# Sacrificial Tablesaw fences... Yes, No, Maybe?



## Milo (Apr 24, 2009)

OK Folks, what do you think? Sacrificial Tablesaw fences… Yes, No, Maybe?

Norm did on on his shop jig show once (I think), and I remember at the time I thought it was a good idea. Now I have an old Beissemeyer fence that has too many years on it and I am trying to figure out what to do with it, and my first thought was a sacrificial fence.

So, if yes, what? One like Norm did, a board screwed into the fence itself, what?

Thanks for the feedback!

Milo


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Got any links to photos or videos? I'm not sure exactly what application we're talking about.


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

i think you can take the faces off and replace them ,
the other option is to bondo any dings in it , and get some of that stiky 
teflon tape ( 3" wide ) , and put that on ,
i did that once , and it worked great .
and the measuring cursor still works fine !


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Milo: My sugesstion would be to remove the old fences, take some 1/2" MDF the same heigth and length and laminate them. Maybe take one of the old fences and use it as a pattern, and trim the new ones up….....attach them the same way, and you're good to go….....if you need an auxilary fence for dados, just attach say a 3/4" piece of oak or ply, and you're set…...good to go….....later


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

The kind norm used was just an additional board along his fence when he was using a dado blade to keep from tearing up his fence. They sell connectors at woodcraft that are made to attach a fence board with.


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

I use sacrificial fences a lot … when they get chewed up, I toss them and head back to the scrap pile, and just make sure the stock is jointed and planed.

I don't screw them to the fence … I use fence clamps (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17821).


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

I too use the rockler clamps and a length of fir .


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Dane: I've got 2 sets of those fence clamps from Rockler, and boy they are the cats meow. Just drill a 3/8" hole in the sac. fence and attach to the good fence, and done….works everytime…...... later.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

Add me to that list. I've got the top to an old ready-to-assemble (mdf) computer desk that fell apart. Every so often I rip off a strip about 4" wide, and clamp it to the fence with small C-clamps. I think there's a misnomer that's causing you confusion - it should probably be called a sacrificial fence face.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

If the old fence still locks down square and plumb, replacing the faces with MDF/plywood seems like a great way to recycle/reuse the fence.

Like most of the responses, my sacrificial fence is an add on to my daily rip fence. I wanted the fence to be a bit higher than usual- mine's about 7"- so instead of the Rockler/Woodcraft pre-made clamps (which only work up to about a 4" fence) I made some L shaped brackets and got some long machine bolts and mounted the brackets onto the add-on fence. The taller fence is nice because it provides an area to easily clamp feather boards, pieces can be run vertically with more support and having the "clamps" permanently attached makes it really easy to reverse the fence when moving the standard rip fence to the other side of the blade.


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## dfletcher (Jan 14, 2010)

I made a sacrificial fence for mine, it works great. I have been able to do much more with it. I can always unscrew it and change it out.


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## Milo (Apr 24, 2009)

Thanks guys, I think I may be trying both to repair the old fence (which still locks down true) and look at those Rockler brackets, which I could use on either saw.

Thanks!


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## Lenny (Sep 28, 2008)

Hi Milo,

If you do decide to attach a board or build something, depending on how much effort you want to put into it and how functional you want it to be, you might consider this auxiliary fence that I built after one used on the Wood smith Shop show. I made mine out of a phenolic coated material sold at Woodcraft but you could use plywood or any material you want. One side is used to make rabbets and the other is a taller fence for raised panels, etc., so it is very functional.

"Auxiliary Fence" http://lumberjocks.com/projects/23338


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## TheDane (May 15, 2008)

*Lenny*-Really like your "Auxiliary Fence", but I think I might be afraid to use something like it for fear of damaging it! It is really a great accessory.


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## LakelandDave (Dec 25, 2009)

When it comes to a sacrificial fence face, I'll echo the above comments on the Rockler fence clamps. Dollar for dollar, I'd rate them one of my best shop buys. I find more and more uses for them.


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

I use a piece of 3/4" lumber solid core birch for my sacraficial fence, I drilled 2 small holes in the fence (I have a Delta Unifence) and attach it with 2 screws. As what to do with yours, you can buy sheets of the UHMW plastic and make some new faces for it. But if it's a "spare" fence why not go ahead attach some 3/4" MDF to the face and use it as a designated sacrificial fence.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

By the way, those sacrificial fence face clamps are on sale at Rockler right now for $14.99, and you can get free shipping with coupon code V9007. It worked for me just now.


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## miles125 (Jun 8, 2007)

""This is something you make from scrap when you need it."" 
CessnaPilotBarry

Amen. I rarely buy jigs, widgets and gadgets. I'm a woodworker for Gods sake… I make em and better!


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## Milo (Apr 24, 2009)

JJohnston,

Saw that sale at Rockler also. Made the mistake of looking at the closeouts also and bought a rounter table fence too (something I needed).

Free shipping is always a plus!

Milo


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## Mogebier (Feb 4, 2010)

I made one like Norm's that just bolts to my regular fence. I just used some scrap I had laying around.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

I like the idea of sacrificial fences. I put one on my bandsaw after I nearly cut the fence in half cutting some very thin vaneer. After that, and some hard earned cash for a fence replacement, all my fences have a piece attached to them….I use 2 sided tape to attach the wood to the aluminum….same as I use now and then for turning. It works great and is easily removed should you want to change to a different width/length.


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