Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Push Stick with Tote

Clearly, I'm a woman with too much time on her hands.

In trying to come up with a safe way to rip thin boards on the table saw, I built this push stick that, with a handle on the front and a handle on the back* (and both mortised into the body), maintains uniform pressure along the length of the stock and keeps my fingers safely away from the blade. The blade guard and splitter have been removed for clarity. (I do NOT condone removing the safety features on a table saw. Removing the blade guard and splitter is dangerous!) The push stick works even better with a feather board putting pressure along the side of the board, which in turn, keeps it tight against the fence.

Last night, at the women's woodworking club meeting, where we were making cutting boards and ripping skinny stock, I used my suped up push stick. One woman suggested that I patent and sell the design to other woodworkers.

Nah...who the heck has time to build one of these?

*Someone way more wise than me pointed out that it's safer to put your hand on top of the tote (the handle in the back), rather than curl your fingers around the handle like you would a handsaw. The reason for this is, in case the spinning blade grabs the push stick for some reason, you can easily pull your hand back and away from the blade.

9 comments:

Chris Schwarz said...

Looks very cool. You need a clever name. Fore Stick? Jack Stick? Try Stick? Push Plane?

Clever names are everything. Buffalo sausage = Buff-o-Links.

Chris

Kari Hultman said...

With catchy names like those, I just might be able to market this design. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

VC,

How long is this particular version? I will make one, but it must be shorter - I hate having to extend my left arm over the blade. On the other hand - or on the other arm ;-) - I could always use it left-handed.

It is a great idea. I hope it makes you $$$ !

Kari Hultman said...

Al, this one is 22" long. I don't blame you for wanting to make a shorter one so you don't lean too far over the blade.

P.S. I was just kidding about marketing the idea. ; )

Anonymous said...

I like your design, easy to see when lying around, just don't pick up your jack plane and run it through the saw.

A friend of mine asked me to design a push stick he could make to have in his commercial Cabinet Shop. They go through a lot of them so he wanted something that everyone could recognize.

So I came up with this design:

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii105/shepherd1857/Webbing.jpg

I of course don't use nor endorse power tool use.

Stephen

Kari Hultman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nick Brygidyr said...

his "push stick" made milk come out of my nose haha

Kari Hultman said...

Maybe he should call it a "push sticky"!

Unknown said...

Wacky, you could paint it pretty colors.