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Featherboards are not used nearly as often as they could be for a few reasons, they are time consuming to make, they often don't work as well as they could and sometimes they are difficult to mount on your machinery. In this video I am taking one of the elements away, which is making, good quality featherboards that will give you consistent and repeatable results with little setup (depending on your equipment).
The biggest problem I have always had is making featherboards with consistently thin fingers that will give me the kind of pressure I need for use on my router table or table saw. This jig solves that problem and speeds up the process too.
Featherboard Jig - How to Make a Featherboard
I first tried to use my "Lynn Sabin" box joint jig (kindly provided free, by Leeway Workshop), but the design of it simply doesn't not work well for featherboards. You can see more on the box joint jig I made right on this website here. I decided to try to re-design it using the same principal of using a threaded bar a the indexing component and went about making a prototype featherboard jig. I seldom need to make prototypes but I do find them useful at times when I don't have a clear vision for the end product. The prototype I made worked OK, but not nearly as well as I hoped, but what I learned making it was what I could do to improve it and so here is what I did ...
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For most woodworkers, the table saw is most used machine in the shop so it stands to reason that among the most popular and useful jigs are for the table saw. One of the nice features of most table saws is the ability of the saw to angle the blade, often up to 45 degrees, for special angled cuts. The problem with many table saws, especially saws that are older is the mechanism that allows the blade to be angled is often hard to move, and at best, you still need to get down on your hands and knees and crank the blade over ... make a cut or two, then crank the blade vertical again and make sure it is absolutely square to the table saw's deck. Not difficult, but tedious and time consuming and often for only one or two cuts ... and hopefully they are perfect, because who wants to repeat this process?
Table Saw Mitre Jig: Make Easy Mitres Cuts & Spline Joints Every Time!
In this video I am finally getting around to making a jig that can be popped on top the table saw, trapped by the fence so it is safe and adjustable to use and quick and easy to make angled cuts without having to fuss around with moving the blade ... and here are the dimensions ...
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Making picture frames is a popular woodworking project but it's not alway easy to decide how to fasten the corners that are often edge grain wood that often doesn't readily take many woodworking glues to secure it. Mechanical fasteners are popular like screws, nails and staples and sometimes splines are cut into the corners then wood veneer is glued into the splinces to make a very strong corner, and decorative as seen from the edge, which picture frames are seldom viewed from. Using rabbets is less common, but is equally as strong as splines, and they add a different look to the picture frame. Cuting rabbets into corners is not limited to picture frames, it could also be used in doors and door frames and other edging and surround applications. Sometime dowels can also be added to the rabbets, but this can also look "over done" in terms of looks of the frame or door.
Make a Picture Frame Corner Rabbeting Jig for the Table Saw
The version shown in the video is a common design, simple to make and works well. The minimum dimensions ...
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From time to time we find ourselves in situations where we need to make a kind of production run .. that is, we need to make a number of identical pieces that are composed of identical parts, much the same as a small factory. To accomplish this we often have jigs that make duplication quick, easy and accurate, and we can also set up our machinery with what are called "stops" so that cutting wood on things like table saws or chop saws can be done repetitively with accurate results. In this video, that is exactly what I am doing, a small production run of a lantern that will be assembled and set up in another video, attached to this article.
These videos were created to make some small wooden lanterns that were designed to help commemorate Canada's 150th Birthday for July 1, 2017. Some of the articles shown in the video were kindly sent to us from the nice folks at Canadian Tire, like the #redandwhite LED lights, the Canadian Flag and the commemorative T-shirt to help us all celebrate and regonize this time ... Happy Birthday Canada !!
Making Production Jigs and Machine Stops to Create LED Lanterns
To start off with, we need wood to work with so using machine stops to get idential pieces of wood is a great start.Once we have some identical pieces of wood, we can start making and using jigs to get repiicated cuts that can be assebled in kind of productin line system.
The video is self explanitory but make sure you check in next time to see how this all comes together ...
Assembly and Set-Up ...
Once all the parts are made, the next step is putting them together, finishing them and setting them up.
Watch this and other similar videos on YouTube - https://youtu.be/xX36FlErKCc
This was a fun project and it's always nice when you can come away from builds like this with a nice, funtional item that others can see and appreciate.