Micro Jig - Grr-Ripper GR-200 (Rating: 5)

I've been looking at these for about a year and finally pulled the trigger last week. I had a kickback incident that smashed a couple of fingers last year and since then I've had my mind on ways to make my old Unisaw safer. This has got to be one of the best safety devices for the woodshop in many years. What it does is so basic its a wonder it has only recently been made commercially.

It's an expensive device to be sure, at $80. For me it took a few smashed fingers to get my attention to see that I needed to change the way I used my Unisaw. Its an old saw before the days of riving knives, any blade guard was long gone before I bought it, so I was left with push sticks, feather boards, and intent concentration as I passed my hands closer to the blade than any of us are comfortable with to get my wood cut. For me, $80 was cheap insurance.

The push block is made in Ohio out of a solid, hard plastic. It feels very sturdy and solid. The grip pad really does hold the work very well, although as it says in the instructions, sawdust will make it slide so it does need to be cleaned periodically with alcohol. There are a lot of knobs to adjust on this thing, its really made to be fully configurable to almost any cutting operation and if you can just take an extra minute to make the adjustments the system will work well for you.

I found the box very well packaged. There's an instruction manual thats one of the best I've seen. I just recently bought an Incra miter gauge and it is every bit as good. Full color illustrations including a parts list for assembly. Oh yeah, you have to put it together. Its not hard, just takes about five minutes.

Table Handwriting Book Font Computer desk


Well, I won't boar you with how to use it, that is covered exceptionally well in the DVD that comes with it. All I can say is that I shouldn't have waited a year to buy this, I should have driven straight to Rockler with my bandaged hand. I can tell you that if you do buy the grr-ripper, after using it for a while you'll never put your hands in danger again. There is also a side benefit to using the grr-ripper. When making a cut, usually with thin pieces, the keeper piece between the blade and the fence will drift into the blade. While not necessarily kicking back, it will cut a gouge out of the side. The grr-ripper when used properly, holds both the keeper and the cutoff pieces as they feed out of the saw so its a straighter and cleaner cut every time.

This is one of the best ideas, and the execution of the design is very worthy of its Made In USA label. Buy one, or two, you won't regret it.

Wayne