Recommend me a featherboard (opinions on Grip-Tite?)

[Valentine Azbelle]

Just got my first table saw - Bosch 4100-09. Safety is of course a #1 concern and I think getting a reliable featherboard is in order. I did some research online and couldn't come to a single conclusion. Grip-Tite seems very appealing. Has anybody used it? Any other alternatives? I will be mostly cutting 4' x 4' sheets of 1.5" thick MDF into 1.5" square strips. In the future I might try ripping wood (probably fir, pine and cedar) so I'd like the featherboard be able to handle that as well. Thanks much.

[Lee Schierer]

I've owned grip tites for over 10 years and I use them all teh time. The hang by their magnets on the legs of my saw and I can easily put one or more on teh saw when feather boards are needed. In 2 seconds I can have teh guiding I need where I need it.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~us71na/raisedpanel4.jpg

When I make raised panels I use my TS and the feather boards are key to making consistent panel cuts safely. I have other home made feather boards that get used occasionally, but all of them take more time to set up and remove than the Grip Tites. I also have a steel late from Grip Tite on the face of my fence so I can mount them sideways for super control while ripping. The small rollers will push the stock against the fence all the way through the cut.

What I like the most is that they are easy to use so they get used.

[Norman Pyles]

Won't it be kinda hard to attach the Grip tite to an aluminum saw?

[Van Huskey]

Any of the magnetics are out as I think the Bosch has an aluminum table. After the magjigs my favorites are the Jessem featherboards, they are pretty innovative.

Oh and congrats Valentine on your purchase, keep us informed on your project!

[Jerome Hanby]

I bought Jessem too (and two) got the combo set at Woodcraft (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2080215/28261/Twin-Paralign-Feather-Board.aspx). Someday I will actually open and use them :p

[Norman Pyles]

Not sure if the Bosch has 3/4 mitre slots either. Could always make your own out wood, that is how I got my first feather board.

[Jim Tobias]

The grip tites I bought several years back also offered a metal/steel piece that covered the fence. This allows them to be used on the fence as opposed to the surface only. I use mine (on the fence as hold downs)everytime I use the tablesaw. I also use them on the bandsaw occasionally.

Jim

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use my Grip tite all the time. It's great, easy to move and adjust. But, yes it won't stick to aluminum.:)

The main reason for my reply. If you're doing 1.5" ripping, check into Gripper push blocks. They're pricey, but to rip small items, they are a real safety blanket for me. I also use them on my router, and they saved my fingers from a nasty kickback, so IMO they already paid for themsleves.... Buy 2, you have 2 hands.

[Greg Portland]

I have grip-tites and have some pros and cons to mention:

Pros:
- They grip well
- Angled rollers do their job
- Easy / fast to place & remove

Cons:
- Only works on metal
- Larger / higher profile than other featherboards (Jessem, etc.). A potential issue with some dust guards (handle protrudes into guard @ optimal placement position so you need to move the grip-tite forward).
- Handles can get in the way when pushing stock thinner than the handle height through the saw. Other featherboards give you a more space to operate.

[Ryan Welch]

Not sure if the Bosch has 3/4 mitre slots either. Could always make your own out wood, that is how I got my first feather board.

+1 for making your own

Easy to do and a good introduction to using a new TS. While your at it you can hammer out a couple push sticks. This will allow you to make them to suit your needs.

[Van Huskey]

I have grip-tites and have some pros and cons to mention:

Pros:
- They grip well
- Angled rollers do their job
- Easy / fast to place & remove

Cons:
- Only works on FERROUS metal
- Larger / higher profile than other featherboards (Jessem, etc.). A potential issue with some dust guards (handle protrudes into guard @ optimal placement position so you need to move the grip-tite forward).
- Handles can get in the way when pushing stock thinner than the handle height through the saw. Other featherboards give you a more space to operate.

Fixed for you.

[Don Whitten]

Bench Dog feather boards are on clearence at Lowe's now reg price was $24.97 now $12.47, they are clearing them out and will be replacing them with units from Kreg. They fit 3/4" miter slots.

[Ray Newman]

As one poster said, you need for steel for the magnetic featherboards to work.

