The Accurate Table Saw: Simple Jigs and Safe Setups

The Accurate Table Saw is one of those "little" books that is a masterpiece of experience. The book is about using a table saw and why to do things a certain way. This book IS NOT ABOUT any project. This book IS ABOUT the table saw and its mechanism, safety, blades, wood, specific operations, jigs and joints. Every sentence is carefully and tightly written. The sentences reflect Ian's years of experience. In this book, every word is a heavy duty word. The book can be read as a reference manual that addresses two hundred and ten subjects and operations. It's the first book I open when I have any question about the table saw.

Building something your wife and friends are proud of or a piece that someone will pay hard cash for is not as easy as it sounds. This book made it possible for me. I'm using a cheap $188 saw and I'll match my work with the best using the most expensive saws. Ok I got a little carried away. I do get paid money for my work, though, and the book really did help. I've always dreaded making jigs because it seems like such a waist to build something just to help you build something else. I finally got over this and I'll now construct a jig in a heart beat. You can do the same so get on with it. PS If your hand is on the jig pushing it through the blade it's not on the work piece. BIG SAFTY FEATURE Build more jigs!!! Buy this book.

This is an excellent book about table saw safety and operations. As a novice, it is essential reading if you want to avoid being one of the 10,000 fingers that are lost every year to table saw accidents.

This small book is worthwhile for anyone struggling with trying to cut a board accurately. Kirby removes the mystery. Two examples: 1. Did you know that 1/8" accuracy is fine for carpentry, but .01" is needed for furniture making? And to get there you need to measure the wood, not the tool? 2. Don't try to make a bevel cut with a contractor or portable table saw: The stresses on the simplified bevel mechanisms guarantee you will not be able to set or replicate the angle. Instead he shows how to make jigs to obtain repeatable, accurate bevels.

I recently bought "The Accurate Table Saw", by Ian Kirby (Cambium Press), and I'm reasonably impressed by it. No pretensions, no gimmicks, no fillers. Just simple straight talk about SAFELY geting the best performance from a table saw. After more than twenty years using my own saw, I thought I had little left to learn; that turned out not to be the case. I've adopted some of Kirby's methods and they work