On Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:58:06 +0000, Edwin Pawlowski wrote
(in article ):
What you need is a better push stick. Or should I say, push "device".

I have no trouble at all putting that through using my push device that has
a long flat bottom to hold the wood in place. Picture the handle of a hand
saw withthe hand grip hole. I traced the saw handle on a piece of 3/4"
plywood, made a flat bottom about 6" long with a 1/2" catch on the back.
Good grip, good control, lots of safety.



Pretty much what I was thunking.

The fire-poker / sleeping-dog-prodder push sticks are a smack in the face
waiting to happen.

Push device should be big enough to:
-a push along,
-b hold workpiece down
-c keep fingers high enough so that _when_ something goes wrong, they are
_still_ out of cut range.

The _when_ should cover things like being suddenly startled by loud bangs,
phone vibrating, swmbo tapping you on the shoulder, cramp, wasp sting,
kickback, losing your footing or fainting and pitching forward, plagues of
frogs etc...

otherwise, use an Incra or similar and make the accurate measurement on the
"wrong" (waste) side of the blade from very oversize stock

Zero-clearance blade slot makes a HUGE difference in my limited experience.