Holding small wood

[tipusnr]

How do you hold on to small pieces of wood while cutting them for custom pen blanks. I'm considering a few ideas that would allow my fingers to stay away from the bandsaw blade. Still I'm not big on re-inventing the wheel.

What I'm looking for is something that would let me cut a variety of angles and maybe strips of about 1/8 - 1/4" thinkness.

I have a table saw, a 10" band saw, a scroll saw, and a power miter so devices for any of those would be welcome.

 

[Doghouse]

Try this. Make a sled for the band saw. Make it like the cheep "miter guages" so that you have a pivot point and a locking washer. Since you are cutting small items, the pivot nut and lockdown nut can protrude up without a problem. Now you can pivot a guide fence. Make it so the fence can be replace and put a "ruler" on the sled so you can just slide and cut w/o having to look for a measuring stick.

 

[ilikewood]

Dale Duthridge of Acorn Forest Pens made a great little bandsaw sled for logs and larger pieces of wood. I'm sure it will hold little ones as well. If you are a member of the Yahoo group, it is shown in the photo section under "acorn forest". If you are not a member of that, send me an e-mail and I will give you his e-mail address. He is more than willing to let people use his design.

Bill in Idaho

 

[NCTurner]

Bill,

Build a sled! Whether you do it on your bandsaw or tablesaw, it is definitely the safest way to do it! I would recommend the bandsaw over the tablesaw for smaller pieces, because of safety concerns. You can see one in my photo album below. There is also an article by Bob Swartzenruber on this site on how to build one (I used his design as well.) I think not only is it safer, but I get VERY accurate cuts now on my bandsaw, allowing me to cut my blanks very near to the finished size. Keep those fingers away from the blades!

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/ncturner2002/lst?.dir=/Woodturning

Hope this helps!