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I have used many push sticks and quite a few of them have been dinged, or
worse. Every ding equals one finger that might have been scarred or lost.
That is my way of saying, use push sticks. But all push sticks are not safe.
I frankly think that one of the most common push sticks is also the most unsafe. The
picture at the left shows me using my favorite push shoe (Stots Saw Aid).
My least favorite is the yellow one in the foreground. To me, it is a wobbly
push stick that doesn't allow me the control I require. I don't use it.
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When making my shop-built push shoe, I
used the same principle of the Stots, in that the shoe rests of the work piece and has a
heel that keeps the workpiece from sliding under it.
It is adjustable for different thicknesses of stock. The insert shows the two
little nibs that ride the top of the Incra fence.
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It also allows me to be out of
the way of any potential kickback — particularly nice when resawing thinner strips.
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Hold-Down Devices:
Here, I am setting a feather board in place. They can be used before the
blade to keep the stock against the fence. They should not be used after the blade since
they would pinch the outfeed piece into the blade.
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I "borrowed" this picture
from a catalog. These are Board Buddies. The yellow wheels rotate in one direction only
— they can help feed the wood safely and reduce the chance of kickback. Here they are
mounted on an auxiliary fence.
I used them but find that they can take a lot of setup time to work
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I don't like to make narrow rips. You
are just asking for trouble. This is the Grip-Tite system using two magnetic Grip-Tite
hold-downs (they used to be of wood) and a smooth, steel add-on fence.
If you look closely, the tip of the orange rip-blade is spinning right
between the two Grip-Tites.
On the underside, the black plastic flap holds the boards down and keeps them
moving in one direction and a small pressure wheel adds slight force to move the work into
the fence.
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Never, ever do I suggest removing both
hands from ripping boards. The saw is moving and I have stopped — just for the
picture.
If you look closely, you can see that I am pushing the first board through by
using a second board of the same thickness.
The two Grip-Tites and the metal fence plate come in a kit for $139. [I will
be devoting a page or two next week to the installation and use of this clever product.
Beth will be back from the Fiji's and she and I have about 120 thin (1/2")pieces of
walnut to rip. This will really come in handy.]
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