Supercharge Your Miter Gauge
There’s nothing more basic in woodworking than a crosscut on the table saw. The catch is the miter gauge that comes with most table saws just isn’t up to snuff. The good news is you can quickly make some miter gauge upgrades that will give you smooth, splinter-free crosscuts, every time.
The first step is to add a long, auxiliary fence to the miter gauge. The fence I use is just a strip of plywood that extends beyond the blade to fully support the workpiece. Some self-adhesive sandpaper keeps the workpiece from shifting during the cut.
When I need to make several identical parts, I made an L-shaped stop block. Clamping the stop block to the fence guarantees parts are the same exact length. I sized the stop block so it’s slightly shorter than the fence. This slight gap prevents saw dust building up against the block that could spoil the cut, as shown in the inset drawing.
