Technique for getting legs to be level?

[kwgeorge]

David Marks has a pretty good solution for this. If the legs are not too terribly off you could tape some 80 grit sand paper to the floor. Then rest the long leg on top of the sand paper and sand by pushing the leg back and forth until it sits level.

Ken

[Anna]

Thanks for all the ideas. I hope to finish most of the bench this weekend. I haven't quite decided what to do with the legs, but it'll probably involve either levelers or shims. I'm now convinced that using those isn't "cheating" at all.

Thanks again.

[vaking]

Anna,
Unrelated to your bench - I just noticed your procedure for cutting legs involves SMT and rip fence at the same time. Be carefull - this can be dangerous and can cause kickback. Theory suggests using one fence at a time - either rip or miter. Using SMT for crosscut and rip fence to make length standard is possible but you need to make a stop block. IT is a block, say 1" thick, attached to a rip fence which ends before the blade. You position the wood against the stop block and push with the miter fence. By the time wood reaches the blade it is already off the stop block and has room to move to the right the size of stop block thickness. That is all you need not to get the wood jammed and to avoid kickback.

[Anna]

Hi, Alex,

I have both the SMT and the rip fence on the same side - to the right of the blade. It is my understanding that the kickback threat comes in when the SMT is on the left side and the cutoff gets pinched between the blade and the rip fence on the right.

In my case, the cutoff falls freely on the left side of the blade. I also have the fence offset a little bit to the right so that it's not perfectly parallel with the blade.

If the way I have it setup is really dangerous, then I'd like to know if you still think so. I'm still new to all these, and am just figuring things out slowly. Thanks for the concern, though.

Anna,
Unrelated to your bench - I just noticed your procedure for cutting legs involves SMT and rip fence at the same time. Be carefull - this can be dangerous and can cause kickback. Theory suggests using one fence at a time - either rip or miter. Using SMT for crosscut and rip fence to make length standard is possible but you need to make a stop block. IT is a block, say 1" thick, attached to a rip fence which ends before the blade. You position the wood against the stop block and push with the miter fence. By the time wood reaches the blade it is already off the stop block and has room to move to the right the size of stop block thickness. That is all you need not to get the wood jammed and to avoid kickback.

[Tom Miller]

I have both the SMT and the rip fence on the same side - to the right of the blade.

That does indeed pose a kickback hazard. If you want to use your fence as a measuring stop, the accepted technique is to use a stop block between your workpiece and the fence, with the stop block placed well in front of the blade. So, when you push the SMT forward for the cut, the stop block is no longer between your workpiece and the fence.

It is my understanding that the kickback threat comes in when the SMT is on the left side and the cutoff gets pinched between the blade and the rip fence on the right.

Yes, that too is a kickback threat. But if you use the stop block mentioned above, this setup is also safe.

Regards,
Tom