which side of the fence?

[Anonymous]

Was looking at this thread and Tony's scary looking sawing snaps. To be fair; no blood in sight :lol: but it could have been cleaned up. :roll:
It ocurred to me that I generally use the other side of the sliding fence, not only for difficult cuts, but as a general rule. So I hold stuff up to the near side of the fence, by hand where safe, or by push stick otherwise. If anything jams or snatches it gets pushed away from the fence, which is much safer.
I don't know why or how I picked up this habit.
Does everybody do it I wonder? Is it a good idea or not?

cheers
Jacob

 

[StevieB]

Hmm, intersting concept. I would think it depends on how strong your hands are as to whether the timber moves out of alignment or not. I know we are all supposed to let the blade do the work but there is the tendancy to push a little harder than necessary to get the cut over with quickly.

On my Kity sliding table its not possible to hold the piece in the way you describe since the table stops behind the rail. I think on balance I would prefer the timber in front of the rail not behind.

Steve.

 

[desmoengine]

steve
i to have a kity table saw withits sliding table when cutting panel i have the guide fence set to the back of the slide so thst the work piece is leading in front of it .
with the slide rail positioned back of the machine base i can easily get a 4' sheet cross cut whilst holding the panel back aginst the guide fence of the sliding table
dave w

 

[promhandicam]

Hi Jacob. I would have thought that it would be harder to hold a piece against the near side of the fence as opposed to the far side. My technique is to rest the heal of my hand on the top of the fence and hold the work back against it with my fingers. Your way you would be gripping the fence with your fingers and the work with your thumbs. Also with the work trailing the fence you would have to lean over the table more than if the work was leading, also potentially more hazardous. Finally I think that it would be more likely that the wood would move away from the fence during the cut giving an inaccurate cut - having the work in front of the fence has the effect that the fence acts like a push stick.

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

Come to think mines a sliding table too, which makes it easier. Would be harder with just a sliding fence - but might be worth trying esp for difficult cuts like Tonys' (hope he's still in one piece :lol: ) e.g. making up a carriage with a bit of ply or something.

cheers
Jacob

 

[DomValente]

Jacob I believe that most woodworkers over the pond do it that way and when cutting sheet material that is how we do it.

Dom