Another thin slice jig ?

i dont understand how this works can you explain more?

-- blaine von hagen

If you need to cut extremely thin slices that are equal in thickness, you have to have a way to set a distance between saw blade and left stop opposite fence. You never want to use your fence for this because the cut is too narrow and you can’t use a push stick for that and also the cut will jam in between fence and blade and that’s a disaster. So you need a jig like this. The thickness is determined by setting a distance between the ball bearing and saw blade. Now you use the wide part of the wood against fence to push it into blade for equal thickness cuts.

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.

Very nice and very nice design. Did you create the plans or find them somewhere?

-- We are the people our parents warned us about.

Thank you. This forum and wood working magazines are full of these jigs. I just used the ball bearing instead of usual screw. Rockler also makes a commercial version which has a extremely small bearing.

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.

im assuming that you are then freehanding and useing the ballbearing as your fence. so how do you keep the board paralel to the blade?. i cut edgebanding all the time less than a 32nd with a auxilary wood fence clamped to the main fence. i stop the saw at the end of the cut and then snap it off the board then hit the end with a block plane. i think it would be diastorus to rip 8 quarter maple and then only slightly tweek the board, i can only imagine what would happen

-- blaine von hagen

ok, i saw a similar jig useing a screw as a stop. i now understand that you are useiing the rip fence and then removing the jig for each cut and only using the jig as a spacer.

-- blaine von hagen

Vonhagen , you make the cut and move the fence over each time.
It’s like slicing proscuitto

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

i got it lol sometimes im a bit slow lol

-- blaine von hagen

Pics are easier than words
Cheers Blaine.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

It looks like the wood is into the blade before contacting the bearing. For the first cut you must put the blade down and move the fence so the wood is exactly between the bearing and fence.

I assume you then shim between the fence and wood for the next cut or move the fence.

What is the thinest you have cut?

Steve.

Blaine – could you explain a bit about your secondary fence for edge banding?

Steve.

An excellent jig/guide. Thanks for the info!

-- ToGoMan ------ "No ONE of us knows as much as ALL of us." (anon.) ----

The setup bar and shims only get used as a reference. After I move the top of the jig / the bearing against bar or shim, I then slide the jig back way before the saw and lock it down.

It looks like the wood is into the blade before contacting the bearing.

That’s just my narrow push stick ;-)
you can cut slices as thin as 1/32 with a good blade (as in Freud glue line rip blade) and depending on wood if you use dado shims as reference.
Some people attach a stick on ruler instead for measurements.

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.

I’m an idiot! I have one of the commercial Rockler jigs and never thought of using a setup bar or a drill bit for setting the cut width – I’ve always used the rule on the jig and usually have to do three or four tests before it is correct. Duhhhhhhhhhhhh

Nice looking jig and it looks like it will work very well. And isn’t it amazing how just a picture such as you showed will remind some of us that we aren’t nearly as smart as we sometimes think we are!

Jim

Nice work on your version and you know we both get the same result super thin prosciutto…Blkcherry

Router I hope you don’t mind me posting some pictures on your blog. I just recently learned of this jig in a “Best Table Saw Tips, Tools & Techniques” book put out by ShopNotes and built one too. As Router said there are many versions of this jig posted on LJ, shown in WW magazines and available for purchase at Rockler and other such stores. It seems many who read the posts on these aren’t familiar with its use so I thought I would try my hand at explaining with my pictures. Again Router I hope you don’t mind my doing so on your post. As mentioned by several above, the purpose of the jig is to rip thin strips safely and repetitively without having to measure for each cut. With the jig, the thin strip is to the left of the blade, away from the fence. In the first picture, the bearing is against a tooth of the blade to “zero it out”. The jig I made uses an adhesive-backed measuring tape and I set it to zero for my general purpose blade.

Then, you set the gauge to the thickness, say 1/4” for example, and lock it in. Router has a neat idea and uses a brass set up bar to lock in his desired thickness.

Next, and this is critical for safety reasons, you slide the jig in your miter slot, forward of your throat plate insert or at least forward of the blade if you have a short length to cut.

The next photo shows the gauge set for 1/4” and the stock has been set against the fence which has been slid over so the wood is touching the bearing.

Finally, this last picture shows the 1/4” strip being cut.

You push the board all the way through the blade and just keep moving the fence over for additional strips. From what I have read you can keep cutting until the board is down to whatever width you feel becomes unsafe. To me, this is far safer than cutting the thin strips between the blade and the fence. By the way, I continue to use my blade guard for this process. I plan to stop ripping strips when I can’t push the board through with the blade guard in place.

