Cutting Rabbets on a Table Saw
George VondriskaDescription
One of the really cool things about woodworking? There are SO many different ways to do the tasks we need to do. Here’s a great example; cutting rabbets on a table saw. You might automatically think that you have to own a dado head to do this, or that you’d have to use a router table or hand-held router for this job. Nope. Cutting rabbets on a table saw can easily be done with a standard saw blade, and a few set up tricks.
How does it work?
The thing that lets us get away with this using a single blade is cutting the rabbet in two passes. Part of the key is consistently setting the height of the blade and the position of the rip fence. Brass setup gauges make short work of the set up. Once the setup is done, it’s important to make the cuts correctly. The same face that is down on the table for the first pass must be against the rip fence for the second cut. The edge against the fence of the first pass must be against the fence on the second pass.
The Downside
Your biggest enemy on this technique, and greatest ally, is time. It’s faster to do the set up required for this than it is to put a dado head in the table saw. But because it requires two passes the cutting process is slower, your rabbets will take longer to produce. It’s a trade off.
Learn More About the Table Saw
If you want to make your rabbets, and dadoes, using a dado head, we can help you with the process of setting up and cutting dadoes and rabbets. There’s so much more that a table saw can do. Want to learn what else your saw is capable of? Check our more videos on table saws.
If, here at the table saw, you're going to do a lot of rabbet hunting, You're going to cut a lot of rabbets, put a dado head in. If you're just going to cut a couple, or if you don't own a dado head, here's a really, really easy way to do rabbets on the table saw. It's going to take two cuts, so it's slower than a dado head, but it's a very effective way to do it. First deal, saw's unplugged. I'm using a 40-tooth alternate-top bevel blade for this cut. I've got my bar stock here, because I'm going to use that to set up the cut. Here's the way the setup goes. I'm going to make a 3/8 by 3/8-inch rabbet. So I'm using 3/8 bar stock and I am going to make the top of the blade even with, or, just a smidge above, the top of the bar stock is okay. Then, still using that bar stock 3/8 by 3/8, bring the fence over. Now, we're not going in-between, like you would normally measure on the table saw. Three-eights is to the left side of that saw blade. So like setting the height even with, or, let the blade project past just a tiny bit. That'll be okay. So a tiny bit, it's maybe just a 32nd of an inch past the face of that bar stock. That's all it takes to set up. Now, plug in, and make a cut. And when I say make a cut, what I really mean is make two cuts. One with a face flat down on the table, the next with the face against the fence, the rip fence. that gives us cut number one, that same face against the fence, Big qualifier for this process: The piece that we removed from the cut is now caught between the blade and the fence. Your body position, and in fact, your table-saw position in your shop is really, really important because if the blade has the opportunity to grab that piece, it's going to come out like a spear, right here. So make sure you're way off to the side. So if those kick loose, you're not next in line. You can see good cut quality, very very fast set up an easy way to make a rabbet, or two, if that's all you need to do, on your table saw.
I noticed that George left his riving knife in place while making these cuts. I have the same saw and the riving knife is set as instructed in the SawStop owners manual, slightly above the top arc of the blade. I looked again closely at the video and George's riving knife is set below the top of the blade. Obviously, you can't make a housed cut like this if the knife is above the blade; you have to remove it. Is it safe to leave it in position like George has done? I always remove mine, which means I lose the hooded dust collection from the blade area.
Why didn't he use a height extension on the fence to support the wood when it was going through the second cut?