There seems to be some prejudice against the traditional table saw fence. I mean the fence that was standard issue for many years on small and medium size table saws. The one with the steel tube guide bars front and rear and a sheet steel fabrication as the actual fence.

No argument they could be tricky to setup and keep accurate. The first thing to do is to stand back and analyze the mechanism of the fence and see just how it works and, how it can be improved.

The first item on the fence tweaking agenda should be the clamp mechanism for the rear guide bar ( the bar or tube at the rear of the table saw top). This clamp is usually just a light guage mild steel inverted C . The tension for this rear C clamp is provided by a long threaded rod that runs the length of the actual fence body to a nut cum washer on the front edge of the fence closest to the operator. Adjustment or tension to the rear C clamp is provided by tightening up the nut washer combo. Problem is the C clamp is just mild steel and will not stand up to the amount of tension needed to securely lock the rear when needed.

One method was to make a replacement C clamp out of sturdier steel and increase the size of the threaded rod to accomodate more tension. A matter of a few hours work and, it was done. Another method used by some saw makers including General of Canada was to mount the rear C clamp with the end of the C clamp fastened right at the rear of the fence itself and instead of a piece of sheet steel the clamp was a stamped or drop forged piece with a threaded stem that passed vertically through the fence top and, was afixed with knurled nut. This was the better of the two rear clamp methods.

The actual dimensions or materials used varied from maker to maker and within each makers line up of table saws, for example a Delta 10 Benchtop model table saw would come with the sheet steel unit as described above whilst the 12 or 14 inch floor mounted table saws might come with cast iron for fence faces.

I will just mention that big table saws from makers like Oliver, Whitney, Tannewitz used a center mounted fence afixed to the table top with machined tapered dowels into a series of matching holes in the table top. Width adjustment was done by a rack and pinon gear. The fence could be tilted in some models from full vertical to 45 degrees by means of a finely threaded adjuster. These very same firms later added the option of the front mounted fence as seen on Delta, Powermatic, General of Canada machines.

A major complaint of people using the traditional saw fence is that the cut will bind when ripping. There are a number of reasons how this can happen. One is not paying attention to the grain in the piece of wood to be ripped. This cannot always be overcome but, if attention is payed to the run of the grain and the cut made with that as a major consideration, most times you will be sucessful. Try this next time making a rip cut. Gently run your finger tips forwards and backwards on the face of the board. Think of stroking a dog or cat with or against the way the fur lies. Feel the difference? You want the "fur' of the board face to flow towards you not towards the rear of the table saw.

In My Opinionated Opinion, the major cause is that the fence is not adjusted to the blade. All things being equal and the blade is parallel to the table slot on the left both front and rear (how to do this has been discussed many times in woodworking magazines, books, internet articles etc..), then the next step is the distance of the rear of the fence from that left hand table top slot. At the rear most point the fence face parallel to the left hand table top slot, in my experience should be the thickness of a playing card or approx. .010-.011 further away from the edge of the left hand slot. This will in most cases in conjunction with the attention to grain in the board eliminate any binding in the cut.

Of course it goes almost without comment to say that using only good quality blades is of primary importance.

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