Super Thin Strip Jig

[ErnieM]

Hi all,

I found a very simple but very effective jig for cutting thin strips on the table saw. The original jig was on BenchNotes.com. I tweaked the design a bit and built it yesterday. With this jig you can safely cut strips as thin as 1/64” and repeat the cut as often as needed. I’m so pleased with this jig I thought I’d put my version of this jig on the site for anyone who might want to build one. Here’s my version of the jig.




And here’s an exploded view of the jig done in SketchUP.





As you can see, this is a very simple jig and it’s very easy to put together. The sizes shown above are quite arbitrary. Only a few dimensions are really important. The size of the miter gage slot on my saw is ¾” wide x 3/8” deep and the dimensions given are for that size slot. If yours is different you’ll have to adjust the dimensions to fit. The only other important dimension is the length of the upper arm – it must at least equal the distance from your left side miter slot to the blade. Here’s some brief directions.

• Prepare a blank ¾” square by 8” (size the width to fit snugly into your miter slot with no play – it doesn’t have to slide in the slot, just fit into it without beating it to death with a hammer.)
• Prepare a blank ¾” x 1” x 8” for the upper arm.
• On the top surface of the lower arm cut a 1” wide dado as deep as the depth of the miter gage slot in your tablesaw. This dado should be centered (roughly) in the lower arm.
• In the center of the dado drill a 5/16” hole.
• Cut a 1 ½” length of 5/16” threaded rod and epoxy it into the hole. (I had some 5/16” rod in the shop so I used it. ¼” would work just as well.)
• On the upper arm, cut a centered, 5/16” slot from one end. This slot should be about 5 ½” long. I did mine on the bandsaw – a router works just as well. Lightly sand the inside of the slot so that the threaded rod can slide easily through it.
• On the other end of the upper arm, cut a bevel so that only about ¼” of the front edge is full length.
• I added a round, rare earth magnet to the upper surface of the slotted end. When I’m done using the jig, I just hang it on the side of the saw.
• Place the upper arm into the dado in the lower arm and secure with a washer and wingnut.
• Using a fine tip pen, draw a centered index line as shown in the exploded plan above.

Using the jig


1.Loosen the wingnut and slide the upper arm until it just makes contact with a left-leaning (leaning toward the jig) tooth on your saw blade. Tighten the wingnut. Using the same thin pen, draw a mark on the upper arm directly above the indexing mark you made on the lower arm. Check the accuracy of this mark by loosening the wingnut, moving the upper arm some distance, and then realigning the mark on the upper arm with the index line on the lower arm. The front end of the upper arm should now be just touching that blade tooth.

2.Loosen the wingnut and move the upper arm away from the blade the distance of the strip you want to cut. For example, if you want to cut a ¼” strip of wood, move the upper arm backwards ¼”. Tighten the wingnut securly.

• Place your wood stock onto the saw and move the fence and wood until it just touches the front of the jig. Lock the fence in this position.

• Remove the jig from the table saw and cut your strip.

• To cut another identical strip, repeat step 3 above.

Final pointers


To make my jig more versatile, I added a small ruler onto the upper arm. I drew this ruler in a CAD program and glued it onto the upper arm. Now I don’t need to measure anything. I just line up the width of the strip I want with the index line on the lower arm and cut away. Just make sure the 0 line on the ruler is lined up with the original mark you made on the upper arm. The only disadvantage to this shows itself when you change blades on your table saw. If the kerf on the new blade is not the same size as the kerf on the old blade, your ruler will be off. You can still use the jig but you’ll have to do some trial cuts (which isn’t a bad idea even with the ruler) to get the proper strip width.

Here’s a closup of the ruler glued onto the jig.




That’s it. If you need to cut thin strips this jig will do the job – everytime. Hope somebody out there finds this useful.

Till next time,
Ernie

[Tar Heel]

Thanks for the idea Ernie as well as the very comprehensive pictorial/tutorial. I think I will make one.