I recently handled and examined the below magnetic featherboards with an off/on switch at Woodcraft(??).

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,42363,42356&p=55999

For the OEM web site with other models:
http://www.mag-tools.com/

I also have a pair of older Grip Tites w/o the rollers, which hold very well but are a bit of a PITA to re-position because of the strength of the magnets.

With the magnetic type, offered by Lee Valley and other outlets, you just turn the off/on knob to reposition the featherboard. I'll order a pair very soon because of the ease in repositioning. And I’ve found that the easier something is to use/set up, the more I use it in the shop....

[Mike Wilkins]

Jessem feather boards. Very well thought out and makes router table use a real breeze. Got the 2 board package at Woodcraft and plan to get 2 more. Sort of a pain to set up at first but when you get hang of it, no problem.

[Stephen Edwards]

I use and like the ones that Rockler sells, have several of the fence featherboards and the table feather boards. I also have one that they call a double stack (IIRC). That one I use on the BS for resawing.

That table FB work with a 3/4 miter slot and the fence FB works with T-Slots.

[glenn bradley]

I have a few of the Rocklers. some stacked, some not. I have a couple of the universal Magswitch units as well. The prices on these things have gotten a little silly. If I were going after some today I would probably just make them.

http://woodworking.about.com/od/woodworkingjigs/ss/Featherboard_2.htm

http://www.provenwoodworking.com/featherboard.html

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-make-a-featherboard/index.html

[Scott Loven]

I like the Milescraft feather boards as well as the bench dog line.
Scott

[Jerome Hanby]

I just popped over to the owes site to see if they listed the feather boards and availability and when I searched for benchdog, I saw these (http://www.lowes.com/pd_323309-36580-10-035_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3142627&Ntt=benchdog&N=0&langId=-1&y=0&x=0&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:SearchCatalogDisplay). I guess Rockler doesn't have any god given rights to the idea, but I was shocked to see third party bench cookies so quickly...


Bench Dog feather boards are on clearence at Lowe's now reg price was $24.97 now $12.47, they are clearing them out and will be replacing them with units from Kreg. They fit 3/4" miter slots.

[Valentine Azbelle]

Thanks a lot guys! Lots of useful info. I will check out all other featherboards suggested here. Also will look into the push blocks (just got to ripping narrow stock in the Bosch manual - yet another revelation :)).

Is there a way to make (or rather attach a pre-made) steel (or other ferrous) fence to the Bosch fence?

[glenn bradley]

I just popped over to the owes site to see if they listed the feather boards and availability and when I searched for benchdog, I saw these (http://www.lowes.com/pd_323309-36580-10-035_0_?newSearch=true&catalogId=10051&productId=3142627&Ntt=benchdog&N=0&langId=-1&y=0&x=0&storeId=10151&Ntk=i_products&ddkey=http:SearchCatalogDisplay). I guess Rockler doesn't have any god given rights to the idea, but I was shocked to see third party bench cookies so quickly...

I believe Rockler bought Bench Dog.

[Steve Rowe]

+1 for making your own

Easy to do and a good introduction to using a new TS. While your at it you can hammer out a couple push sticks. This will allow you to make them to suit your needs.
+2. This is one area where shop made is usually better than most commercially available options.

[Valentine Azbelle]

Any of the magnetics are out as I think the Bosch has an aluminum table. After the magjigs my favorites are the Jessem featherboards, they are pretty innovative.

I can't yet decide if JessEm's are better than the other ones - I don't know what to look for really. I think I would like to be able to affix the featherboard to the fence (rather than to the table) probably on both sides of the blade to keep down a 1.5" thick piece. I don't know how weather it's possible to do with the Bosch 4100 fence. Would I need an auxiliary fence? Can I buy one (instead of making one myself)? Can it be made of ferrous metal?


Oh and congrats Valentine on your purchase, keep us informed on your project!

