Notched Single-Point Bandsaw Fence
I'm making a set of dining chairs and the back legs are curved.
I want all the legs to be the same, of course, so I have made a template. The challenge is to make all twelve legs to be the same as the template. I am using the technique of sticking the template to the leg blank, bandsawing as close as I safely can, then trimming flush on the router table.
But how can I bandsaw very close to the template without risking nicking and ruining it? A notched single-point fence is the answer. Yes I know, if it's notched it is really a double-point fence, but as it is used like a single-point fence I'm calling it so.
A normal single-point fence is a good way of cutting a line parallel to an existing edge, if that edge is not a straight line. I can manoeuvre the workpiece to keep to a parallel line. But by putting notch into the fence, I can adjust it so that the blade follows the edge of my template, leaving a mm or two extra, which can be cleaned up with a flush-trim bit on the router table.
The notch acts as a little shield, keeping the template itself away from the blade. The workpiece passes underneath the fence and gets cut away. By careful cutting I can get a workpiece that is just a mm or two oversized, and that can then be routed away cleanly.
The Jig
The jig consists of a vertical face which is bolted to my normal rip fence. It has a pair of slots so that it can be adjusted for position fore and aft, according to the blade being used, and a vertical slot so the arm can be set according to the thickness of the workpiece. The vertical slot needs to be a fraction wider than the cutter (a second pass with the workpiece tapped over with a hammer is enough).All these slots were cut with my cross-grain router jig featured in Workshop Essentials #2, More Jigs and Accessories.
The adjustable arm is in two pieces- the fixing block and the notched arm itself. The fixing block has a 1/4” groove routed in it which takes a key. This key slides nicely in the vertical slot and prevents wracking (because that vertical slot had a second pass to make clearance). It is held in place with a coachbolt and a knob (or, in my case, a Bristol lever).
How you mount this to your bandsaw will be up to you and may depend on exactly what sort of fence you have. Mine is a straight flat box section, so I simply drilled it for a couple of bolts. The horizontal slots make it easy to align it properly with the blade.
In use, the fence is adjusted so that the fence rubs along the template and the blade just sits inside the notch. The workpiece, with template attached, is presented to the blade and pushed so that the template stays in contact with the fence. In this way, the workpiece is cut just a smidgeon oversized and the waste can be routed off cleanly.
Notched single-point fence is bolted to my rip-fence
The template rubs along the fence
The finished sawn surface is ready to be trimmed flush on the router table