-- And on the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop!

Beautifully illustrated. Thank you Lenny.

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.

Great post on cutting thin strips. This has my seal of approval as far as safety is concern, great work Router*& Lenny…Blkcherry

A picture is worth a thousand words…......I’ve seen the light. Nice jig. Thanks for the tip.

-- Doug, New Mexico.......the only stupid question is one that is never asked!........don't fix it, if it ain't broke!

I understand the principal and how it works, but I can’t really understand the need for the jig to remain in place during the cut except as a hold-in which is ok, but not actually necessary providing you are able to keep the board being cut firmly against the fence as you feed it through. Am I correct about this, or am I missing an important point here?

-- Mike, American in Norway

Nice jig well built.
Hey Mike I think the point is to make repeatable thin cuts on the fall off side of the blade so you don’t have those thin pieces shoot out from between the fence and blade. after each cut you slide the fence over to have the wood touch the jig and then make your cut. So if the jig is set to 1/4” inch you just keep making 1/4” strips. I hope I’m not insulting your intelligence with this explanation. But somtimes Everyone seems to get a jig right away and I’m lost.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

I understand how it works Jim and why it’s being used, I just don’t see the need to keep the jig in place while making the cut. It seems to me that the jig is just acting as a hold in during the cut, which while maybe desirable isn’t strictly necessary. I am just saying this because I hope there are other ways to do this without a jig being in place during the cut.

For example. I have a sliding table with a miter fence attached. At the end of the miter fence is a wooden insert that I can use as my jig, but to be honest I haven’t tried it yet. I plan to slide it out of the way while I make the cut because if I don’t the sliding table will probably move. I can lock the table into position with a couple of stops made for that purpost, but I don’t see the advantage as long as I keep the workpiece snug the regular fence. So the gist of my question is; is it really necessary to keep the jig in place to get a good cut? It is my laziness driving this question

-- Mike, American in Norway

The ones I’ve seen It was’nt nessasary but for ease of operation they did leave it in place so they didn’t have to keep picking it up and putting it down.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Mike, you and Jim are correct. First of all, remember, that bearing is your reference point. The workpiece must be brought over to it to get the proper thickness. Once you bring the workpiece and fence over to the bearing, it really isn’t needed to make your cut. However, as Jim mentions, when you go to do the next piece you would have to reinstall it in the slot. If you leave it in place, you just slide the fence over until the wood touches the bearing and rip your next piece. If you are making multiple pieces it just makes sense to leave it in place. And if you are leaving it in place, it is nice having the bearing help guide the piece through the cut. Does that clear things up Mike?

-- And on the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop!

You have to leave it in place so you won’t have to re- calibrate each cut. this way all cuts/ thickness will be equal 100%.
It also keeps the work firm against the fence acting as a feather board.
Removing and re-setting for each cut is not advisable.
Added few more pics to show accuracy. I use thin strips to repair botched up dado jobs ;-)

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.

After years of using a sacrificial rubber faced push block (not stick!) with the blade set barely above the stock, I finally bought the Rockler version of this jig for $20. It works great! My old way was accurate, but this way burns the stock a bit less and doesn’t wear out a tool.

Considering I didn’t have any of the hardware on hand, and I’d spend zero time constructing it, I thought $20 was quite reasonable for the purchased version.

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

Thanks Lenny and Jim, that’s what I needed to know. In practice I will be removing the jig each time because my jig is just a smooth piece of wood jutting out from the end of my miter fence which is mounted on a sliding table that runs parallel with the saw blade, so for me it’s just a little shove to push it out of the way and a little pull to put it back in place. I’ve had this combination machine equipped with the sliding saw for 14 years, but until recently I haven’t had much occasion to cut thin strips, But I recently took up segmented turning and will now need to cut thin strips in order to construct laminations for feature rings and such. This was a timely post for me, so many thanks to Routerisstillmyname for posting this project. I do wish he would use a shorter name though!

-- Mike, American in Norway

Thanks for the detailed information and pictures…..I can honestly say, I have read every word posted on this thread and it was one the most informative and helpful threads on Lumberjocks!

thanks to everyone for their input

-- Jerry - Rochester, MN *Whether you think you can or you can't, you are probably right*

Thanks everyone for comments, feedback and viewing.

Routerisstillmyname for posting this project. I do wish he would use a shorter name though!

The name has been shorted already, It was “Plungerouterisstillmyname” ;-)

-- Router è ancora il mio nome.