Thanks, Van. Spent the better part of yesterday putting together the Gravity stand and reading the manual for the saw (also putting together the stand for the Milwaukee CSMS - looks totally bad-ass). I have found a source of a 1.5" thick MDF. The same place even has ultra-light MDF in both 3/4" and 1.5" thickness. 1.5" ultra-light is way too expensive for my purposes and I most likely will go with a laminated 3/4" ultra-light (which isn't that cheap either). Although considering the cost I might just stick with regular 1.5" MDF (need to find out how much heavier it is than pine or fir). Now I only need to learn to rip it into 1.5" squares without leaving my limbs on the table or getting hit in the face with a piece of MDF and I'll be all set. :D

[Valentine Azbelle]

+1 for making your own

Easy to do and a good introduction to using a new TS. While your at it you can hammer out a couple push sticks. This will allow you to make them to suit your needs.


+2. This is one area where shop made is usually better than most commercially available options.

Um... It appears that to make your own featherboard you need to use the saw without a featherboard... Also you need to stop in the middle of the cut and back the piece out. I am a total novice to the whole TS thing and I've been scared out of using table saw without extra protection. Besides I need this whole thing for a particular project and going beyond that isn't in the plans (at least at the moment). I just need to be able to cut (SAFELY) 1.5" squares out of 4' x 3' sheets of MDF.

I saw a Grip-Tite demo on you-tube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR0TkOdsfzk&NR=1 ) and it seemed like something that would work perfectly for my purposes - repetative cuts of a small width. Now I only need to figure out if I can apply that on my saw, and if not, then what similar solutions I can use.

[Neil Brooks]

I own a 4100.

My brother's the representative for MagSwitch.

The two won't work together :(

I use a few shop-made featherboards, a couple that I got from Kreg, with purchase of my router table, and a few cheapies from Harbor Freight. I also just picked up a couple of Kreg jig hardware sets that I'll use to increase the flexibility of my shop-made versions.

All work well in the (they ARE 3/4") Bosch's miter slots, and/or clamped onto the aluminum table or my auxiliary fence.

Good luck!

[Valentine Azbelle]

I own a 4100.

I use a few shop-made featherboards, a couple that I got from Kreg, with purchase of my router table, and a few cheapies from Harbor Freight. I also just picked up a couple of Kreg jig hardware sets that I'll use to increase the flexibility of my shop-made versions.

All work well in the (they ARE 3/4") Bosch's miter slots, and/or clamped onto the aluminum table or my auxiliary fence.


Do you use them in conjuction with the Bosch guard system or do you take it off when using the featherboards?

[Joe Kieve]

I used one of these featherboards at a friend's shop recently and loved it. Lowe's had them for $19.98 and I just bought one for myself. Haven't used it on my saw yet but know I'm gonna like it.
Just go to Lowe's website and type in "featherboard".

joe :)

[Neil Brooks]

Do you use them in conjuction with the Bosch guard system or do you take it off when using the featherboards?

I only take off the guard system for operations where you must ... like ... using my tenoning jig or crosscut sled.

[Valentine Azbelle]

OK, I went on a shopping spree last night - hit Woodcraft, HD and 2(!)Lowe's.

At the Woodcraft I asked about fence steel overlay for mag featherboards. The young guy at the counter didn't know anything about it except that "Grip-Tite sounded familiar". :rolleyes: We walked over to the featherboard area and after 5 minutes I spotted 2 Grip-Tite steel fenceplates - they were just propped against a ceiling column and not on the shelf. Turns out Woodcraft did not carry these anymore (I guess Grip-Tite discontinued them). One was 36", the other - 42". They were the same price. Not knowing which one to get I grabbed... both.

Question 1: Is there an advantage to having a longer fence? Both of these are longer than my table but should I keep the 36" fence (which is closer to the width of my table) or the longer 42" one? How do I mount them onto my fence? Make an auxiliary fence out of plywood or MDF first?

The HD run was uneventful - just wanted to see what they got in terms of featherboards. Turns out... nothing.

Then I drove to Lowe's. All Lowe's are kinda far from where I live so I called ahead to make sure they still had those Bench Dogs. The guy said they had two. I got to the store and they had only one. From what I understand it is preferable to have two featherboards - one in front of the blade and one behind. (is that correct?) I made the guy to look up where else they might have the Bench Dog Feather-Locs. The other store had 3 and was 40 minutes away (something I didn't realize at the moment). I called the store and asked them to hold the items for me. Got there right before closing. Just in case I grabbed all 3 Bench Dogs.

