A recent project called for making a lot of small square pegs in which both ends needed to be encircled with small chamfers. I tried to create the chamfers by touching the angled pegs lightly against the belt sander, but the results were inconsistent at best. In frustration, I improvised this simple jig, which works great with a stationary belt sander. The jig is essentially a chute that holds the workpiece at the desired angle and distance from the sanding belt. As shown, the workpiece rests on a spacer that’s sandwiched between two angled supports. A finish nail driven into the base near the bottom of the spacer serves as a stop to limit the amount of sanding, to ensure consistent chamfers.
Build the jig to suit the size of your sander table and pegs. The only dimension that’s critical is the thickness of the spacer, which should match the thickness of your peg stock. Lay out the slope of the supports to suit the chamfer angle, and then bandsaw to your cutline. Apply double-faced tape to both sides of the spacer before nailing it between the supports to widen the channel for an easy sliding fit for the workpiece. Then tack or screw the support/spacer sandwich to a base that’s sized to your sander table. Finally, install a finish nail near the front of the base. Adjust its height and angle to contact the center section of the workpiece end. Clamp the base to your sander table, load a test workpiece into the chute, and adjust the location of the base to create the desired chamfer. Then get to quick work chamfering your pegs.
—Cliff Charron, Baker, Florida
