5.0Glossary
Arbor: Metal shaft that connects the drive mechanism to the blade.
Bevel Edge Cut: Tilt of the saw arbor and blade between 0° and 45° to perform an angled cutting operation.
Blade Guard: Mechanism mounted over the saw blade to prevent accidental contact with the cutting edge.
Crosscut: Sawing operation in which the miter gauge is used to cut across the grain of the workpiece.
Dado Blade: Blade used for cutting grooves and rabbets. A stacked dado set can be used for wider grooves.
Dado Cut: Flat bottomed groove in the face of the workpiece made with a dado blade.
Featherboard: Device used to keep a board against the rip fence or table that allows the operator to keep hands away from saw blade.
Freehand: Moving a workpiece into the blade using only the hands, without a fixed positioning device. (This is a dangerous, unacceptable procedure – always use appropriate devices to feed the workpiece though the saw blade during cutting operations.)
Kerf: The resulting cut or gap made by a saw blade.
Kerf, Standard: 1/8" gap made with a standard blade.
Kickback: An event in which the workpiece is lifted up and thrown back toward the operator, caused when a workpiece binds on the saw blade or between the blade and rip fence (or other fixed object). To minimize or prevent injury from kickbacks, see the Operations section.
Miter Gauge: A component that controls the workpiece movement while performing a crosscut of various angles.
The blade guard and riving knife must be re- installed after performing a
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Parallel: Two lines or surfaces lying at equal distance from each other at every point along their lengths. For example, a rip fence must be parallel to the side face of the saw blade.
Pawls,
Perpendicular: 90° (right angle) intersection or position of the vertical and horizontal planes such as the position of the saw blade (vertical) to the table surface (horizontal).
Push Board/Push Stick: An instrument used to safely push the workpiece through the cutting operation.
Rabbet: A cutting operation that creates an
Resaw: Process of cutting a thick workpiece into thinner pieces.
Rip Cut: A cut made along the grain of the workpiece.
Riving Knife: A metal plate fixed relative to the blade, which moves with the blade as cutting depth is adjusted. Thus, it maintains not only the kerf opening in the workpiece, but also the
Splitter (Spreader): A stationary metal plate to which the blade guard is attached that maintains the kerf opening in the workpiece when performing a cutting operation. A splitter that rises and lowers with the blade is called a riving knife.
Straightedge: A tool used to check that a surface is flat or parallel.
Through Sawing: A sawing operation in which the workpiece thickness is completely sawn through. Proper blade height usually allows 1/8" of the top of blade to extend above the wood stock. Keep the blade guard down, the