Ripping Short Stock Safely
One place where miniaturists have to deal with a safety issue is when cutting short pieces of stock on a table saw. Most woodworkers cringe at the notion of rip-cutting short pieces and yet we miniaturists want to do this regularly.
Why is this a problem? Ripping short stock is dangerous due to potential for kickback. Ripping narrow strips is dangerous for the same reason. It’s what we do, though, so how can we do it safely?
When ripping short boards on my full-size table saw I use this amazing tool, the MicroJig Grrr-riipper. This is simply the best solution to working narrow, short strips on a table saw, whether your saw is a big 10″, 3hp saw or a smaller 4″ saw like the Proxxon. I also use one of their splitters, owning one for full kerf blades and another for narrow kerf blades.
This tool has many virtues and the best way to learn about them is to visit the Micro Jig web pages that show you the Grr-ripper in action. Note, however, that
1) Your hand is not only not near the blade, there’s a bunch of Grr-ripper between hand and blade.
2) The wood is held down to the table on both sides of the blade and the jig has an adjustable pad to permit a lot of different cut widths.
3) The jig is steadied by a flat plate that runs along the fence and by a large flat pad that runs along the table surface. The later also serves as a hook to assist in pushing the wood through the saw.
4) Depth is fully adjustable allowing you to cut very thin wood or very thick boards.
5) The pads that hold the board to the table have rubber surfaces so the Grr-ripper really lives up to its name.
I believe the street price on this tool is about $60. A single kickback can cause you enough damage to spend a bunch of time with doctors and nurses so $60 is a pretty cheap medical avoidance strategy, don’t you think?
Oh, and while you’re at it, if your saw doesn’t have a useful splitter, take a look at the MicroJig Splitter while you’re at their website.
I own and use them for both my standard and narrow-kerf blades. What I really like about them is that you can adjust the distance between splitter and fence to match the blade being used AND, it is easy to remove for doing cuts where a splitter won’t work (eg – dado and rabbet cuts). The one downside is that the pins that hold it in place wear out and so you have to replace it once in a while. Its low price makes this a small price to pay for the convenience and safety this splitter provides.
Cheers — Larry
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[...] me but even with a catheter bag hanging off the saw, it works great! I’ve talked about the Grr-ripper before and I highly recommend it for ripping short stock and this new accessory makes it even more [...]