The home renovations are nearing an end (for now) and I am making some Victorian style base boards to replace the ones which were torn up during the renovations. More info on the base boards when they are installed. I need to scarf a couple of boards together for the longer walls and miter all the ends. The stock miter gauge worked fine for the smaller pieces but wasn’t up to the task when I tried to cut the ends of the 8’ long 1×10’s; too much torque. A crosscut sled was clearly needed. I need to make both 90 and 45 cuts so the sled won’t be zero clearance. The sled was cut from a quarter sheet of ¾ MDF. I need to replace the runner since MDF isn’t the best material. I’ll have to order some UHMWPE or similar. The fence is doubled up around the blade to provide extra support and a little margin of safety from the blade coming thru the back side. I will likely add a 2×4 or similar to the back to keep my hands away. The sled was glued and tacked with brad nails and reinforced with screws once the glue dried.
Finished assembly:
Cut from a quarter sheet of ¾ MDF:
-- Che.






















5 comments so far
dennis mitchell
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2942 posts in 799 days
posted 450 days ago
Very close to mine. I’m always using it to square glued up panels.
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
Karson
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12901 posts in 885 days
posted 450 days ago
Great sled.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
Dorje
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1745 posts in 481 days
posted 449 days ago
Looks like a good plan – remember to use quartersawn runners if you don’t go with the plastic ones…
-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA
PanamaJack
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4452 posts in 562 days
posted 449 days ago
Well thought out plan.
-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,
che
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123 posts in 510 days
posted 449 days ago
Here is the final photo of the sled:

You can see the 90&45 cuts. I still need to run the router around to knock down the corners and make it a little nicer on the hands.
Last night I finished the shooting board seen here:



and here is the aux fence I built a couple of months ago. The fence design was taken from the woodworking online podcast.
The only tricky part on the aux fence was cutting the pieces that go over, behind and in front of the main fence. I had to sneak up on the dimension by adding strips of blue masking tape to the main fence then re-cutting the pieces. Remember to take the tape off before dry fitting the aux fence over the main fence.
-- Che.