Ripping diamonds on the table saw

thanks for the advice.

personally, I prep my stock to the thickness I want prior to using my tablesaw/jig to cut my pieces for segmentation. I wouldn’t try and cut a small piece in half on a mitersaw…

What I meant by proper thickness was that, since it was going to be alot of 1/2” to 3/4” end grain pieces, was that I would mill the shape and be left with a diamond shaped piece of stock a couple feet long which would then be cut into small segments. When I was down to short stock I would clamp it down for when I was cutting

Since you are cutting pieces off larger stock, that should be do-able. Use a jig and a wooden hold-down if you are trying to get that last part, assuming this can hold the piece securely (sandpaper between your hold-down and stock for a good grip)

Definately do not even think about using the fence in a way that traps bits betwen the blad and the fence – you literally won’t have time to blink before that cut-off becomes a projectile.

What other shop tools do you have (miter/chop vs band saw)?

I’d be working in a well equipped shop (tablesaw, bandsaw, compound miter etc).

I would start with a decent sized piece of lumber, lets say 1” by 2” by 4’. I would mill it down to 3/4” by 1 1/2” keeping 4’ length. Then I would cut it to make a diamond 1 1/2” long 3/4” at the widest point and 4’ long (probably on the bandsaw as skarp suggested. I would then cut off 3/4” pieces off the end of the stock to leave myself endgrain diamonds 3/4” thick, getting the final shape from a miter saw cut from a long piece of wood.

Check this guys video out. He’s turning a segmented vase, but how he cuts the segments might be helpful to you. The cross cut sled he’s made might be able to do exactly what you need.

http://marleyturned.com/id99.htm

Segmented turning requires cutting small pieces of wood at precise angles, and his sled holds both pieces securely with little risk of kick back.

-- "At its best, life is completely unpredictable." - Christopher Walken

Thanks for the video. The difference is I wanted to work with endgrain so that cutting technique doesn’t really work for me. I was just trying to figure out the best way to cut a long diamond but I think the bandsaw will work fine with the proper jigs and fences.

Gidday gwebb,
I am in the process of writing a blog on how I made the endgrain tumbling blocks butcher block [ project #15974] using the table saw.

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