Thread: Where do you place the featherboard?

I agree - I always use mine before the blade, especially as he had no riving knife.

When the featherboard is along side the blade, if it's adjusted too tightly or unevenly it can force the workpiece up against the back of the blade and thrown it back at the operator

Some 10 years ago I made a bunch of feather boards but I rarely used them on the table saw but I do use them a fair bit on the router. I'm more a fan of grippers and push sticks.

There are so many things that I could say but none of them are polite. Let me try to explain with logic.

The purpose of a feather board is to keep a work piece against a fence or down against the table in an effort to keep your fingers safe.
Would you use your fingers in close proximity to a sharp piece of rotating machinery to force a work piece into that sharp rotating cutter?

Originally Posted by Tccp123

I have always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that it should go before the blade. Placing it adjacent to the blade like in the video seems dangerous (and/or ineffective) to me.

I agree as well, but you can't tell Americans on youtube anything about safety...

Yep, just in front of the saw blade so it presses against the fence rather than closing the freshly cut kerf onto the blade. I don't use featherboards on a saw, I just use my left hand just in front of the blade as gentle side pressure. Mostly I am just feeling if I have allowed the board to wander off the fence by torquing the trailing end with my right hand. I recently picked up one of those featherpro things to do some resawing on the bandsaw. It had been many many years since I had used a featherboard of any kind. I found it better to allow the last finger to sit behind the blade slightly so that the board didn't move off the fence just as the cut was finished leaving a bump on the offcut side of the board requiring removal before resawing again. Because the blade is only 12mm wide, the kerf only closes in on the blade after the cut is finshed, and it is only for a moment because I am pushing both pieces forwards with a stick.
DSC02686.jpg

I agree - I always use mine before the blade, especially as he had no riving knife.

...and that, folks, says it all. As BobL and everyone else has said, the way he's done it is wrong. If I was doing it, I'd use a bandsaw, at least for resawing, but if you're going to use a tablesaw, at least do it safely.

Yup, he's doing it wrong. If you put a featherboard in that position, Mr Tablesaw is not your friend.

Fortunately he's made himself a tissue box, so he'll have plenty of tissues handy to mop up the blood from the (inevitable) injury.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Fortunately he's made himself a tissue box, so he'll have plenty of tissues handy to mop up the blood from the (inevitable) injury.

Hahaha!

Where do you place the featherboard?


where the sun dont shine.....sorry too many reds tonite.

There's always an exception to the rule. I've had times I've needed to use up to three featherboards; usually when I had some unskilled help for tailing out. (You can't always pick your workmates in a production environment.)

At my last workplace, we were often ripping down lengths of several metres. Usually we'd try to dock them a few inches oversize, but sometimes - in the interests of economy - you don't have that option, so it had to be a good cut all the way.

Some blokes you can tell 'You hear that "zzzzing" as you pull the end of the board past the blade? That's 'cos you're pulling it to the side. Don't pull, just walk straight backwards.' They'd actually listen and everything was fine.

Other blokes? In that case I had to set up a 2nd featherboard just on the tailing edge of the blade and a 3rd on the trailing edge of the table. No real pressure on them - they may as well have been wooden blocks or fences - just enough to limit skewing the timber.

I still got skewed tails that way, but it mitigated the damage.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

There's always an exception to the rule. I've had times I've needed to use up to three featherboards; usually when I had some unskilled help for tailing out. (You can't always pick your workmates in a production environment.)

It's not just production environments. At the local men's shed I set up an outfeed table on the table saw but came back to find it had been removed so people could stand behind the blade to hold the timber down or pull it through and twist it (because its jamming) past the blade to finish their cuts Buddy style. I just don't watch anymore and try to avoid being asked to be buddy.

Featherboard? What's a featherboard? Why do you need that when somebody can hold it down with their fingers?

Also why would anyone want a sled to do cross cuts?

Where does one set up a feather board? I set mine up to end where the saw blade begins. The aim of a feather board is to push the work piece against fence. The video pushes the work piece against the blade!

I use feather boards on a jointer as well, to keep the side tracking against the fence to ensure that the edge angle remains consistent.

Sometimes I use a finger to press the board against the fence, however this is not possible with long boards. Also, the use of a feather board enables one to use both hands on the work piece, which increases control.

Regards from Perth

Derek

The featherboard is used in the wrong place, for the wrong purpose and on the wrong machine. It's purpose is not to hold the workpiece in place but to prevent it from hitting back. One normally uses it e.g. on a table router where a rough milling head may cause the workpiece hitting back. On a table saw this is the job of riving knife. If you want to hold the workpiece in place, you wood use a bow spring (or pressure spring, I don't know the proper english term). There is an image on Holzwerken, the guy in the video should have used a riving knife and a bow spring in front of the blade. Using a push-stick is also a good idea and it should always be in reach. Nothing to see of it in the video.

Originally Posted by AndyJ

It's purpose is not to hold the workpiece in place but to prevent it from hitting back..

Wrong.

Anti-kickback devices are different things. A featherboard might do that as well (it also might not, depending on how smooth the surface is and how much tension is on it), but its primary purpose is to hold the work against the fence or table.

Also, your image doesn't work.

Originally Posted by Tccp123

I watched a bit of the following YouTube video (start at 0:30) this morning and was surprised at where the featherboard was placed:.....

Yep,

And no riving knife. Crossed the line from negligent and dangerous to just plain stupid.

Maybe some Darwinism will kick in?



Graeme