Saw table

Table saws are a much better way to cut straight and to a fixed width than a hand-held circular saw, even with a guide attached.

My table is a bit brutal. It gets the job done, but it isn't at all sophisticated. But then neither am I.

This is it. Its key selling point was that it was always so robust. It has taken a lot of hammer.

The problem in the picture is that there is a large rectangular hole where the saw blade comes through. An insert fits into the hole, and is dead flush with the surface. But the insert with this table was made of plastic. Plastic ? Yes, that's right. What were they thinking ?

The plastic broke, and replacements are not available as the table is too old. (But then again... )

I made a replacement from some oak, but it was too floppy as the thickness is limited to 2.5 mm. The oak worked but it was clearly going to be temperamental. It's in the middle here, with the broken plastic one at the left.

And on the right (da dah !) is the one I faffed around with most of yesterday. It's aluminium. Metalwork is definitely not my bag of bananas: hence all the faffing. But the thing works, and actually works a lot better than the original.

One thing it does more efficiently is resist the pressure from the saw's spring-loaded blade guard. It always tended to push the plastic insert upwards slightly. This one shrugs off the pressure.

It was a relief when the thing fitted. My usually style is to accidentally cut off the last nib by mistake with the thing 97% complete...