But typical plastic or wood featherboards aren’t without their quirks. The hard plastic or wooden “spring” fingers can actually make workpieces difficult to feed through if the device is clamped too close to the fence. A featherboard can mar soft wood when the tension is too great. And, if it happens to come in contact with a blade or router bit, plastic versions can shatter with surprising violence. They might even damage carbide cutting edges.

So, we certainly need featherboards, but a truly better design seems in order. Yet, aside from a color change or possibly a new mounting option, when’s the last time you can recall seeing real innovation in featherboard engineering? It’s been a long while.

Sometimes, a brush with catastrophe provides the inspiration to go back to the drawing board — and that’s exactly how Keith Bow was shocked into awareness about featherboard safety two years ago. A near kickback situation at his table saw made him realize that conventional featherboards aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

“When I started examining the performance of standard featherboards, I realized that the amount of resistance force when backward pressure is applied was only marginally better than the force required to push the board forward during infeed,” Keith says. “Translated to me, this meant that featherboards just aren’t designed with kickback in mind.”

Keith and his brother Ron operate Bow Products, a company that focuses on material handling solutions for forklifts. While Keith admits he’s just a “tinkerer” woodworker, his 9-to-5 expertise in material handling has given him working knowledge of a cushioning material called EVA. It’s a hardened foam that can support tons of load, yet provides a forklift platform that is soft and dampens vibration.

EVA is also a material common to shoe manufacturing, which, at one point, was Ron’s career.

When the two brothers began testing featherboard physics, they learned that the feathers must grab the wood as it moves backward in a kickback situation and yet be pliable enough to absorb the energy of the impact. Hardened plastic or wood won’t do this, but EVA seemed to be a perfect solution: it’s strong, pliable and yet easy to form. After several prototype trials, the Bows invented a “living hinge” type feather style from EVA that looks similar to a water wave pattern. The soft foam minimizes friction when wood is fed into a cut. But, if the wood should reverse course, the feathers hinge backward and become longer as they reach a perpendicular orientation to the fence. At that point, they bottom out into a stop, which pinches the wood against the fence. Then, the dense composition of the hardened foam absorbs the backward energy. A side benefit, too: EVA doesn’t damage cutters if a bit or blade slices into it.

“We realized then that our FeatherPRO EVA concept was legitimate and revolutionary,” Keith recalls.

Another innovation the Bows are ushering in with FeatherPRO’s design is the ability to replace the foam feathers if they should become damaged. While the body of FeatherPRO is hard plastic, the feathers fit into it “puzzle piece” style. They’re easy to push out of the plastic body in one piece and without tools.

The Bows are offering feather inserts in two densities. The “standard” model feather accommodates all pressure needs, Keith says. It’s colored dark gray. A light gray “ultralight” feather version is also available. “It’s a slightly softer material composition … that gives the operator a more sensitive feel over applied pressure. It’s better suited for soft woods or delicate cuts,” Keith says.

For many inventions, obtaining a patent involves extensive research and entering into a complex legal process. But that aspect of bringing FeatherPRO to market has been quite manageable, Keith admits. He says it’s because both the hinge design and feather material are novel in this application.

“It’s been more difficult to be precise in the claims of related applications,” Keith says. “You’ve got to study and understand what patents are out there and make sure you are unique in your solution, versus existing patents.”

And, you need to hire a good attorney, he adds.

Currently, FeatherPRO featherboards are available at FeatherPro.com and through some woodworking product dealers. The Bows plan to add more dealers as soon as they expand their woodworking product line further. And that goal is close to being realized: Bow Products will soon release a Double Stack FeatherPRO. It’s in the packaging stages of development now. Keith reveals that a push stick is also in the works. And, while FeatherPRO now has a pair of metal bars that tighten into 3/8- x 3/4-in. standard miter slots, a T-slot mounting system is coming, too.

The Bows are proud to be manufacturing FeatherPRO entirely from their Corfu, New York, facility, which Keith says allows them complete control over production and quality. But that’s not the most gratifying part of bringing a revolutionary new woodworking featherboard to market. Safety is.

“I think about it all the time: Was someone spared injury because of our product? That’s very satisfying. Beyond that, it’s coming up with a really important design that not only improves safety but also offers so many more benefits that traditional featherboards can’t.”

