves with a dado blade.
When you use one in the horizontal plane (on the TS table surface) make sure the last finger touches the stock BEFORE the stock touches the blade. Do NOT squeeze your stock inwards at or after the blade, or you may cause kickback.
Don't forget, you can add a taller auxiliary fence to your TS fence, which makes mounting a featherboard to the fence much more practical. You can have vertical featherboards anywhere on the fence, before or after the cut -- this doesn't contribute to kickback.
Thank you John,
Found the info on featherboards; just for fun I tried Google and got 12,000 hits; nice pictures of featherboards/featherbows in wood and some plastic ones in surgical green; they use a Tee slot in the auxiliary fence; I'll have to use C clamps.
They have fingers and cut at an angle; bend in one direction; away from you.
Geee me! I have ARTRITUS!
Dont we all Will.
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