Stop Block for Table Saw

There are times when you want to cut wood into lengths that are all exactly the same length. Instead of having to measure, cut, measure, cut...etc., you can set up your rip fence as a stop while pushing the wood through with your miter gauge. Unfortunately, using both the miter gauge and rip fence at the same time invariable leads to a very dangerous jam with wood kicking back at you. I've hurt myself several times this way. But no more.

Here is a stop block that slides along your rip fence to keep the jams from happening. I have included two versions. One is a single print, nothing fancy. The second one is two pieces that includes a tray in case you want a place to set a tape measure, or something.

This is a little hard to understand until you start doing it, then it makes perfect sense.

Of course, the saw is turned OFF all during the initial setup.

Set the stop block onto your rip fence so it slides smoothly. Move it towards you so that it doesn't quite line up with the blade. Get out your measuring tape.

Move the fence so the distance between the blade and the edge of the fence is the length you want to cut the wood, plus 3/8". So, if you want to cut 4" lengths, set the distance to 4 3/8". Lock the fence.

Put your wood against your miter gauge and push it so it comes up flush to the stop block. The wood need only touch the stop block at the corner farthest from you. The idea here is to have the wood get past the stop block before it makes contact with the saw blade. This way, there is no way for the wood to jam between the blade and the stop block.

Turn on your saw and push the miter gauge forward to make the first cut. You can get into a rhythm of pulling back the wood with the miter gauge, sliding the wood back against the stop block, and making the next cut. Of course, you should remove each finished piece as you go.

I made this specifically for my Grizzly table saw (model G1023S), but the model can be adapted to work with most table saws.

There is a hole on the stop block in case you'd like to add a knob with a tightening bolt. To do this you'll need to heat-set a threaded insert into the hole. As you can see in one of my photos, I added this but haven't found this necessary.