[TracyP]

I am so glad that we created this "how to" forum. There have been a lot of interesting things posted here so far. I could have used this jig yesterday, and plan on making one, thanks!!

[ErnieM]

Stuart & Tracy - You're more than welcome. Let me know how it turns out.

Ernie

[mlzettl]

Ernie, That's simply fantastic! I've been meaning to make some type of similar jig, as I cut a lot of thin strips. As is often the case with functional, effective jigs, I just never seem to have the time or desire to put in the R&D. I'm going to make one for the table saw, and one for the band saw. I cut a lot of veneers on the bandsaw, and it's much better to have the veneer on the "waste" side of the blade. Thanks for taking the time to make it, photograph it, and explain its construction and use. Matt

[ErnieM]

As is often the case with functional, effective jigs, I just never seem to have the time or desire to put in the R&D.

Matt,

I'm just like you. I've needed a jig like this for years now. If I hadn't run across this jig totally by accident, I'd probably still wish I had one. Hope yours turns out well.

Ernie

[RandyJ]

Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise, Ernie...

[JohnW]

Great Pictorial Ernie. Thanks.

I own a not-so-good dado set and need to cut thin strips to use as keys in mitered box joints. These keys need to fit "just right" and getting them the correct thickness is a problem. I found that using this jig with my standard blade is much easier than trying to adjust my dado set.

I use a brass screw on the tip on my jig to zero the scale to a saw tooth leaning to the inside (jig side) of the blade. (If your using alternate tooth pattern) The screw allows very fine adjustments and keeps the scale accurate even if the table saw set up changes a bit (new blade etc)

Try it folks...it works very well for thin strips and repeatability is within tolerance of most projects.

[ErnieM]

John,

That's a great idea. I'm going to add a screw to the tip of my jig today. Micro adjustments would make the jig even better and allow for blades with different kerf sizes. Thanks for the tip.

Ernie

[medic]

I made a jig almost the same as yours when my t/s started vibrating real bad did not know if I had a bad blade or what ?? I marked one tooth and moved the jig untill it made contact with the tooth moved the jig backwards and there was a 1/32 in. gap blade was warped. brand new out of the box so just a nother reason to build your gig ( yours looks better than mine )

[ErnieM]

I made a jig almost the same as yours when my t/s started vibrating real bad did not know if I had a bad blade or what ?? I marked one tooth and moved the jig untill it made contact with the tooth moved the jig backwards and there was a 1/32 in. gap blade was warped. brand new out of the box so just a nother reason to build your gig ( yours looks better than mine )

John,

I never even thought of that. I just ran over to my table saw and checked it (it checked out OK). This jig does everything but make toast. Thanks for your tip.

Ernie

[skipwill]

Great jig!

Going to have to make one of those next week. Thanks for the pics!

Skip

[ErnieM]

Skip

Read JohnW's (John) post in this thread. He added a screw to the front of the jig for a micro adjustment. I already added this to mine and it makes tweaking the accuracy much easier.

Ernie

[JohnW]

Ernie, I am honored that you found use out of something I wrote. You are truely a master.

One other advantage to this jig that bears repeating....This is SAFE. Much safer than trying to squeeze out a 1/8" strip from between the fence and blade.

I might add another little tid bit about this jig. I didn't put numerals on my gage. It's just a gage with 1/4, 1/8" & 1/32" increments. I only use this for thin strips less than 1/4" thick. So I just zero it on any line and count the lines.

An even smaller tid bit...My jig does not slide in the miter slot. It fits snug as I do not want any play.

I was thinking of replacing the screw with a needle depth gage accurate to 0.001". But the way it's set up now does an excellent job for me so.....NO. But the depth gage might be a good addition if using the jig to set up you table saw blade and fence nice & square.

[ErnieM]

John,

I agree with everything you said (except for the 'Master' part). I guess I didn't mention it in my original post, but my jig doesn't slide in the miter slot either - for the same reason. I used the jig for the 1st time to cut molding strips for the Harpsichord Project (Part 11, coming soon). It worked flawlessly.

Ernie