Feather Board Use?

[MichaelA Cooper]

I'm just curious how often you folks use feather boards on your table saw or router table?
My table saw's rip fence has t-slots in both faces and on the top so it would be easy to mount feather boards but I just never have used them.
I use a push stick design that allows me to hold the stock down all the way through the cut and it keeps my hand well away from the blade.
Thanks for checking out my post!!!
Michael

[John Coloccia]

Everytime, and everywhere, I can. Bandsaw, tablesaw....even jointer. I have one of those magnetic ones, so it's 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off. If I had to get things out, adjust things, start twisting knobs, etc etc, I'd probably never use it. The magnetic ones are convenient, and take a couple of seconds to pop on, so I use it all the time.

[Todd Burch]

I use feather boards quite often. More so on the router table than table saw.

I'll "go through the trouble" of setting them up on the table saw when making lots of repeated cuts. It's safer and frees up my hands for other things. A good selection of feather boards on hand is a good thing.

Todd

[Joe Scharle]

Whenever I cannot afford the workpiece to move away from the fence...Any fence.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I use Bench Dog featherboards on both my table saw and my router table all the time.

Doc

[Tony Bilello]

I use them fairly often on the router table.
Rarely use them on tablesaw, but I will if I need to.

[John Coloccia]

I use feather boards quite often. More so on the router table than table saw.

I'll "go through the trouble" of setting them up on the table saw when making lots of repeated cuts. It's safer and frees up my hands for other things. A good selection of feather boards on hand is a good thing.

Todd

Do you use a particular brand, or do you make your own? One problem I have with the magnetic ones is they often end up right over the miter slot on the TS and don't hold very well. I'm looking for a better TS solution.

[glenn bradley]

I use them a lot. I have . . . let's see . . . . seven featherboards; 2 magnetic universals, two that stack, two specifically for fences and one single miterslot clamping (expansion bar) style. I use them on most cuts. Exceptions would be smaller or narrower pieces where I use Grr-Rippers and the two safety devices would conflict.

P.s. the magnetic ones setup in a snap on the TS and BS.

[Todd Burch]

Do you use a particular brand, or do you make your own?

I grab my Bench Dog Feather-Locs (http://www.benchdog.com/featherloc.cfm) first. I have the Miter Slot adapter on all 4 "Singles" of mine. Sometimes they are a bit short - I wish they were about 1" longer. I have two set up for left hand work and two set up for right hand work.

I have made my own before. Goes pretty fast on the table saw. You can cut the feathers in square stock, then shape it up, or vice versa.

Todd

[George Sanders]

I keep one on my tablesaw fence. It's homemade and I can flip it up out of the way but it's always there when I need it. On the router table it depends on what I am making. On my router table, I use 3 when using stile and rail bits. One flat on the table and 2 as vertical hold downs for the piece being machined.

[Brad Wood]

I use 'em on everything where I can. My primary "go to" board is one of the magnet style, can't remember the brand. Like mentioned, I find it ends up close to, or on, the slot, but it seems to hold just fine.

I've also got a few of the type that go on the fence (TS or RT) to keep pieces held down to the top.

I've got one that I made, which was my first. I don't use it often, but I still have it.

[Bill White]

Grip-Tites on the TS and BS. Home made on the router table.
Bill :)

[John Thompson]

Every ripping cut on the TS and when applicable on the router table. I not only use an over-head on the fence.. I use a home-made spring-board left of blade that clamps in either the miter slot on the table or the miter slot at the left end of the table I added just for that reason to accomodate 22" wide stock when ripping.

The only ripping exception is stock just in from my hardwood source that is tapered with say 7 1/2" on one end and 6 1/2 at the other as comes off a tree. But with that said.. I am working on a spring-board design that is srping loaded to keep pressure on tapered stock as the width changes. If you don't know what a spring-board is.. click on below and then click on the individual picture to enlarge.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=924126&postcount=3

Sarge..

[Lee Schierer]

Grip-Tites on the TS and BS. Home made on the router table.
Bill :)

Me too!!! I love my Grip Tites.

[Bob Slater]

I bought my magnetic feather board at Lee Valley Tools. I find it pretty handy.

[Chris Kennedy]

I have Bench dog featherboards, and I use them on most of my rips, particularly longer boards. I'm also planning a clone of Sarge's spring board, because that thing just looks cool.

Cheers,

Chris

[Jason White]

Honestly, I use them on my router table but almost never with my tablesaw.

JW


I'm just curious how often you folks use feather boards on your table saw or router table?
My table saw's rip fence has t-slots in both faces and on the top so it would be easy to mount feather boards but I just never have used them.
I use a push stick design that allows me to hold the stock down all the way through the cut and it keeps my hand well away from the blade.
Thanks for checking out my post!!!
Michael

[Chris Parks]

I almost never use them either, just lazy I guess. Once in a while if cutting something thin and I don't want it to lift off the table I will clamp a bit of wood to the fence, but that is all.

[Rod Sheridan]

I don't have any commercially made feather boards, mine are made from scraps.

I rarely use them on the table saw, if I had a router table I would use them a lot.

For cutting narrow strips on the saw I use a strip jig, or a stock feeder.

On the shaper I use a feeder for anything that it can be used for, so I don't normally use feather boards there either.

Regards, Rod.

[Terry Beadle]

I use my gripper jig for most small stuff.

I use a T-slot feather board for most of the the remaining cuts.

I use my tennon jig for small piece slot cutting.

Most of the stock I cut is well seasoned and has very little twist or wind. That said, it is not good policy to not use a feather board when cutting with a table saw. Kick backs are going to happen. It's well worth the few seconds to set a feather board up and it makes the cut more stable and accurate.

Dem's my 2 cents

[zach barnhart]

I make my own and use them almost always on the TS. Even if it costs a few minutes' worth of set up time, I find the accuracy, safety and peace of mind to pay off in spades. I am a newbie though, so I play everything pretty safe.