How would you gang cut these pickets?

you could cut them on a bandsaw. Your best bet is to do what you feel comfortable.

-- There is no such thing as a mistake. Its called a design modification Rick Kruse, Grand Rapids, MI

I would cut a single point on a miter saw, then cut the v groove with either a band saw or saber saw with a jig…you make the jig.

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

I’d probably cut single pickets from 1X3s and hold two together with the horizontal rails. That appears to be how they were done in the link/picture you provided.

-- Gene

I’m with Gene, 1×3’s and do your points on the miter saw.

Thanks for your replies so far – I keep picturing lining them all up and cutting the valley along the top with a circular saw, then I can get large batches at one, and I can follow up with the miter saw to quickly clip the corners.

Ellen I like the sabersaw/jig idea, might be a good excuse to finally get a good saber :-)

Gene they are single boards, the one on the right in the pic is slightly split which makes it look like two. I want single boards. There are several fences just like this in Colonial Williamsburg, and while they may not be the most practical, I want an authentic look (i.e. it’s what the wife wants!)

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

I’d just use a jigsaw and be done with it. A decent jigsaw like a bosch or dewalt with a good blade will cut those very easily.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

yes to the above ,
or you could make a jig for the router and use a spiral cutter and bushing to follow it,
any way you decide , it is patience and repetition .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

Definitely the jig saw.

Why?- every project requires a new tool purchase. This is Woodworkers Unwritten Rule #2!

It would probably be the fastest method, also

I would clamp about 25 of them together and run them through my table saw with the blade set at a 45.

Thanks again – keep ‘em coming!

I’m putting my money where my mouth is on this question – offering a ONE DOLLAR reward on tweetbrain! https://tweetbrain.com/answers/to/218340—so post your answers there too please!

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

why not tilt your tablesaw blade to 45 degrees and clamp a few of these boards (however many you can comforatbly support) and slide them accross the blad with a mitreing jig. Flip and repeat. Then you’ve got a whole bunch done quickly and in an easy to repeat fashion? not sure if you have a crosscut sled or tablesaw capable of handling the length of the stock though.

oops, bently beat me to it

I like a tablesaw solution best providing you can stand them vertical. I would clamp a bunch together. Two of the angles are the same from each edge. You can register the first edge against a spacer when you do the first cut, then remove the spacer and run it through again registering the same edge to cut the 2nd angled in the same direction. Then register the other edge again with the spacer inserted and do the same procedure again. Of course the blade will be set at 45 degrees.

Hope this is a little clearer than mud. Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification if your interested in this method. This is the same solution as bently but with the addition of the spacer.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Can you really stand a 40” picket vertically on a table saw…and do it safely??
I’m curious!
Ellen

-- Ellen on Cape Cod

i assume when people say vertically, they mean:
not on its face, but up on its edge

I could be wrong, but thats what I was trying to suggest.

Don’t see why not Ellen. A bunch clamped together should be plenty stable. The pickets would have their top edge on the table with the width of the picket 90 degrees to the fence. I would make some trial cuts first to ensure accuracy, but once set up it should go great. you might want a scrap piece on the back to prevent tear out on the last piece.

-- Mike, American in Norway

1×3 method…

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

I’d do it with my circular saw.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

You know if you do the cutting outside and as people walk past you might be able to get them to do it because its soooo much fun and maybe even get a frog, kite and broken jack knife…

All kidding aside, The clamping many together and using your table saw would be the quickest if you are safe. All clamped up your might be able to do 25 or more at once… Be safe though.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

You could line up a lot more than 25 and do it with a circular saw a lot safer than holding them up above a table saw IMO.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

I’d do them one at a time I think thats the only way to get good or perfect results possibly with a Handsaw boring answer sorry but how big can one fence be ? So it might take a while how long does the fence need to last? If you get inconsistant results it will look dreadful . When you have so many side by side any small flaw will be instantly recognisable .Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

After further review:
Circular saw or table saw, neither will work. Blade would have to cut 3” high/deep at a 45 deg. angle.
You would have to have a 12” saw blade.
I’ll see if I can think of something else.

Make a little jig for the angle cut, use the band saw fence, & cut, flip, & cut on a band saw… (all 1×3’s)
then glue’em together…

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

After further re-review….....duh (should have looked at your picture) I had steeper cuts in mind.
It looks like the cut only needs to be 1 1/2” deep. Therefore, I would go back to using the table saw if it were me, I’m comfortable with that. But Topamax has a good point about being able to clamp more together and using the circular saw.

If the cuts were to be at a 45, they would only be about 2” deep. The hypotenuse is slightly less than 3”. Even so, a 7” circular saw will not cut any near that. a 10” Table saw should come close.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

Rethinkning this, I think I’d set up a jig on the band saw. Like it has been said, more precision and if they are off, it will be very distracting, especially 2 on the same picket.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

How about a jig for a jigsaw, and slam them in the field while you put them up. Less handling and it should not take too long to cut each board as you go down the line.

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

2 1/8” would be the length of the cut. Depth would still be 1 1/2”

make a jig /guide for the bandsaw and gang clamp a bunch at a time. You will be done in no time.