Question 2: How many featherboards do I need? Is there a need for 4 featherboards? I guess I could mount 2 vertically and 2 horizontally (2 in front of the blade and 2 behind). Is that good or bad?

At the Woodcraft I saw a GRR-Ripper push block. The store guy couldn't tell me anything about it but when I got home I looked it up and it appears to be the next big thang.

Question 3: Should I just get 2 GRR-Rippers and not bother with the featherboards? I will be cutting narrow stock and it seems to be the best solution. One thing that I'm a little iffy on is the fact that the wood piece is not held to the table/fence mechanically (by a featherboard) and instead is held by a human. In the case of kickback is it enough to hold it down? It doesn't look like it's possible to use the GRR-Ripper with featherboards (at least on narrow stock)... so is there a case when a featherboard is prefered to a GRR-Ripper?

[Stephen Edwards]

Question 2: How many featherboards do I need? Is there a need for 4 featherboards? I guess I could mount 2 vertically and 2 horizontally (2 in front of the blade and 2 behind). Is that good or bad?

Valentine, For the table feather board you should use only one featherboard in front of the blade. Do not use a table mounted featherboard behind the blade. The reason for this is that you run a high risk of "pinching" that board against the blade after you've cut through the board.

So, for the table mounted FB, use only one, in front of the blade. I can't think of any reason to not use two FB on the fence. Perhaps others with more experience can chime in on that question.

[Ray Newman]

Think about a dado cutter or a moulding head. There is no splitter or often no guard used (some guards like the Unisaw Uni Guard will protect the operator). It is beneficial for a better cut and safer --IMO --to hold the board down onto the table as well as against the fence when cutting with the dadao set or moulding head. "Board Buddies" do this. Or a featherboard attached to the fence to apply downwards pressure of the stock.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2003794/Anti-KickBack-Safety-Rollers.aspx

Board Buddies really shine when cutting sheet stock or wide boards and dadoes -- my primary uses for them....

[Valentine Azbelle]

Valentine, For the table feather board you should use only one featherboard in front of the blade. Do not use a table mounted featherboard behind the blade. The reason for this is that you run a high risk of "pinching" that board against the blade after you've cut through the board.

So, for the table mounted FB, use only one, in front of the blade. I can't think of any reason to not use two FB on the fence. Perhaps others with more experience can chime in on that question.

Got it. Thanks. So no more than 3 featherboards at any time - one on the table and two on the fence, right? Although for my purposes - cutting a board into 1.5" strips - I would probably stick with just two on the fence.

[Valentine Azbelle]

Think about a dado cutter or a moulding head. There is no splitter or often no guard used (some guards like the Unisaw Uni Guard will protect the operator). It is beneficial for a better cut and safer --IMO --to hold the board down onto the table as well as against the fence when cutting with the dadao set or moulding head. "Board Buddies" do this. Or a featherboard attached to the fence to apply downwards pressure of the stock.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2003794/Anti-KickBack-Safety-Rollers.aspx

Board Buddies really shine when cutting sheet stock or wide boards and dadoes -- my primary uses for them....

I don't really know what dadoes are or how to cut molding - not something I'm planning on doing. I did see the board buddies at Woodcraft. I will consider it as well. Although 2 Grip Tites or Magswitches on the fence seem to allow for more flexibility.

[Valentine Azbelle]

So... I've been looking at the youtube demos of the GRR-Ripper. It looks great but I just don't see how I could use it for ripping longer stock (like 4' long). Do I need a long infeed table as well as an outfeed table? Would a pair of Grip-Tites or Magswithes be better than the Gripper? (By the way is there a difference between GRR-Ripper and Gripper?)

[Mike Harvey]

I highly recommend the Grip Tites if you have a metal deck or can attach the plates to use them on your saws, router tables or jointers.

I wish they would have had something like these years ago when my brother took over the job I once held where we both worked at a custom cabinet making shop. He lost the tips of a few of his fingers in a shaper that something like these may have been enough to keep his fingers safe.

This really drive the point home to myself as someone who works in the IT field and uses a keyboard all day. Need the digits all still attached so I try to be very safe when playing with power tools.

Mike