Learn more about FeatherPRO featherboards by clicking here.

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DAP says this adhesive’s advanced chemistry, containing some cyanoacrylate monomer and other components, gives it unrivaled strength, fast cure time and the ability to be repositioned — qualities that no other instant-bond adhesive can match. Further, RapidFuse does not require the use of accelerator and cures primarily through surface contact instead of exposure to air and humidity. It does not foam and works on all types of wood, including oily exotics. But what really sets it apart, DAP says, is that it maintains its bond strength over time, unlike other conventional CA glues that become brittle with age. Only a small amount is needed to achieve maximum bonding strength. RapidFuse is water-resistant and suitable for both interior and exterior applications. It dries clear.

Aside from wood, RapidFuse will also bond metal, ABS, melamine, particleboard, PVC, glass and stone.

You can buy RapidFuse in two sizes: .85 oz. ($5.97) and 4 oz. ($9.97) at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ace Hardware and True Value stores, as well as through Amazon.

Learn more about DAP RapidFuse Wood Adhesive, and see it in action, by clicking here.

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Tim Inman: By sliding panel saw, I’m going to assume you mean a vertical sliding panel saw like the one pictured above. If true, then the answer to your question would simply be versatility. A conventional table saw is so versatile. It can do, or be adapted to do, an almost infinite variety of tasks. And, it can do them accurately and safely. A panel saw is great for cutting sheet goods into rectangles. If that were my need, then I would use the panel saw. Cutting coped molding for a grandfather clock project, or compound miters for picture frames? Nope. I’d use the table saw. It is OK for a shop to have both! You can’t have too many tools.

Chris Marshall: Or maybe you mean a sliding table saw like the one pictured below? I’d love to try one of these out! But with prices starting at around $5,000 and going up from there, I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to have one in my shop. And, the machine would take up more floor space, too. I suspect these two reasons are why most woodworkers will never have this chance, either. These machines do offer incredible precision and versatility, from what I’ve heard and read, but they’re just not for the consumer shop market. So, there wouldn’t be much sense in TV woodworkers — or even us woodworking editors and writers in the magazine and book business — using them either. We use what our audience uses.

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The Router Guide’s wide side channel fits over the Clamp Edge to ensure straight cuts. And, you can mount nearly any make and model of router to the Router Guide without fasteners. Instead, the Guide comes with a 1-in. standard brass guide bushing. Once it’s installed on the router base, the router simply registers on the Router Guide by fitting the guide bushing into a center hole.

There’s a cutting adjustment feature on the Router Guide, too, for making wide dadoes. Once you’ve made a first pass with a 1/4-, 3/8- or 1/2-in. straight bit, loosening two knobs enables you to clamp a workpiece into the jig to pre-set the width of dado you want to cut. This adjustment dials the jig in for a second pass that widens the dado.

BORA’s Router Guide sells for $52 and is available now through its online store. To learn more about it or place an order, click here.

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– Thom Lipiczky
West Stockbridge, MA

See the Gallery Below:

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“Persimmon? Both my driver and three-wood are persimmon. Minnesota? Do you happen to be near Lake  Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average? I may not be able to attend the giveaway. Besides, I have enough persimmon in my golf bag.” – Tony Kiernan

“I wish I lived close to get some, but looks like there will be a scramble at your house.” – Bob Lockas

“What is the chance of shipping some of your wood to Washington, if there is any left over? Hope you get a bigger shop at your new place and thanks for the great and outstanding ideas.” – Ray E. Manspeaker

“I feel your pain. In the last house my wife and I lived in, I did about half the work myself. I initially built a 16’X20′ ‘little house on the prairie’ which my wife, myself and two young boys lived in for a year while I built the main house. The prairie house became my workshop after the house was finished. After doing a lot of the work on my home myself, and living there for 20 years, I had accumulated a lot of stuff, including much wood, which I couldn’t take with me. Some of the wood came from circa 1900 New Orleans homes. I could have stocked a small hardware store with all the things I had accumulated in my shop over 20 years. Whenever I needed four nuts and bolts, or whatever, for a project, I would usually buy six of everything. I’ve been in my current house for 10 years, across the street from my son. Between the two of us we have just about one of everything.” – Don
Port Vincent, Louisiana

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