A bandsaw can make your shop sing. From curved cuts to square joinery, the tool is capable of opening many doors for your woodworking. But there’s a world of potential beyond the bare tool. From smarter push sticks to auxiliary fences to specialty sleds, these tips will help you get even more from your bandsaw.

Video: Simple auxiliary low fence for better, safer cuts

Many times when working with small pieces on a bandsaw, the upper guide hits the fence and can’t drop down to where we all know it should be, just above the surface of the wood. This is a problem that affects both safety and cut quality. It doesn’t happen with this auxiliary low fence, though. This one slides onto the back of a regular fence, and a magnet on the front mates up to a screw embedded in the front that is always at the ready. A fast fix for better results.

By Michael Fortune

This push stick is always easy to reach

By storing a thin stick in the bandsaw’s miter slot, you’ll have a push stick that’s out of the way but close at hand. A hole drilled in it makes it easy to grab.

By Tim Rousseau

Five essential bandsaw jigs

Rip tapers at any angle. Cut circles of any size. Safely cut small wedges and reproduce curved shapes, all on Michael Fortune’s favorite machine, the bandsaw. Fortune maintains that it’s safer and easier to do all kinds of tasks on the bandsaw, especially if you have these handy jigs. In addition to plans and step-by-step instructions for making and using his jigs, Fortune gives tips that will help you get the most from your bandsaw.

By Michael Fortune

Part-time outfeed table for the bandsaw

Unlike some stow-away tables, this design, which is simple to make and can be installed or removed in seconds, is always perfectly aligned with the bandsaw table.

By Cecil Braeden

Specialty fence for resawing

The board will still need to be planed before it is of furniture quality, but this setup is much easier, faster, and more accurate than using a rip fence.

By M. G. Rekoff Jr.

Better push stick for ripping on the bandsaw

I find that this push-stick design gives me better control, helping me push the piece forward and against the fence at the same time, with enough width so that its handle (and my hand) passes easily to the right of the blade guides.

By Andy Westerhaus

Fine Woodworking Recommended Products

Rockler Dust Right 1250 CFM

You’ll need help to get this heavy unit onto its bracket, but if you’re looking for a central dust collector that won’t gobble floor space, this may be the unit for you.

Buy at Rockler

DeWalt 735X Planer

At high speed, the planer works fast and leaves a smooth surface. But the slower, finish speed produces an almost glass-smooth surface. Knife changes are easy.

Buy at Amazon

Makita LS1219L Miter Saw

This is the saw I want in my shop. For one, it’s easy to use. All of the controls are easy to reach and manipulate, and the glide mechanism is both robust and smooth. The handle works well for righties and lefties. Then there are added bonuses that no other saw has. For instance, its hold-down is superb, as it can move to different locations, hinges for a greater range of coverage, and actually holds down the work. In addition, the saw has two points of dust collection, letting it firmly beat the rest of the field. The one downside was the saw’s laser, which was so faint we had to turn off the shop lights to see it. Still, all these pluses in a package that fits tight to the wall? That’s a winner for me.

Buy at Amazon