# Jigs and techniques



## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

*Cheap & Simple Mortise Jig*

What should be the first entry in this series is my really simple table saw panel cutting and edge jointing jig.

This is my my take on a mortise jig for a plunge router. I wanted to keep it as simple to build and as inexpensive as possible, but I also wanted it to produce good results for a rookie because I was going to use it for my first attempt and a M&T joint.

Now that I've verified that it works well, I'll probably add a toggle clamp or two for holding the work. The way I'm clamping the work now is awkward.










There are quite a few examples of this jig on LJ and probably elsewhere, but the inspiration that got me going was the jig in "Bill Hylton's "Router Magic"":http://www.amazon.com/Router-Magic-Fixtures-Unleash-Potential/dp/0762101857/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272851439&sr=1-1.

My version is constructed of 3/4 MDF that has a coat of poly. The hardware is 1/4" bolts, nuts, T nuts, washers and flange washers. When I glued up the jig base the top surface was a bit off from perpendicular with the front face, so I used strips of Scotch Tape (yup, the 3M product) as shims to make the bolted-on top surface exactly perpendicular to the front face. I use a custom edge guide from plywood with wood screws to tighten against the edge guide rods. This jig design traps this custom edge guide between two fences that are faced with melamine edge-banding - maybe this isn't consistent with "cheap" but I had some and figured it would help a lot. With this design I could ensure that the edge guide would not wander away from the fence, and I can easily adjust how tight the edge guide rides between the fences. In principle this will also allow me to increase the width of the mortise by adjusting the gap between the two fences.

Here are some more photos:


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## mhawkins2 (Aug 18, 2008)

GregD said:


> *Cheap & Simple Mortise Jig*
> 
> What should be the first entry in this series is my really simple table saw panel cutting and edge jointing jig.
> 
> ...


How did you make the tenon? It looks very nicely rounded to fit. Good work as usual.


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Cheap & Simple Mortise Jig*
> 
> What should be the first entry in this series is my really simple table saw panel cutting and edge jointing jig.
> 
> ...


I used the tenoning jig that Rockler sells. I rounded the tenons to fit with a utility knife and a rasp.


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

*Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*

Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.

BTW, click on the images to see the uncropped originals.

The commercial tenoning jig that I recently bought from Rockler looks like this:









Notice that the sliding base remains above the sub base that is fixed to the miter slot runner. The cut line of the saw blade can be referenced to the edge of this fixed sub base and will not move nor be obstructed regardless of the position of the sliding base.

Here is my typical setup for a tenon. I like to make my shoulder cuts first, but don't want to play golf, so I use a spacer block to keep the end of my tenon off the table top. This tenoning jig on my saw requires this anyway if the sliding base is more than 3/4" away from the saw blade.










Here is my *tenon jig measuring stick*.










The end "step" in the stick is thin enough to slide between the table top and the sliding base of the tenoning jig. It is a bit wider than the distance between the edge of the fixed base of the tenoning jig and the cut line of the table saw. The middle "step" in the stick thins the 3/4" scrap I used for the stick so that it is thinner than my spacer block and will clear under the end of the work piece. The fence along the right side of the stick positions the stick consistently relative to the operator side of the fixed base.

A side view of the stick.









I used a #12 flat head wood screw to attach the dial indicator to the stick. A 1/4" wood screw (#14 I believe) might have been better, but I didn't have one.

Here is the tenon jig measuring stick in use










The dial indicator is zeroed by making a cut with the tenoning jig, positioning the measuring stick like this for a measurement, and then adjusting the dial on the indicator to read "zero". From that point on you can use the measuring stick to precisely position the cheek of the tenon relative to the face of the workpiece. Since my dial indicator is calibrated for decimal inches, I use a digital caliper with decimal readout for my measurements of the mating workpiece and do the subtraction.

I still get a bit confused reading the "rotation counter" on the dial indicator, so I'm thinking of actually calibrating the generally useless ruler/pointer on the tenoning jig so that it tells me the nearest 0.1".

It might also be helpful to add a sufficient number of rare earth magnets to the end of the measuring stick to hold it in position during a measurement.

Today I used this measuring stick to cut and fit 16 tenons in mostly fir stock that was thicknessed *last* week but *this* week is a variety of thicknesses. Nevertheless, this measuring stick made quick work of fine tuning the tenoning jig for each tenon. I typically spent more time rounding the ends of the tenons to fit into the plunge-routed mortises than I spent getting a snug fit on the tenon thicknesses.


