How to run a straight trench along a long dowel?
As the title suggests, I need to run a straight trench along a 2m length of 18mm dowel. Ideally the trench will be 1/8" wide by 9mm deep; the 1/8" is dictated by the dimensions of other pieces to be fitted.
I have a thin kerf blade for my TS which will give me the 1/8" kerf, but it's thin enough to be capricious and will wander in the cut given any excuse to do so. I'm also a tad wary of feeding such a small piece - in terms of width by depth - through the rickety old clunker I call a TS. :rolleyes:
My preferred method of fitting a flat piece at each end to prevent roll won't work in this case due to the dowel length; in the middle of the cut both ends will overhang the table, making the flats useless.
At this point I'm considering hot-melt gluing off-cut strips along one 'side' of the dowel instead, using the TS table & fence for registration. This'd also gave me greater width of the work piece for that li'l bit safer handling.
Of course, I could also make a full length cradle, routing a trench into an, oh... 2m x ~1"sq? piece to bed the dowel into. If I was trenching several dowels I'd go that way instead, but for a one-off? :no:
So... alternative suggestions anybody?