Popular Woodworking 2009-12 № 180, страница 56

keeps your hands away from the spinning bit while giving you control of the work.

To make the cut, start well away from the cutter on the infeed side of the fence. Place the coping block against the fence with your right hand on the handle. The angle of the handle will remind you and assist you in applying force toward the fence and across the cutter.

Hold the workpiece against the edge of the push block with your left hand. Slide it up tight against the fence, but as you cut, don't apply pressure against the fence with the workpiece. Direct your effort to holding it tight against the leading edge of the push block as you move it along the fence and across the cutter.

You want to keep the end of your work in contact with the fence, but you don't want to push the leading corner into the cutter. The narrow opening around the cutter is essential to prevent that from happening.

After the workpiece has cleared the cutter, you can slide it out of the way, then pull

the push block back. The router bit will cut into the end of the push block, but that is a good thing. It prevents the router bit from blowing out the grain as the router bit exits the work.

If you're making a tenon in a narrow piece that is longer than the exposed portion of the bit, make the cut in two passes. Keep the end of the workpiece away from the fence during the first pass. This will remove waste

material that would otherwise be between the bit and the fence as you cut with the end of the piece against the fence. This will give you a cleaner shoulder cut, and it will reduce the chances of kickback. PW

Bob is senior editor of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine, and author of "The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker," available from his web site: craftsmanplans.com.

Stand back. Align the work to the push block, and the push block to the fence, well away from the cutter on the infeed side of the fence. Check to see that the parts are tight to the fence and that your hands are in a safe position before you advance the work across the cutter.

Straight and narrow. Minimize the opening in the fence around the bit so that some portion of the work will be in contact with the fence at all stages of the cut.

Follow through. Push the block and the workpiece until the workpiece is safely beyond the cutter. Slide the workpiece off the table and pull the push block straight back along the fence.

Move in to finish. The second pass makes a clean shoulder cut without the chance of material being caught between the bit and the fence.

First things first. When making a tenon, keep the end of the work away from the fence and remove the waste with the first pass.

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