Topic: Woodworking.

Squaring Up Large Panels

As many of you know one of the more troublesome task in woodworking is squaring up large panels. I use a crosscut jig to square panels up to 28" wide by about 108" or so. Every now and then I need to square up a panel the is wider then the maximum width I can cut with my crosscut jig. In the past I'd just breakout the straight edge and circular saw and have at it, but I always wanted to find a faster and a bit more accurate way of doing this.

I have come up with a way that seems to work pretty good. It involves using a sled and my 6' level of all things. The sled is about 24" by 30" with a stop/fence that's square to my table saws fence and has two hold-down clamps. I attach the level to my saw fence by using a pair of "Quick Clamps ^TM". This in effect extends the length of my saw fence giving me a longer travel so I can cut wider pieces.

The way the jig works is by placing one square edge against the sled fence keeping the edge facing the "level" in from the jig edge which is square to the jig fence by about 1/8 to 1/4". This edge now rides against the level and will produce a square cut on the blade side. Since the sled rides against the fence you must take care in feeding the work piece through.

After pushing the piece through you will have two edges square to each other. To complete the squaring up process just remove the auxiliary fence and use the table saw fence to cut the panels to their finished size.