Pattern Cutting

Sure, I have a router and a handful of pattern-cutting bits. But many times when I need to make duplicates of an odd-shaped part, I turn to my table saw instead.

With a shamefully simple jig (it’s two pieces of wood) clamped to my saw’s fence, I can cut patterns all day long. I think it’s faster than pattern cutting with my router for several reasons.

First, when roughing out the shape of the blank on my band saw, I don’t need to cut real close to my line like I do when pattern routing. I only have to get within 1-1/2" of the line instead of within 1/16" to 1/8".

Second, there’s less clamping involved with this table-saw method. Normally I screw or nail my template to the side of the part that won’t show (the underside of a shelf, for example) and go. I can do this with pattern routing, too, but I’ll still need to clamp everything to my bench, make part of the cut, readjust the clamps and then finish the cut. When I use the table saw, I screw it and cut it.

Build the Jig
The jig should take five minutes to build. It is simply two narrow strips of 3/4"-thick wood nailed and glued on one long edge into an “L” shape. One of the strips of wood should be as long as your table saw’s fence. Its width depends on how thick your project’s stock is. For cutting patterns in 3/4" stock, rip this board to 1-5/8" wide. The second one should be 1-3/4" wide and about 6" shorter than the first board. Nail and glue these two boards together using the drawing as a guide.

Set Up Your Jig and Use It
Install a quality combination blade in your saw. Clamp the jig to your fence with the jig flush to the table. Slide the table saw’s fence over so the jig overhangs the blade and raise the blade until it almost touches the jig.

Using a square, line up the edg...

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