how long should the fence be?

**ian** · 9th December 2019, 08:45 AM

A question for dark-siders (and anyone else who would like to comment).

I have a piece of what I believe to be Santos Rosewood Machaerium spp. (Machaerium scleroxylon). It's a "short" of which about 40% is sapwood.
I also have a couple of "short" pieces of Padauk Pterocarpus spp. (Pterocarpus macrocarpus or Pterocarpus soyauxii). The Padauk is relatively oily, while the Rosewood is relatively dry.

What I'd like to do is use the shorts to make a fence (or five) for my collection of rebate and grooving planes.

Each short is long enough to make all the fences I think I'll need -- in particular the piece of Rosewood contains enough heartwood that I wouldn't need to use any of the sapwood -- so my question to the brains trust is: which wood should I use and how should I attach each fence face to their pre-drilled metal fences?

**derekcohen** · 9th December 2019, 03:50 PM

Hi Ian

More important than "length" - which does not need to be more than the body - is "depth": the deeper the fence, the greater the stability in the vertical. Find a compromise that give the lost stability without taking up too much space.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**Chief Tiff** · 9th December 2019, 05:10 PM

Trial and error; make up some trial fences using woods as close to the density as your Rosewood and Padauk as you can find and cut some grooves and rebates, you’ll figure out what works best for you. My personal preference for the Record 778 and 44 is a fence only 3/8” thick and 40mm deep; most people prefer thicker and/or deeper

As for attaching them, I use domed slot headed screws. They just look sort of right.

**IanW** · 13th December 2019, 07:43 AM

Nothing much to add except to second the advice about finding what suits you and your work-style best. The 'deeper' the fence, the easier it is to register against the work, but take it too far & it can quickly become a big nuisance. If you find yourself propping boards up on bits of scrap, or hanging the edge you're working on over the edge of the bench so the fence doesn't foul too often, maybe the fence could be shallower. Start with what you think might be oversize, 'cos you can easily trim them back afyer you've test-driven them for a while.

To be honest, I've never worked out any compromise for myself, my accessory fences tend to be any convenient piece of scrap that suits a particular job. I'm thinking particularly of that screaming monster 'lectric router, which I used to use far more frequently in my unenlightened days (or should that be "more unenlightened"?). It sits in its drawer along with enough accesssory fences of varying sizes to fill a wine carton. Matter of fact, I might just do that next Winter, & take them up to the MIL's for kindling.....

Cheers,

**ian** · 13th December 2019, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by IanW

To be honest, I've never worked out any compromise for myself, my accessory fences tend to be any convenient piece of scrap that suits a particular job. I'm thinking particularly of that screaming monster 'lectric router, which I used to use far more frequently in my unenlightened days (or should that be "more unenlightened"?). It sits in its drawer along with enough accesssory fences of varying sizes to fill a wine carton. Matter of fact, I might just do that next Winter, & take them up to the MIL's for kindling.....

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