TimR

I would suggest splurging a little and buying a clear material rather than plywood. That way you would have better visibility and could see where to start and stop the mortise. If you wanted to still use plywood I would open up the hole in the center where the bit passes through.

Hey Whiteicon.... nice construction. I'm considering doing the same to my cabinet saw. Did you consider removing one of the cast iron wings? I've got a 36" fence instead of the 52" and that's what I was thinking about...

Yikes!! And I thought the Domino was pricy. I guess it's a steal at almost half the price!! (I'm guessing Festool has or will have some type of reusable connector.)

Tom, Very nice!! Being an admirer of Marks' work, I thought it looked a little familiar! :-)

In.

Interesting... at first glance, you initial picture looks like a woodworking 'store' more than a woodworking shop! I guess you never have to hunt for you tools wondering "where did I put that..."

Hey Dave, Awesome shop!! Hydronic in floor heating with a tankless water heater?!? That's a unique combo. How's that working out for you? Looks like it would be coming on a lot up there in Canada!? Again, awesome shop!

In my first woodworking class (an Intro to Woodworking), the instructor told us "not to fear the saw blade". He did not believe in push sticks, saying that you had better control of the wood by using your hands and therefore safer. You could secure the wood to the table if the kerf started to close up behind the blade. He also taught us to only raise the blade high enough to cut the wood and no further. Even on rips 2" wide, he said we should use our hand to feed the wood past the blade and hook a couple fingers over the fence. He told us he had experienced severe kickback a few times and was able to hold the board down while he turned off the saw. Only once had the board thrown back at him to where it actually knocked him out.

Now the instructor was a professional woodworker with years of experience and all his fingers. I had always thought he made a good point at the time. After continuing to study, it was apparent that most woodworkers do not follow his line of thinking. And as mentioned in the previous postings, there are numerous thoughts on how high the blade should extend past the work piece. It seems like most people extend the blade so that the gullets on the blade are higher than the work piece. With that being said, I’ve heard stories of people’s hands get “pulled into the blade.” So, what is the 'best practice' for blade height?

My father-in-law wanted a little portable table saw for Christmas, for what he called “small jobs around the house”. I found a used one in good shape and cleaned it up nicely. I also made sure the blade/arbor was true and cut him a couple of push sticks out of scrap plywood. But there is a small part of me that doesn’t want to give it to him… I’d feel really bad if something happened while he was using it.

Hey Matt… neat little accessory. I used a syringe a couple months ago to re-glue several chairs for my grandmother. I think this tool would have done a better job. Between the viscosity of the glue and the small orifice of the needle, the hydraulic pressure would blow apart the syringe and glue would go everywhere. It seems like this tool would be more “user-friendly”.