Uses For A Featherboard

Aug 22
11:25

2012

Bob B. Hamilton

Bob B. Hamilton

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Featherboards are just some of the terms you'd encounter in woodworking. Read on to find more about this subject.

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If you’ve never heard of a joiner and back away from a power saw in fear,Uses For A Featherboard Articles you probably think a feather board is a board made from wood and the exterior of a bird. You’d be half-right. Homemade featherboards are constructed from wood but there are no feathers involved, just feathery fingers on the board. A featherboard is a type of tool with narrow fingers cut into it at the end. These are “feathered” fingers.

You use a feather board in many different functions when woodworking. The fingers or feathers on the board help hold the wood in place when working on it with various types of power tools. Woodworkers use it in place of human fingers and it not only provides a steadier method of holding the board in place; it also helps protect the craftsman’s digits when cutting.

Featherboards have the fingers cut at a 30 to 45-degree angle at the end. That’s important since it allows the worker to turn the board to make room to clamp it to the fence. It also impedes the movement of the stock backward, while keeping it firmly held against the fence of the saw or router. When using the featherboard with a router, some people use a second one to keep it more firmly in place against the table.

The featherboard provides not only safety benefits for the user, it also is a source of consistent gently pressure on the board. While it allows the stock to move in the direction of the cut, just as human fingers might, users find the featherboard eliminates the need to change the position of the hand as the stock moves through and since there’s no skin involved, the user can place it closer to the blade. Featherboards are also more stable than human fingers, less prone to react to vibrations of the saw or router and almost a necessity if the user wants to makes rabbets, grooves or edges.

Using a featherboard can also aid in preventing kickbacks. However, don’t consider them as a replacement for anti-kickback features of the power equipment, but they do provide some additional aid. The featherboards also allow users to cut dados and grooves with greater consistency.

In some instance, you may need to stack featherboards. For example, when you run stock through vertically to the fence, a second featherboard can ensure the entire board stays in contact with the fence, instead of simply the bottom of the board.