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## OutPutter (Jun 23, 2007)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Hi Greg,

I appreciate your efforts to post these blogs because I know how much work it can be. I hate to mention this but I think you would want to know since you seem to be targeting beginners. The pictures are fairly hard to follow. It's either the descriptions you write or the pictures are too close-up. I'm not sure what it is but it's hard for me to follow what you're saying. I still don't understand what the jig looks like because the picture of the whole jig was cut off. I can't tell how you really use it either because the picture was too close up. Anyway, don't give up and don't take my word for this. Thanks for all the effort.

Best,


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Jim,

Yes, the default cropping of the pictures on LumberJocks is not always ideal, and I don't take the time to crop my photos before posting. However, with most web browsers, if you right-click on a picture you will be offered a "view image" option - if you select that you can see the entire image, although only the image.

Greg


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## mwm5053 (Feb 27, 2010)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Greg thars a good idea and your right, the right click view image works well.

If you use Windows they have a power toy that you can install on your computer
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

that will resize your pictures to the required 640×480 size for posting, the download is on the right hand side of the page took me forever to see it.
After installing you just right click on the picture and pic the size you want and it automatically makes a copy that is what ever size you chose works pretty good.

Hope to see more blog entries on the jigs


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## OutPutter (Jun 23, 2007)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply Greg. It's just that most people don't like clicking those pictures because you never know when you're going to end best friends with a cultural minister from a small African country who needs you to help launder the money. Know what I mean? Anyway, if you do decide to reduce the size of your pictures to 800×600 (I think that's the largest size for LJ Walt), there will be no cropping necessary nor any clicking. Flicker can do that for you I believe.

PS - I don't get any "view image" when I right click in IE8.


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Sorry Jim. I like IE so much I almost never use it. The photos above are now links to their sources so you can just click on them to see the whole photo.

Thanks for the hint, Walt, but at home I'm mostly a Linux user.

I'll think about the cropping issue for my next post.


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## OutPutter (Jun 23, 2007)

GregD said:


> *Tenon Jig Measuring Stick*
> 
> Here is another "dial indicator on a stick" idea. This one is for making measurements when using a tenoning jig.
> 
> ...


Thanks Greg. It was definitely the pictures that made it hard to follow. Remember to think 800×600 on your next upload to Photobucket. I still don't need any new business partners from Nilibgeria. ;-)


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

*Bandsaw resaw fence*

As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.

I selected 3/4" melamine for the fence. The melamine faces provide a relatively hard, slick surface for the fence face, and the particle board substrate does not have a propensity to warp. Unfortuantely, the stuff isn't very stiff. So I decided to use a torsion-box design to provide stiffness. I decided to use pocket hole screws to hold it together.

My bandsaw has a 12" resaw capacity. I have on it a Kreg fence that is 3" tall. I thought it would be a good idea to split the difference and make one side of the fence 9" tall and the other side of the fence 6" tall. That would give me plenty of flexibility to match the height of the fence to the stock to be resawn.

Here is a picture showing the construction of the fence while it is still possible to see the internals.










The width of the spacers between the two fence match the width of the part of the Kreg fence that rides in the fence rail, so the final fence assembly will fit snugly over it as you can see in the next picture below.

Here is the final, assembled fence. I edge-banded the melamine to protect my hands from the sharp edges of the material and to protect the particle board from any moisture. Houston is hot much of the year and pretty much everything runs the risk of getting hit with a good-sized puddle of sweat. The edge banding is cheap, easy to install, and makes the final product look so much better also. I also used a flush trim bit in my router table and a hardboard template to put a 1/2" or so radius on all of the exposed corners.










This picture shows the outfeed end of the fence. I use a clamp to eliminate any wiggle on this end. The length of the bottom spacer was selected so the end of this part would land at the edge of the table.










One of the videos on resawing I found on the web demonstrated the use of a secondary fence to hold the work against the resaw fence. This secondary fence is an alternative to using finger boards, for example, but it requires that the work is planed to uniform thickness. It looked good to me so I made one. I made mine in two parts. One part consists of the fence, two sides, and a base, which bolts to a separate sub-base. This allows me to shim the sub-base as needed to make the fence exactly parallel to the resaw fence. I used dowells to reinforce the joints between the fence and the sides. The plywood sides have a slight bevel.

Originally this secondary fence was a bit taller and also had edge banding on the top of the melamine. When I first used it I discovered that I wanted the edge of the fence to be as close as possible to the front of the bandsaw blade so that it would keep the work up tight against the fence right up to the very last bit of the cut. To get it there it must clear the upper guide. Well, it wouldn't so I sliced a bit off (changing the position of the upper guide would have required re-tuning the guide bearings because the upper guide does not track the sawblade).










