Safety Concern Followup

[Byron Trantham]

A few days ago I posted a question concerning using a feather board behind the blade. I got some great advice so I thought I would let you know how I did. The task was to cut a 45 degree edge along a 6' long board, 4 1/2" wide. Once suggestion was to cut most of it and finish it up on my jointer. That got me to thinking. Why not cut away most of it ("practice cut") and see how the cut looks AND see if I have any scary events doing it. Well it cut through like glass and no scary events. I had to prepare eight boards and I had a slight burn mark on one board! The burn mark was not an issue since that surface would be buried in the 90 degree joint. What was important was the uniformity of the cut, hence my concern about "holding the board steady" during the cut. Every cut was, for all practical purposes dead on! :) I can't thank you guys enough for your suggestions.

Here is a pic of one of the corner posts for the bunk bed I am making.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Byron, it sure is looking good! Did you use anything to help align the miter?

[Jim Becker]

(I missed the first thread) I am thinking that you were cutting a 45º bevel along the edge of those boards. Feather-boards before the blade and a splitter should be all you need to keep things "right" for the cut. It's one of the reasons my snap-in splitter stays on the saw for nearly every through cut and since I've been using it, burning and other nasties have been very rare. The only feather board (or other hold-down) I would use behind the blade is for vertical pressure to keep the workpiece on the table.

[Byron Trantham]

Jeff,
I used biscuits to make the connection. I dry fitted each one to make sure they were ok before I committed glue. That's a tough joint to biscuit but it worked. One of the legs had a small gap along the outer edge (the one showing of course) but after I routed the edge the problem went away. The result was a post that looks like it was cut out of a solid piece of oak. :D

[Keith Christopher]

Byron,


Are you concerned about the joint strength where to wood burned a little ? Lookin good BTW, also I find burnishing the edge when it's a little open works well too. I'm guessing your router took care of that for you. :)

[Byron Trantham]

(I missed the first thread) I am thinking that you were cutting a 45º bevel along the edge of those boards. Feather-boards before the blade and a splitter should be all you need to keep things "right" for the cut. It's one of the reasons my snap-in splitter stays on the saw for nearly every through cut and since I've been using it, burning and other nasties have been very rare. The only feather board (or other hold-down) I would use behind the blade is for vertical pressure to keep the workpiece on the table.
Jim, you have it right on all accounts. The magnetic feather board and of course the snap-in splitter, held it well with virtually no burning. The down pressure issue is one I have yet to solve. :rolleyes: I need to build a fence for my Beisemeyer for that purpose.