Kerf-and-Wedge Board Flattening
Relieving a twisted board with a deep center kerf, clamping it flat, and gluing in a wedge — flattening with a fraction of the jointer's material loss.
Rip Thin Strips Safely With a Miter-Slot Stop Jig
Technique: Thin-Strip Rip Jig
The Problem
Ripping thin strips with the fence set close to the blade is the table saw's sketchiest routine: the strip is trapped between blade and fence where it can chatter, burn, or kick back, and your push hand is working in the narrowest space on the saw. Setting the strip width on the other side of the blade fixes all of it — if you can repeat the setting.
The Technique
The jig is a stop that lives in the miter slot: a runner sized to the slot with an adjustable bolt sticking out as the contact point, positioned ahead of the blade.
- Set the bolt so the distance from its tip to the near side of the blade equals your strip thickness, and drop the jig into the miter slot.
- Slide the workpiece across until it touches the bolt, then bring the fence up snug against the workpiece's other edge and lock it.
- Pull the jig out of the slot and make the cut. The strip falls free on the open side of the blade — never pinched against the fence.
- For the next strip: drop the jig back in, bump stock and fence over to the bolt again, remove the jig, cut. Every strip comes off at exactly the bolt setting, as many as you need.
Pro tip: The bolt is the whole calibration — thread it in or out a hair to dial strip thickness, and once it's set, a full batch of identical strips (edge banding, bent laminations, kumiko stock) takes minutes.
Safety note: The jig comes out of the slot before the blade spins — it's a setup gauge, not a cutting guide; left in place it can pinch the work against the blade. Keep your push stick in reach and the riving knife on: the geometry is safer than fence-side thin rips, but it's still a table saw.
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