I recently had to make several curved glue-ups from 1/8" slats. I could have used my bandsaw to resaw the stock, but because the slats were cut from 2x4s I figured my table saw would be faster and would make a smoother cut. However, moving the rip fence exactly the right distance after each rip operation would not only be very time consuming, but difficult to measure exactly right each time it was moved. Instead, I created this setup that required the exact measurement to be made only once.
Set up the rip fence so that the resulting slat is the exact size you want. Before cutting, clamp a stop block to the saw table at the left edge of the workpiece. After each rip operation, simply place the workpiece against the stop block and slide the rip fence left to meet the stock and lock it down. The stop block, which is offset from the saw kerf by the distance of the first slat, will automatically set the workpiece – and the rip fence –
at the exact spot each time.
