"WoodSmith Shop" on Create - what?!

[Dan Friedrichs]

I saw a show called "Woodsmith Shop" on Create (PBS) last night. Anyone watch this? It seemed like good beginner instruction, until they repeatedly used the TS fence and miter gauge at the same time :eek:

[Jason Beam]

Yep.

I've never seen 'em use the TS Fence and miter gauge unsafely - I have seen them a stop block clamped to the fence to use as a stop but it doesn't reach the blade so there's ample space between the blade and the fence for the offcut. That's perfectly fine.

Like this:

http://media.rd.com/rd/images/rdc/family-handyman/2001/03/table-saw-tips-07-ss.jpg

or this:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh226/dnoftz/NS%20Tenons%201/tenons110.jpg

[mickey cassiba]

At Delta, one of my jobs over the years was crating the big stuff. Can't put an Invicta in a cardboard box, ya know?
We had a 5 horse Uni with all the goods Biesmeyer made(why not, it all came through the shop anyway). We used a Unifence for ripping the OSB sides and the nailer blocks. For cross cutting we used a short piece of unifence rail. set to just back of the cut. No binding or kick back, and no need to calculate measurements like with a block clamped to the fence.
Delta did sell them at one time, but I don't remember the p.n.
Easy to make though, borrow your friends uni. and cut off about ten inches. If you don't tell him, he may not notice(kidding of course). It does work well though. I've still got a few "shorties" around here.
Mick

[Dan Friedrichs]

I've never seen 'em use the TS Fence and miter gauge unsafely - I have seen them a stop block clamped to the fence to use as a stop but it doesn't reach the blade so there's ample space between the blade and the fence for the offcut. That's perfectly fine.


The show last night was on drawers, and they had a segment where they made lock rabbets on the table saw, and they used the miter gauge in combination with the full fence (no stop block).

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'd bet Jason is right. I've watched them and have not seen them doing anything unsafe. Norm uses a stop block inconjunction with his fence too. It makes for quick alignment when cutting multiples of things.

[Mike Palmowski]

The show last night was on drawers, and they had a segment where they made lock rabbets on the table saw, and they used the miter gauge in combination with the full fence (no stop block).
They are not cutting through the material so there is no danger of kickback.

[Bill Arnold]

Dados and rabbets are done this way. Generally, a sacrificial fence addition is used when cutting rabbets to keep the blade from cutting into the main fence.

[Dave Lehnert]

They are not cutting through the material so there is no danger of kickback.

What he said.

[Rob Young]

The show last night was on drawers, and they had a segment where they made lock rabbets on the table saw, and they used the miter gauge in combination with the full fence (no stop block).

It was not a through cut and the offcut piece was on the order of 4" long and about 1/8" wide.

Might make some people nervous to make that cut but it is reasonably safe.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Interesting... I guess I had never considered that the kickback risk was less for a non-through cut.

[Bob Wingard]

I'm not so sure I buy into that idea that dado's won't kickback. The threat might be diminished a bit, but it's still there. If you were cutting a dado, and the stock wobbled, the sides of the blade will still grab the walls of the dado & launch the piece. It's the entrapment of the piece between the blade and the fence that causes the kickback, and that scenario still exists while in the act of cutting dadoes.

[Jason Beam]

I'm not so sure I buy into that idea that dado's won't kickback. The threat might be diminished a bit, but it's still there. If you were cutting a dado, and the stock wobbled, the sides of the blade will still grab the walls of the dado & launch the piece. It's the entrapment of the piece between the blade and the fence that causes the kickback, and that scenario still exists while in the act of cutting dadoes.

That risk exists with every single cut. The real danger is an uncontrolled piece of wood. In theory, since yer pushin' the thing through with the miter gauge, you have control of the workpiece. On a non-through cut there is no uncontrolled offcut on the side of the blade just waiting to get flung back at you. This is why the risk is significantly less with non-through cuts. If you can't keep control of the stock against the miter gauge, it don't matter if it's a through cut or not.

[Bill Arnold]

I use a pair of Grrrippers for nearly all of my dados and rabbets. I feel like I have better control of the workpiece than with the miter gauge and can keep downward pressure over the blade.

Over the past few months, I've been building drawers for my shop and our house -- a total of 58 so far and I'm not finished. Each drawer has five pieces -- four sides and one bottom. Each piece averages three dados and/or rabbets. So, 58x5x3=810 dados and/or rabbets without any hint of a kickback. I've lost count of how many drawers I've built in past years.

Anyway, one can have an accident -- kickback or whatever -- using any tool in the shop. I've found that the most important tool in the shop is one's brain. One has to think about every step and recognize when it's time to take a break so bad things are less likely to happen.