# A very accurate safety device. A Must Have!



## Limerick (Mar 16, 2011)

Thank you for the review, and the reminder to put safety first in the shop. I have always been scared of the router. Each time I walk up to it, I feel a little weak in the knees thinking about how the bit can make hamburger of my fingers in a milli-second. I will research this further.


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## BustedClock (Jun 30, 2011)

I gotta tell you, those big roaring machines scare the bejeebers outta me. Much prefer my planes and chisels and handsaws. Course, I always seem to have little nicks and slits on my fingers and hands…


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## CalgaryGeoff (Aug 10, 2011)

I use same system and it's great. The ability to use it as a jointer is also very nice when facing smaller stock, rather than using a full size jointer.


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## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

mharper, how was your pushing work thru; any different before the jessEm fence? Were you just using to big a bit, or taking too big a cut? and was there no feather board to hold work down? just trying to see why the accident happened in the first place.


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## MHarper90 (Oct 12, 2013)

Well, there's a lot of factors that contributed to the accident. I needed the large bit, and actually had trouble finding one for a router, not designed exclusively for a shaper. I was first worried that the bit was going to bust into pieces once I turned the machine on. Luckily it didn't.

With our old setup, the SawStop fence was also the router fence. I was running some stock that I had milled to be 2.5"x2.5". Once I milled my stock on the table saw, I set up the fence over to the router and was ready to run a test piece. Too bad I didn't make a special test piece. All I had extra was about a 10" long scrap of my milled lumber. I would have to undo my fence adjustments in order to re-setup the table saw to mill a longer scrap piece. I thought 10" would be ok though.

The SawStop fence is not tall enough to attach feather boards, and usually we don't need them, but because I was not simply shaping a corner of this stock, I was routing a very large flute down the middle, the bit was pushing the stock up (path of least resistance, vs actually cutting it). I made two passes to achieve my 1/2" depth. The 1/4" depth worked fine, but on the last inch of the second pass, the router threw the stock forward and although I was using a push stick with my right hand, my left hand was just behind the bit, holding slight downward pressure. The sudden absence of the stock was enough for my hand to drop down and into the bit.

I had two goals when looking for this new router fence. I wanted easy-to-use stock hold downs (feather boards just seem a little archaic to me sometimes), and I wanted a dedicated router table fence. I would have milled a longer test piece had it not been so much trouble to reset the table saw. Not sure that would have helped, but at this point I can only speculate.

Obviously my biggest mistake was to use my left hand as a hold down, but I knew there was 2" of wood between my hand and the bit, and I was doing my best to still not be too close or even right over top of the bit. Also, in 15 years of woodworking I'd never had a piece of wood rip forward or kick back on me. I just wasn't expecting that 2" of wood to suddenly vanish. It happened so fast.

Luckily, my hand is nearly 100% recovered. I can do just about everything with it that I used to, and the rest will come with a little more time and use (I really need the callus to form…the pad of my thumb is very soft now). Most people also cannot tell that I had an accident unless I carefully line my thumbs next to each other so that they can see the 5mm difference. My left thumb looks better than Meagan Fox's thumbs…(Google it…).


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## Dedvw (Jul 6, 2010)

I've had a number of close calls on my router table. It makes me nervous every time I have to route end grain.

Does any know of good youtube videos or books showing some router table techniques?


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## MHarper90 (Oct 12, 2013)

I have never looked into published techniques, although I grew up watching Norm Abram routing away on Saturday mornings instead of watching cartoons.

From my experience, if you have a throat plate on your router table, stay at least outside of that, but there's no reason you should be any closer than an 8-12" push stick. Material hold downs like feather boards are a must for me now. Both down and into the fence too unless you have something like the JessEm Clear Cuts that do both at once.

Also, I think it's very important to pay attention to your stance. It's very easy to stand still and lean into the piece as you push it through, but if something happens suddenly, you're weight will fall towards the bit. I really have tried to make sure I am standing straight up with balanced weight on my feet on both the table saw and router table recently since my accident.


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## MHarper90 (Oct 12, 2013)

I also added a picture of my (healed - no gore) thumbs for comparison if anyone is interested in seeing the damage. Sorry they are blurry; it is really hard to take a picture with no hands (both were used IN the picture).


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## CalgaryGeoff (Aug 10, 2011)

The price on the guides is $100 right now.


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## Dusty56 (Apr 20, 2008)

Thanks for sharing your story. Best wishes : )


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## jcwalleye (Dec 26, 2009)

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm going to look carefully next time I work at the router table.


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## pauldye (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks. I am sold on the Stock-Guides. They should work well with my Rockler table and fence. I have had a few nervous moments with the router table, and recurring bad dreams of what could have happened. The Stock-Guides look like a good safety improvement.


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## mmax (Dec 9, 2008)

I just posted another review on just the Stock Guides. I have had the Jessem table and fence for several years and just add the guides two weeks ago. So far I am very impressed with the performance of them and agree with all your comments.


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## rg33 (Dec 1, 2012)

thanks for sharing this, as its a good reminder that one can never be too careful when woodworking. Glad you are recovering well. Also its funny and validating that there is someone else besides me who's noticed Megan fox's thumbs. I still remember transformers when she hops on that truck (fire truck maybe) and there is a close up of her hand. I seriously did a rewind and slow motion on the dvr because I couldnt believe she had those stubbies!


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## krudawg (Oct 31, 2016)

I just unboxed my Mast-R-Fence II and attempted to install it on my new Jessem Router Table. I am absolutely stumped on how to install the thing. The directions are worthless. No YouTube video to be found. Can anybody shed any light as to the installation. It almost seems like there is a "T" Bracket that has been attached to the fence that I have to remove in order to slide it thru a black angle bracket that I attached to the bottom of the table using pre-drilled holes. Any suggestions


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## MHarper90 (Oct 12, 2013)

Gosh, it's been years since I installed this fence and since I joined the Navy I haven't seen it in years either. From what I recall, there are two pieces of angle steel that get mounted to the underside of the table, with the screws holding it to the table positioned closest to the router. Then the tracks with two slots (one that fits the metal adjustable tape, and one that fits the nuts that mate with the tall hand knobs), gets mounted to the angle steel and aligned with the table top. Then you just install the metal adjustable tape and tighten down the fence with the tall knobs (slide the mating nuts into the track). On this extension table I routed a spot to mount the angle and T-track to a spot on the table that is not overhanging be edge. If you have a Jessem table, it's probably designed to mount right up to the edge. I hope that, and my picture and the pictures on google help you figure it out. Ask if you have a more specific question.


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