Beveling the Inset Door Panels

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I am placing a slight bevel on the two panels that will insert into the lower half of the front door of the cottage. I have tilted my miniature table saw over to about 10 degrees. The exact degree within a few clicks or so is pretty much arbitrary on this project. What I am after is a beveled look to the panel that is not too wide and it creates a width at the panel edge that will slide into the slot I showed you yesterday that I put into the framing pieces.

Mostly what I want to show is one way to do this type of wood cutting task safely. Holding small parts so you can perform some kind of shaping operation on them without messing up your fingers or the part is always something you have to think about. However people rarely show just how they do this, mostly you see how it looks when it is all done.

I have taken the small panels I cut to size and applied double backed carpet tape to them. It the photo above you can see that I have place them right against each other while cutting. That is just to save time so I only have to make half as many passes on the saw instead of cutting one at a time. Then I have adhered them to a larger piece of wood I can easily hold onto and push through the saw. I rotate the panels around four times so I get all the sides beveled. The tape is strong enough for this holding task because and I emphasize this fact boldly here I AM NOT TAKING AGGRESSIVE CUTS. I am only taking a very small amount of wood off of the panels therefore the torque of the saw blade will not throw my pieces into the air or jam them down into the saw blade. There is also no danger of these thin panels slipping down and jamming into the slot next to the saw blade. I don't have to use a tall fence or feather boards to keep these tall, thin panels standing upright because they are stuck to that nice comfy to hang onto 2x2 board. A difficult cut is now very quick and easy to do.

I use double back tape a lot, it is very handy for work holding all kinds of things when a clamp or screw can't be used. I just ran out of tape  with this job so I will drag myself off to get my favorite kind, clear plastic, thin carpet tape from the "Do It Best" Hardware Store. That is a nation wide chain in the USA and they also carry K & S engineering metals as well as Northeastern Basswood in the stores in my part of the country.

To find out if there is a "Do It Best" Hardware Store near you, CLICK HERE

photo courtesy Do-it-Best Hardware

I like this particular tape because it holds firmly but it is not impossible to get your part unstuck. Any tape residue will clean off the unfinished wood with acetone.

I could have routed the bevels on the panels or sanded the bevels into the wood or filed them or even planed or carved them. There are many ways of doing this same task if you don't have a tilt arbor table saw and/or don't like using power tools.