Jigs

Circular saw jig for tapered legs and for squaring twisted boards

comments (0) July 22nd, 2010 in Jigs

james3one, member

2 users recommend

Arrow indicate the direction of travel for the saw.

The arrow shows the material to be removed. A few passes with a bench plane squares up that side

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Still in the process of acquiring the right power tools for my woodworking. I needed to taper the legs for my current project, a side table w/ drawer, but the table saw that I have isn't up to the challenge. To complicate matters the Poplar board that I have has a slight twist. Even if i had a planer or jointer I couldn't afford to remove any material from the board as it is close to the final dimension already. The only option I had was to use the circular saw. Norm was good enough to include a tapering jig on one episode of NYWorkshop that was very helpful. By his example I held the tapered end with a single screw. The other end of the board is held in place by a small red oak strip and clamp. This holds the leg in the right position for the taper and allows me to overcome that slight twist. The leg, clamped to the board registered the very top, perpendicular to the blade, squaring up the leg with the cut on each face. A few passes with my bench plane finished of the top. The saw kerf had revealed how much material needed to be removed from the top to complete the squaring. The jig has two key parts. The rail which holds the saw and sets the angle of the taper. And supporting board on bottom to which the screw assembly is firmly attached. Rotating the end of the rail one way or the other, across the support, changes the amount of material to be removed.

I used 1x6 whiteboard for the sides to expedite construction. Will rip down some MDF next time to insure straight sides as these boards had a slight bow. Just enough that my bench plane would catch at the top or bottom of the leg but not in the center. However, a few more passes will level things out.

posted in: Jigs, jig, poplar

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