EC

Electric Comet

03/08/2015 2:39 PM

make it or buy it what do you use

some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at different
designs and ideas on featherboards

i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards but i
wonder if oak is well suited for this

oak is fairly stiff
do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough

any other things to consider for featherboards












This topic has 6 replies

Pp

Puckdropper

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 10:58 PM

Electric Comet <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at
> different designs and ideas on featherboards
>
> i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards but
> i wonder if oak is well suited for this
>
> oak is fairly stiff
> do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough
>
> any other things to consider for featherboards
>

Here's the one I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GJUWS8

What I liked about it was that it was stackable, so if I'm resawing I
can use the featherboard to hold the wood at a higher point. A nice
design decision is the knobs secure the support to the miter slot only,
then the other knobs allow the featherboard to move in and out.

One drawback is that the bolts need to be swapped out when using it as
two separate feather boards. There's lots of little bits of hardware to
mess with. (Simple is not always easy.)

There may be other designs out there that are cheaper or better, but
I've been happy with this one.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

LH

"Lew Hodgett"

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 4:53 PM

If you are going to do a large amount of ripping then a Yellow set of
board buddies are just the ticket.

When I built the mold for the boat I built, started with 2 x 12 x 24
ft
doug fir timbers and ended up with 1-1/2" x 5/8" x 24 ft battens.

Easily made a mile of cuts and filled a dumpster with saw dust
that week end.

Those board buddy's made all the difference in ther world.

Prevented kick back and kept the stock against the fence.


Lew

kk

krw

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 8:49 PM

On 03 Aug 2015 22:58:12 GMT, Puckdropper
<puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote:

>Electric Comet <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at
>> different designs and ideas on featherboards
>>
>> i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards but
>> i wonder if oak is well suited for this
>>
>> oak is fairly stiff
>> do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough
>>
>> any other things to consider for featherboards
>>
>
>Here's the one I bought:
>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GJUWS8

That's what I use, too. I also have a MagSwitch featherboard that I
generally use on the table.
>
>What I liked about it was that it was stackable, so if I'm resawing I
>can use the featherboard to hold the wood at a higher point. A nice
>design decision is the knobs secure the support to the miter slot only,
>then the other knobs allow the featherboard to move in and out.
>
>One drawback is that the bolts need to be swapped out when using it as
>two separate feather boards. There's lots of little bits of hardware to
>mess with. (Simple is not always easy.)
>
>There may be other designs out there that are cheaper or better, but
>I've been happy with this one.
>
>Puckdropper

JC

"J. Clarke"

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 8:00 PM

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
says...
>
> some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at different
> designs and ideas on featherboards
>
> i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards but i
> wonder if oak is well suited for this
>
> oak is fairly stiff
> do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough

First ones I made were red oak. They're still fine after 30 years.

Ll

Leon

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 5:50 PM

On 8/3/2015 4:39 PM, Electric Comet wrote:
> some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at different
> designs and ideas on featherboards
>
> i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards but i
> wonder if oak is well suited for this
>
> oak is fairly stiff
> do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough
>
> any other things to consider for featherboards
>

My store bought feather board is oak however it's feathers were cut
narrowly with what appears to be a band saw.

Cut narrowly enough and long enough you should be able to have as much
give as you like.

MM

"Mike Marlow"

in reply to Electric Comet on 03/08/2015 2:39 PM

03/08/2015 5:46 PM

Electric Comet wrote:
> some previous advice about featherboards has got me to look at
> different designs and ideas on featherboards
>
> i have oak that i will probably use to make a couple featherboards
> but i wonder if oak is well suited for this
>
> oak is fairly stiff
> do featherboards want a more springier wood or is oak good enough
>
> any other things to consider for featherboards

Anything from oak to pine will work. Look at some Youtube videos and you'll
be all set. Featherboards are not rocket science and there really is no
"better" way to build them. This is not a project that you want to spend a
lot of time thinking about.

--

-Mike-
[email protected]


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