-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca

Are we sure that the boards in the picture are actually 1 board with a “V” cut into it? The one on the right looks like it is seperating as if it were 2 boards.
If not you can set up your miter gauge on the table saw (a slider is prefered that can have a stop) with a sacrificial fence so you can clamp a stop at your length. The boards would be layed up on the saw on edge (length wise horizontal, NOT vertical) and the blade would be tilted to a 45 degree and raised as high as needed to cut to center ~ 2 1/8. You should be able to run the piece through, back up, flip the piece and then run it through again.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

I was just thinkning they should be be a compound miter cut to cause water to drain out of the “V”. If moisture collects it will cause rot.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

TopamaxSurvivor has a good point about the compound mitre cuts.

I personally would just get two “normal” one pointed pickets and maybe biscuit join them together

-- BRODY. NSW AUSTRALIA -arguments with turnings are rarely productive-

I’d build a long rectangular frame with 2×4’s maybe 4-5 feet long, slide a bunch of them vertically into the frame, put a wedge in the end of the frame to bind them in. then I’d use my circular saw, with my edge guide against the outside of the frame, and the blade at a 45 to cut all angles. You’d be able to do dozens of them at a time.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://web.me.com/deceiver6/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html

Wow lots of great ideas thanks!

Some thoughts so far…

gang cutting on a table saw would be great, but holding the boards perpendicular to the saw table seems unsafe

BentlyJ’s idea to cut them horizontally on the table saw might work (see pics)

1×3’s are not an option for my project but I appreciate the suggestions

to cut them on the bandsaw would require a jig but my bandsaw table might be too small

jigsaw might be very time consuming, and mine is a hunk-o-junk

I think tablesaw method and circular saw method are in the lead right now.

By the way, I’m making these this weekend – what a great group dynamic to bring all these minds together on my little issue – thanks all!

Keep ‘em comin!

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

That was kolwdwrkr’s idea to lay them horizontal but I don’t think your blade will make it to 3” high.
Your pickets are only 40” high. I really think they would be stable enough to push through the table saw. Clamp about 25 of them together and stand them up and see what you think. If your not comfortable ,
DON’T do it that way.
I have a 16” radial arm saw that would be a pc of cake to cut them horizontally.

If one is available, I think a radial arm saw may be the easiest and perhaps safest way to cut multiple slats at a time.

My “sketch-up” program involve graphite.

-- CutNRun - So much wood, so many trails, so little time

... use a band saw & get it over with…

... stacked or not stacked… any way you want to do it…

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

You can make your band saw table bigger when you build the jig on a piece of plywood.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

You’re not setting the blade to more then 2 1/8” at a 45 degree if you do it my way. When I get back today I am going to make a small video of what I am actually talking about. I’m a happy helperton. Who knows, I may actually make myself out to be an idiot and learn something new in the process. LOL.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

I go the table saw way with the slats on their side. two saw setups, and 4 cuts, flipping the slate after the first cut. A nice high fence on your miter gauge of sliding table would keep them stable to run through the blade. I would also suggest a bandsaw but a 40” slat with most of it off the table could be unstable in my mind.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Cordless power beaver.

-- Ooo, er.

I was wrong and accept my status as an idiot. LOL. I drew it on paper while sitting here the other day and didn’t do my figuring right. The blade would have to be raised up more then 3” (more like 4 1/4) so there will be no video to show me being a jack ass. Standing the boards on end would be about the only way to cut them on the table saw. You could clamp quite a few of them together and run them along the fence. You could make a tall “tenoning” jig that could be built to slide along your fence. You could clamp your slats to that and just push the entire setup to make the cut.
A radial arm saw would work wonders. I think if you don’t want to set up the table saw and you don’t have a RAS then a bandsaw would work. You could also just cut them individually with a jig saw, but time is money.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

The tablesaw method is best because you can do it with only one set-up. This will greatly reduce the chance of error and give better more consistent results. I’m sure there are plenty of ways to do this, but why make it complicated? If you are worried about stability with the pickets standing on end, then you can clamp a guide rail on the other side of the clamped multiples to keep everything well aligned.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Well I went with the table saw horizontal method but the boards were too heavy and wet to gang cut – had to make them one a t a time (only did 18 for the first part of the fence, a small hide-a-fence for the trashcans, the rest of the fence might just be single points)

Turns out my 10” saw all the way up and at 45 degrees is exactly 2.5” above the table, so 5” boards worked perfectly.

Pic one is before and after

two is ripping 3/8” off each side of a 5/4×6 x 10 to remove the roundover and size them down to 5”

three is the first valley cut

four is the hide-a-fence

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions!

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

Your Valley Cut doesn’t make sense to me…
Your finished fence, to me, does not even use the results of your Valley cut… A 45* Horiz. cut?! Not Vertical?

A pic of cutting the Peaks would be nice… did you cut 1 at a time, etc.?

-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?ppuser=1389&cat=500"

When in doubt cut an inch off! LOL. Good solution. I knew my method was a good idea ;^)

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

I was going to suggest a chain saw, maybe you were right to go the way you did.

-- Paul, La Center, Washington

Joe, it’s hard to tell from the crappy pic I took, but pic 3 shows a single board on it edge… maybe “valley cut” is the wrong term…. pic one shows the results.

Thanks KOL!

Paul, a chainsaw is never the wrong answer! :-)

-- JC - Central PA - www.affyx.com

well, I guess now we will never know how well all the untried methods would have worked. Maybe that’s for the best.

-- Mike, American in Norway