This picture shows the final setup of the fences right before making a cut. The paper you see on the table to the left of the fence was used to shim the fence parallel to the blade. I thought I had everything square - the table square to the blade, and the fence sitting square also, but the fence and blade still weren't quite parallel.


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## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


How about some notes on how well it works for you and the types of resaw? Are you doing any thin cuts? Any issue with the wood being flat?

I have planned for something similar, but stacking couple layers of feather boards on the second fence to pressure the board against the tall fence. My thought was the wood not being flat enough, even after planing, to use two fixed fences like you have.

Steve.


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## Dandog (Oct 21, 2010)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


I like the fact that you thinking outside the box. Just because Rowbow ddn't do it doesn't mean it's not going to work.If you look at my re-saw fence you would think there's no way he's going to get a flat and I can get it within a couple thousands of an inch.Hit it with my scraper plane or belt Sander and I'm done. I make all my own veneers up to 6 1/2 inches . 16th of an inch thick no problem.you never got to come up with anything new if you're doing what everybody else does. Keep up the good work.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


Great blog post and the pictures explain your idea.


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


*Thank you,
Very nice, I think this is something I'd like to make for my saw.*


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


Steve -

I have done a bit of sawing with this setup. To date only about 6" wide boards. Once I had a bit of an issue with a board getting stuck between the two fences, but I don't know if that was from inconsistent thickness or the secondary fence slipped a bit - I had it particularly tight for that cut. Before I saw the idea of the second fence I was planning on using featherboards. Now that I've tried it this way, I'm sold. With a little practice it is not difficult to get the secondary fence set so the work slides easily between the fences and yet has no significant play from side to side. As long as the side-to-side slop is less than the amount you intend to plane off the sawn surface to clean it up, it is good enough.

For my current project I am cutting 1/4" thick boards, but some of my early tests were thinner and I expect I could get close to Dandog's results - 1/6" thickness on 6" wide boards. I usually run the sawn surfaces through the planer which is set up to remove about 1/64", and when things go well that is all that is needed. I have noticed that at 1/4" thickness the flat-sawn boards I'm making will cup as often as not once they are cut, and even though the planer feed roller flattens that out a bit those usually require a bit more planing.

I am using Highland Woodworking's WoodSlicer blade I am sold on those now, also.

Dandog - I saw the basic idea on a video on the web somewhere. I'd like to give credit where it's due, but I can't find the video anymore.


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## ivan (Oct 26, 2009)

GregD said:


> *Bandsaw resaw fence*
> 
> As I was getting to the stage in my door project that required a lot of resawing, I started looking for information on how to do that. On the web and also in the classroom of my local Woodcraft store I saw tall shop-made fences used for resawing. So I decided to build one.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your very clear photos and explanation. I am looking to build a tall fence for my 14" Jet and yours is right on!


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## GregD (Oct 24, 2009)

*Flexi-Sled Table Saw Sled*

*Yet another table saw sled.*

The idea behind this table saw sled was to provide a lot of flexibility in clamping down the fence and workpieces.










The top is 3/4" melamine edge banded with scraps I happened to have handy. On the bottom is a 30 inch Kreg Jig and Fixture Bar. The T tracks on top are cut from 2 48" lengths. The fence is a Rockler router table fence that I found on sale a year or so ago. I had to shim it with Scotch Tape on the bottom to square the face to the top. I think I spent around $20 each for the 4 pieces of aluminum (runner, 2 T tracks, fence).

I prefer table saw sleds that are on one side of the blade. This maximizes support for the work on the "good" side of the cut while minimizing the size of the sled. I typically use a sled to true up a cut, so supporting the waste is rarely a concern. I also prefer to keep the work firmly clamped to the sled so that I can focus all my attention on feeding the sled past the blade to make the cut. I am hoping that this layout of T track will work whether I'm squaring a large panel or cutting a taper.

No, I haven't actually used this yet in this configuration. Originally I set this up as a cross cut sled with no T tracks and without squaring the fence to the top. That worked OK, but clamping the workpiece was more awkward and less effective than I liked. I splurged on an Incra Miter 5000 which works fabulously, but has a capacity of only about 17". This is intended as my "backup" sled.

Some more pictures of the fence in various positions:


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

GregD said:


> *Flexi-Sled Table Saw Sled*
> 
> *Yet another table saw sled.*
> 
> ...


nice sled


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