Woodworking: Table Saw Clutter – a place for push sticks
Posted By RichC on May 23, 2020
The workshop runs smother when there is “a place for everything and everything is in its place” … to quote the printer and publisher Benjamin Franklin. On the other hand, perhaps the British are not fond of a “revolutionary” like Ben and prefer to credit Samuel Smiles, Mrs Isabella Beeton or John Hacket, Bishop of Lichfield? (link) Yes, I’m off topic with idioms … again.
If you are like me, one of the areas of a woodworking workshop that can get overly cluttered is the top of the table saw fence (or side table for that matter). I would stick everything from thin strips, hold down blocks, pencils, an aluminum yardstick, a sawdust brush and several sizes of push sticks there. I had had enough and didn’t like bending down UNDER the saw to pull a push stick or brush off of a hook either. I was usually just when I needed it most … while the saw was running – yes, a dangerous habit.
So … I decided to cut and bend a piece of leftover aluminum from my airplane building days into a shallow box/shelf right at hand height level. Here I now keep a brush and a few regularly used push sticks … although I now often use the MicroJig 3D Pushblock (top right of above photo). This anti-slip Grr-Ripper (click for image) is pricey compared to simple homemade scrap wood push sticks, but well worth it if it saves a finger or two (put one on your “want list”… you’ll thank me someday).
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