: After weeks of strip ripping set up experiments, I finally found a method
: that works for me. It's not nearly as safe as the other methods I've
: tried, but it quickly produces accurate, precise strips. Strips are
: smooth, and hardly have any blade score marks. To illustrate the
: difference, it took me about an hour to set up a rough ash board and rip
: 24 strips for stem laminations. Previously, I was getting 1 - 3 strips per
: 30 minute set up before I lost precision and produced useless strips. All
: I did was remove all my featherboards. I'm still raising the blade into a
: featherboard, but it functions as a blade guard, and doesn't do much to
: control the stock. Feeding by hand, I was able to keep the stock against
: the fence and table, and feed through at a consistent rate. I have an
: inexpensive saw, and I think the force of feeding through all those
: featherboards resulted in poor cuts by shifting the table, moving the
: whole saw, etc., and the effect was cumulative over time. I'd feel better
: using all possible safety measures, and I think my previous set up would
: have worked on a high-end, large, stable saw, but at the rate I was going,
: it would have taken me years to finish with my $80 Ryobi. Maybe I'll be
: able to use featherboards when I start cutting cedar...

What are you using for a saw blade?

Bill H.