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Glenn Ashmore
 
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I cut my description a little to short. A sled is a jig made of a piece of
very stable plywood (I used Russian birch) with a 3 or 4" high fence set
very square mounted along the two ends. Guides fit in the table saw
tee-slots either side of the blade. Set it on the saw and cut through from
one end to the other leaving the top 2" or 3" of the fences connected. It
is a lot more stable than a miter fence.

The finger joint jig is just a piece of wood that you cut a dado across one
edge and glue a short finger in. The finger is about 2" long, exactly the
width of the dado and slightly thinner. You clamp it to the sled fence so
that it is exactly one dado width to the side of the blade. Set the blade
depth to exactly half the thickness of the teak. Lay the teak on the sled
butted against the finger and cut the first dado. Then move it over so that
the finger fits into the dado and cut the next one. The trick is to fiddle
with the position of the finger using scrap until you get the spacing
exactly the width of the dado and then don't move it until all the pieces
are cut.

I used a similar jig made up for a 1/4" dado to finger joint all my cabinet
drawers. I built the first 4 drawers with dovetails but figured that if I
want to finish the boat in this century I better use something simpler. :-)

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

"MMC" wrote in message
...
Lew,
What does "I'd use a sled and a cleat adjusted" mean?
Living in FL, you don't see many sleds, and I don't think one would fit in
my cockpit
MMC
"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Glenn Ashmore" writes:

Like Lew said, if you have a table saw it is a very satisfying project.
Just a dado set, a simple finger joint jig and some careful

mesurements.
snip

Personally I'd use a sled and a cleat adjusted for the spacing.

Would make life a whole lot easier IMHO.

Lew