I know a high number of aficionados who end up their woodworking projects in the middle finding them challenging.
While cutting with a table saw offers you clean, exact and precision cuts, maintaining safety moves, saving times, executing the right tool are the conditions for perfectness.
If you fall into the group, you need to learn some table saw tips and tricks to master safer, efficient and cleaner cuts. This info content is decked with the table saw guides and woodworking techniques.
10 Table Saw Tips and Tricks
Most of the woodworking shops nowadays prefer to work with the table saw.You can’t step up with your craftsmanship without the following table saw tips and tricks.The following table saw techniques will serve both beginners and experts. Let’s check them out.
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Tip 1: Use a Featherboard
When it comes to cutting with a table saw, a featherboard is a helpful tool to save your fingers from the possible danger of the blade. Don’t forget to use the featherboard when you adjust with the fence.
You need to align the fence along with the piece of material for smooth and exact cutting. Some craftsmen put their fingers at peril using them to align.You can instead use the featherboard to save your fingers.As the featherboard is equipped with a set of wooden fingers, you can comfortably align with its help.
Technically, it should make it easy to push the workpiece forward yet pretty difficult to pull it back. If you like to enjoy more stability in ripping a long board, add another clamp.
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Tip 2: Set Up Outfeed Support or Ask Assistance
First of all, you always don’t need outfeed support or help.You can manage the job without a helper or support as long as you deal with smaller wood pieces. But, when you need to cut a longer board, the last few feet would be quite impossible to rip without support or helper.
You can manage roller support for efficient outfeed support. But these are pretty expensive. If you can’t afford a roller, you can do it yourself with two 2x4s plywood and clamps. The DIY-made support or one from the market will make the board slide into the support without letting them get stuck.
Note to work with an only larger table saw or heavy-duty contractor saw that features durable and strong steel or iron table. Otherwise, it may convince the lighter saws to bend or tip.
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Tip 3: Add a Fence to the Miter Gauge
The table saw is best known for the crosscuts, especially you think of angle cutting, table saw comes with the best choice. The miter gauge often interrupts in the crosscut because of the narrow width. The best result, therefore, comes with the combination of the fence and the miter gauge together. Add the fence with the miter gauge.
You can get the maximum result and comfort adding by screwing the fence to the miter gauge. Some gauges are advanced with holes to add the fence.
Kickback is another common phenomenon for the cutting job. You have a pretty good chance to face such a problem with the fence. Don’t forget to push the board and the fence utterly behind the blade. Make sure, you pull the fence back and remove the piece each time before you turn off the saw.
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Tip 4: Clamp On A Long Fence for A Long Board
Cutting a long board with exactness and precision by a smaller fence would be a silly job for a passionate carpenter. A smaller fence can’t hold the bigger workpiece to provide stability and desired cutting line.
A shorter fence makes the whole process challenging. When you maintain the job, it gets even more challenging. Furthermore, you’ll require a huge time to terminate the process.
A clamp is the perfect solution for the job.To deal with a long board for exact cutting precision avoiding such situation, clamp a long level or a long, straight to the fence. The longer fence will offer you more stability and comfort ability and security.
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Tip 5: Use Half Fence for Complicated Grain
Cutting wood that has been dried unevenly may wrap badly when you try to rip them. Sometimes you need to face wood with knots or wavy grain. Things are a little bit tougher and raise security issues. If the halves accidentally bend outward, one will push against the fence that will end up in leaving burn mark, uneven cut or even kickback.
To get rid of this problem, use a smooth and straight clamp of ¾-inch length against the fence that should cover up to the center of the blade. Thus, the half fence protection will force the workpiece to bend against the blade without causing kickback, uneven cut and burn mark.
If the situation gets worsen bending the two halves toward each other, take several protective measures, such as pinch the splitter at the end of the blade guard, turn the saw off and finally wedge a shim between the two pieces. For more protection, keep a few push sticks at your disposal to reach immediately.
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Tip 6: Save Your Finger with A Push Stick
While executing both hands for maximum comfort ability and control over the machine is essential, keeping hands well away is the precarious notice for the woodworkers and craftsmen. As the table saw involves a wildly sharp blade for cutting, it gets more security concern for all craftsmen.
Get your push stick activated while you find yourself within a foot of the table saw. push stick for the table saw is improved with a hook over the end of the board. They are engineered to push it on through and hold it down instantly. Getting the perfect straight cut with the push stick is possible while your hands are safely away from the blade.
Get at least two styles at your hands for versatile cutting jobs. The long and narrow push stick will get you smaller and a lighter board will give you narrow cut. Boards can be applied for this purpose. A heavier one will offer more downward pressure and a flat push stick board if you need a wider cut.
As a rule of thumb, ½-inch plywood is an ideal push stick, as it’s lighter and tougher than a wooden stick that doesn’t get fragmented easily. However, you should experience different sorts of style and thickness models for varied and challenging situations.
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Tip 7: Use A Sliding Jig
Removing the blade guard or moving the fence, again and again, is quite irritating and time-consuming, especially, when you intend to make a set of similar narrow strips for shelf edging. If you can manage a sliding jig, you can get rid of such irritation.
Using the sliding jig is straightforward. Just put a short strip of wood on the side of the workpiece comparatively thinner than the width of the rip cut to the end of a 4-inch 1×6. Then hold the board against it and push the jig through keeping a balance between the two. The jig will keep the hands away from the blade letting you cut as many pieces as you need without moving the fence.
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Tip 8: Use Plywood Straightedge For Crooked Boards
You should not expect to get all the even workpieces to rip at your workshop. Sometimes you’ll face some prettiest pieces that aren’t smooth. Yet, making them as good as you expect is not a difficult job at all.
To clean them without wasting much requires nothing but a plywood straightedge. To do so, attach the workpiecesteadily to the straight strip of plywood. Later, let the saw cut through the board with plywood against the fence.The result is, the board will now get a straight and smooth side to hold against the fence.
This advanced table saw cutting techniques can be applied for ripping tapers too. A plywood straightedge is found to be beneficial. Just align the taper with the plywood, screw it in place and keep cutting. Before doing so, don’t forget to use a pencil to draw a cutting line.
You can DIY your plywood straightedge. Take plywood of 1 ft. x 8 ft. strip of ¾ -inch. Now screw up the board solidly through the waste area (you’ll find it predrilled).If not, do it through the plywood. You may consider using a clamp, especially, a surface-mounted hold-down clamp.
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Tip 9: Keep The Saw Clean and Rust Free
Generally, the tabletop is made of cast iron which can withstand heavy-load and can protect rust and corrosion.sometimes, tabletop tend to be made of steel or aluminum. Use rust protective grease on the table when you need to clean. And if your table is made of steel or aluminum, use only wax once a month. Silicon-made grease is harmful to the tabletop as it bars to get precision in cutting.
Also Read: Top 5 Wax for Table Saw Reviews.
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Tip 10: Keep Learning and Exploring The Tips and Tricks
Learning has no alternative. As long as you live with your table saw, it’s pretty sure to face various security and cutting issues, sometimes utterly unique. you have to digest all the table saw tips and tricks. Your learning about the table saw hacks will make your journey to the woodworking easy and interesting.
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Summing Up
Living with the right tools is important. But learning how to run them is even more important. Here, you’ve provided all the basic and advanced table saw tips and tricks hoping to help in your ongoing project.If you can master all the tips and tricks, your table saw woodworking will be more productive spending less time in the workshop.
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