Cut Small Pieces on a Miter Saw Safely With a Pivoting Hold-Down Arm

The Problem

Cutting small pieces on a miter saw puts your fingers where they should never be: inside the blade's neighborhood, pinning a part too short to hold from a safe distance. The alternative — not holding the piece — lets the blade grab and throw it.

The Technique

The jig is a wooden arm bolted to the saw's fence through a single hole:

1. Drill a hole through a board and through the fence, and bolt the board on. The single bolt is the pivot.
2. The arm swings up and down on that bolt. With a small workpiece against the fence, swing the arm down on top of it and press — the arm holds the piece, and your hand is on the arm's handle end, well away from the blade.
3. Make the cut, lift the arm, and take your two pieces.

The reel shows the geometry in a few seconds — where the pivot sits relative to the blade, and how the arm's handle keeps your grip outside the danger zone.