Hardwood Floors February/March 2017

Article and photos by Lenny Hall

CHIP

Set the blade to half the width of the transition, in this case, 1- 1 / 2 ” deep for a 3” mini saddle. Make your pass with the glued block side against the fence and the leading edge also against the fence. There will be an open space to the fence between the two ends and you want this to happen; that is what makes the taper happen. The board will now pass through the blade at the angle set by the glued-on block. Use a very large and wide push block and push stick to keep vital body parts away from spinning blades! Safely complete the cut and turn the saw off before removing the push block from the blade.

The first part of the tapered rabbet cut is made. Remove the glued-on block because we are now on to the underside cut. For that, you need to know what the climb rate is for the screw driving the blade up and down in the table saw. Most saws have a climb rate of 1 / 8 ” or 3 / 32 ” per handle turn. As a side note, you should mark this on the body somewhere for future reference. Set the fence to the 1- 1 / 2 ” inside measure that is the rabbet (the notch we are making) and set the blade to the depth of the end being cut, either 0” or 3 / 8 ” depending on which way you are passing the board through. The idea is to pass the board through as you raise (or lower) the blade to cut at the notch you are making. Mark your 36” board from the “0” end with 3 marks at 12” intervals: 1 / 8 , 1 / 4 , 3 / 8 , representing the depth of cut the blade needs to make at that point. Since we have a kerf in the wood there is some margin of error we can use so as not to cut up into the body of the baby threshold. Again, use push blocks and push sticks when passing the board through this cut. As you pass the board through, you raise (or lower) the blade from mark to mark as needed without cutting into the underside of the baby threshold.

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