A TAPERING JIG FOR THE TABLESAW Tapered iege are a:common feature in many traditional Shaker and American furniture de- signs. They are easily cut on a tablesaw with the simple shop-made tapering jig shown here. To use the jig, you adjust the arms to set the taper you want and tighten the wing nuts to hold the setting. Place the leg (or whatever it is you ‘want to taper) against the jig as shown, and push the piece through the cut, holding the jig against the fence. The mark 12 in. from the top of the jig is used to set the taper in inches per foot. Here's an example: The legs on Moser’s bow- front table taper from "/to 1° in. over a length of 23%/sin. Set the arms of the jig "* in. apart at the mark To set the tablesaw fence, mark the start and end of the cut on the leg blank. Move the fence until the starting point contacts the front edge of the blade. Verify the setting by moving the jig to the end of the cut and checking the blade position at the end point. When cutting tapers on the legs, cut them in an ‘order so that you always have an untapered flat sur- face riding on the saw table. This will ensure a straight cut across the top of the leg. Also, be sure not to raise the saw blade more than '/s in. over the height of the stock or you'll risk cutting off your ad- justment bar. (On square legs, adjacent tapers can be cut using the same fence setting. When you want to taper all four sides of a leg, you need to double the taper jig setting when an already tapered side is riding against the jig. = MM. DRAWING BY FRANK ROHRBACH Draw line 12 from end. AA simple tapering jg allows you to cut accurate ‘tapers on the tablesaw. Push the jig along the saw fence to feed stock into the blade. TABLESAW TAPERING JIG Make adjusting bar */e" DOWEL HANDLE from "4" plywood. 28 ‘A AMERICAN WOODWORKER