How can I make this cut safely?

[Terry Wawro]

This simple cut has me scratching my head. I want to make some couch legs blocks. It seemed simple enough. Just make a 45 degree cut on each end, then glue up four of them to get a square with continuous grain wrapping all the way around. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how to do this safely and not have the main body of the wood trapped against the fence during the second cut. Suggestions?

[Rod Wolfy]

How about you flip it over, make the first cut. Painters tape the cut off back onto your remaining piece & recut? I often do that when cutting complex pieces (like a curved table leg or Christmas ornament) on the bandsaw.

[Lee Schierer]

With a left tilt saw with the fence to the right, set the fence so you cut the right hand corner off as shown in your photo. The triangular piece will want to kick back unless you push it all the way past the blade. With out moving the fence, rotate the piece end for end and cut of the second triangle the same way as the first.

This would be a much safer cut using a thicker piece of wood and making both cuts on a well tuned band saw with the table tilted. Once you glue the pieces together clean up the cut faces on a jointer.

[Brian Tymchak]

I think I would mount (my favorite is 2 sided tape) the board onto a carrier board like 3/4" ply with a straight edge. Make the width of the carrier about 2x the project board. Depending on whether you have a right or left tilt blade, set the fence so that the blade is angled away from the fence and the offcut drops off down below the blade. Make the first angled cut. Tape the offcut back on so that it is flat to the surface of the carrier board to give stability, spin the board end for end and tape to the carrier board and make the 2nd cut. If you have a couple of toggle clamps to mount to the carrier board, you could use those in lieu of the 2 sided tape, although I used the tape that way for years with no issues.

Post thought: you will have to take care to assure all 4 pieces you cut are the same width after cutting the angles. I would make the first cut on all 4 pieces, then set a couple guide blocks on the carrier board to butt the piece against to assure the width is equivalent for all 4 pieces.

Post post thought: it is better to not cut those pieces such that you create a sharp edge in the middle. There are little variations in the cut such that trying to have 4 edges come together in the center to make a solid will drive you nuts. I would leave at least an 1/8" flat so that those variations have some wiggle room when pulling the 4 pieces together.

[Terry Wawro]

Thanks Brian. I think this is the safe way I'm going to try. About 10 years ago when I was more inexperienced, I was punched hard by a piece of trapped wood throw back. Now I'm a lot more careful.

I think I would mount (my favorite is 2 sided tape) the board onto a carrier board like 3/4" ply with a straight edge. Make the width of the carrier about 2x the project board. Depending on whether you have a right or left tilt blade, set the fence so that the blade is angled away from the fence and the offcut drops off down below the blade. Make the first angled cut. Tape the offcut back on so that it is flat to the surface of the carrier board to give stability, spin the board end for end and tape to the carrier board and make the 2nd cut. If you have a couple of toggle clamps to mount to the carrier board, you could use those in lieu of the 2 sided tape, although I used the tape that way for years with no issues.

Post thought: you will have to take care to assure all 4 pieces you cut are the same width after cutting the angles. I would make the first cut on all 4 pieces, then set a couple guide blocks on the carrier board to butt the piece against to assure the width is equivalent for all 4 pieces.

Post post thought: it is better to not cut those pieces such that you create a sharp edge in the middle. There are little variations in the cut such that trying to have 4 edges come together in the center to make a solid will drive you nuts. I would leave at least an 1/8" flat so that those variations have some wiggle room when pulling the 4 pieces together.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Which ever table saw method you try a zero clearance throat plate would be helpful. I have a few homemade plywood ones for tilted cuts.

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[Patrick Whitehorn]

Terry,
Can you make one 45 degree cut, then glue that offcut in its final place (might be a little tricky), and then make the second cut as a standard 90 degree cut?

[Kevin Jenness]

If you start with a wide blank you can make sequential cuts referencing off the far edge, resetting the fence each time.

[Mike King]

This is a perfect cut for the bandsaw. If you don't have one, it is time to buy one!

[Edwin Santos]

Is there a different way to get to your end result rather than milling one long blank? Maybe cutting the triangles at the miter saw with a zero clearance backing fence?

[Edward Weber]

This is a perfect cut for the bandsaw. If you don't have one, it is time to buy one!

That was the first thought I had as well. I've made plenty of cuts like this on a 14" BS by tilting the table 45 degrees. Works well and is a safe option

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The table saw works fine. A skilled helper on the out feed would be nice if you need to make very much.

[Randall J Cox]

I have left tilt Unisaw and just normally move my fence to the other side of the blade. The blade is then tilting away from the fence. I have a Biesmyer so its the same on both sides. Don't know about other fences. Anyway, seems to work for me. Randy

[Wes Grass]

That's what 'rift sawn' material is for?

Sorry ;-)

More and more, stuff like this has me thinking of vacuum fixturing. Same goes for the 'thin strips' post recently. I had several curved composite parts that I made fixtures for to hold them for profiling on the router. Take the mold models and add some offset surfaces for air pockets. Smaller parts generally didn't need any sealing tape with a shop vac for a vacuum source.

I'd want to go with a real vacuum pump and gaskets for this though.

[Jason White]

Use a bandsaw. Then clean up your cuts with a belt or stationary disk sander.