A Couple of All Season Sleds

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The question was asked on the Badger Pond Forum about plans for a sliding cutoff table. I'm not much for plans, but I'll tell you about mine. Basically it's the same idea as the one Norm uses in New Yankee Workshop that he calls a panel cutting jig.

Start with a piece of nice plywood (it doesn't have to be Baltic birch) about 20" × 28". On the bottom of the plywood, and a little more than the distance from your left miter guage slot to the blade, attach a runner that is a snug, but smooth sliding fit in the miter slot, to the plywood. For stability and handling, it helps to have the runner extend a couple of inches beyond the front end and maybe 8 or 10" beyond the end toward the user. Then flip the plywood over, turn on the saw and run the jig through the blade.

Attach a cleat to the top of the plywood at the front (away from the operator) that is absolutely square to the fresh cut. The cleat should be about ¾" thick and perhaps 1 or 1½" wide, and extend a little beyond the fresh edge on the right (it'll get cut off on the next trip through the saw), to an inch or so beyond the left edge of the plywood (handy for clamping stop blocks).

You may have to fuss with the cleat to get it square, but it's worth the trouble. Lookherefor an excellent method of checking the squareness of your cuts.

Good luck. I have used mine a lot since I made it, and made a miter cutting version of it as well, complete with DeStaCo toggle clamps. It really helps in panel cutting and miter cutting.

Last updated: 23 August 2010