Safety Fixtures for Table Saws and Shapers
Push sticks, push blocks and featherboards keep work on the table and against the fence, with your fingers at a safe distance.
Synopsis: This short article describes several safety fixtures for tablesaws and shapers, including featherboards and push sticks. They’ll help keep you in possession of your fingers.
Except for my tonsils, I’ve still got all of my body parts, including ten whole fingers. I took extra time and effort to fashion some simple safety fixtures that not only keep my fingers away from blades and cutters but also improve the quality of my work.
The way I see it, if a few simple fixtures provide a better finished product and leave you with all ten fingers to show for it, then it’s worth it for me to explain how to make and use these fixtures. You still have to be careful; these fixtures won’t keep anyone from sawing their fingers off, but they definitely make working with tools such as table saws and shapers a lot safer.
Push sticks send stock past blades
The basic tool for keeping your fingers a respectable distance from a blade or a cutter is the push stick. This simple tool nudges the end of a board past a spinning sawblade, which is a real comfort when ripping narrow strips on a table saw, for example, or pushing that last piece of molding through the shaper.
Everyone’s got a push-stick design; mine is a thin block of scrap maybe 3/8 in. thick by 10 in. long that’s angled on one end and rounded on the other. The angled end has a square notch that locks onto the end of the stock. I angle the end of the push stick so that I can push down and forward, keeping the work piece on the table and moving right along.
I keep a push stick on the saw table on the opposite side of the fence, where it’s handy. Then, as I’m ripping stock, I grab the stick to push through the last foot or so. When ripping long stock, I support the outfeed end with a table or roller stand.
Push blocks can be made from scraps
Push blocks hold stock firmly on the table, reducing the chances that the stock will take off and leave your hands in harm’s way. Push blocks are especially useful when you have to put pressure on a work piece directly over a blade or a cutter, such as when jointing a board or cutting dadoes on a table saw. You can buy manufactured push blocks with rubber contact surfaces, but I make my own from blocks of scrap and sandpaper. Like manufactured push blocks, my push blocks grip the work piece without damaging it. But if mine wear out, I replace the sandpaper, and the push block is full of grip and ready to rip.
My push blocks also are practically free; I make them from stuff that’s lying around. I screw together three pieces of scrap a 3 1/2-in. wide by 6-in. long bottom piece, a 1 1/2-in. wide by 6-in. long handle and a 2 1/2-in. wide by 4 1/2-in. long stretcher between the handle and the bottom countersink the screws and staple or glue some medium-grit sandpaper to the bottom.
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