5 Cuts to a "Perfect" Cross-Cut Sled 

Literally came here to say something similar today. Building a couple of smaller sized sleds today and came here for the refresher course.

After several years I still come back to watch this tutorial and I don't even own a table saw :) I just love listening to William's expertise.

@@patricknolan445 I've watched William long before I had my shop set up at the house myself.

@@retiredrookie7146 pea coat ep

@@retiredrookie7146 Like a pusher giving you the first free sample to make you addicted... to woodwork. I would say not the worst addiction after all. Could be similar expensive but way less leathal. 🤣🤣🤣 Great video William!!!!

Agree 100%

I’m beginning to see for myself that when you start this endeavor that all the tools that truly matter must be made by hand. I agree, this is just that essential. Thanks for the analogy.

Fantastic. Love the rear guard idea! I hope to be able to attend one of your schools William!

so in 5 years there's hope for me? I really dont think so. I've gone through several sheets of plywood and havent had an ounce of luck with a sled that can produce anything remotely square. I have given up

@@greghamilton5872 dude Greg in 5 years is amazing. You're going to be like 6 inches taller, 2 girlfriends, and your crosscut sled is going to be square AF.

The relief block reminded him it was time for some comic 'relief'!

I can't stop laughing, I can't afford another joke!

Dan Breyfogle z

i cant resist not to subscribe after that joke

The deadpan jokes have me looking at the class schedule. It would be like going to the "comedy woodworking school"!!

your a generous human, thanks for sharing the videos, your knowledge and encouragement!

Ysidro Avila I love your comment. It really sums up what I like about these videos. Full of heart and mind and humanity. Rare these days.

Though I have seen this before, best explanation I've seen :)

Thank you! Appreciate the support.

I'd have to watch this video a million times before I could understand what's being said. :P

I have watched it maybe 30 times in the last two weeks and I still can't get close..I will get .060 then adjust with feeler gauges then get .040 (somehow) then adjust for that and get .190 so I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have blown through three ENTIRE sheets of expensive plywood drilling about 40 holes in each one moving it then moving it again then moving it again etc...I almost think I am messing up the "pivot distance adjustment"..I am making my adjustment by putting the feeler gauges directly over the previous screw hole and then redrilling. Should I be measuring this from the picot screw all the way to the very edge of the fence? or in line with the previous screw hole or what?

It seems to me that every person that puts a cross cut sled video on RU-vid quotes William and his five cut method. Some of them make it over complicated, but this video manages to simplify it into terms that anyone can understand. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MdfkcIdOhuI.html Kudos to William though.

I've watched it 4 times. I finally got it.

+David Steinkuhler Same here... You wrote my comment for me!

I don't even own a table saw and I was clamped to the screen...

+Assaf Levy Ha Ha, that's quite a compliment mentioned along side Paul Seller. I met him when I was traveling with the Woodworking Show as a demonstrator doing their "Hand Tool Rodeo" He's a great craftsman and a real gentleman.

+Assaf Levy OMG I was JUST going to say something very similar to your comment. Yes William is definitely the electric Paul Sellers!!! Hilarious & BRILLIANT! Thanks William.

blasphemy

Karim Teran I just watched Paul's whole 9 episode Q&A (recommended!!), the way he talks he almost convinced me to switch to hand tools exclusively.

Here's the link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AgVthkUE4AU.html

Looooooool

I legit laughed at this as well. Like gut laughed. Wow I'm 5 years too late. Regardless cheers!

I

Literally had me looking like a fool, laughing out loud for no apparent reason, sitting in a drive thru. Caught me off guard there. Lol

Half a thou runout in 2 feet? Or is that half thou in 2 feet over 5 cuts? Make one for me please.

Larry Hansen Thank you.I know it takes a little effort to comment. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and show your support . It means a lot and goes a long way. Thanks again.

Jim Hampton: don't say anything.

The thing is, you learned from William and now are at least smart enough to get a woodworking sled square. In life, we never really give credit to our old grade school teachers for instance, for each and every thing we show or explain to someone that they taught us. However, It would not be cool if you turned around and started teaching a class this technique and didn't give credit where due. Makes sense, right? I just noticed your comment is 3 years old and u probably won't even get this. Haha

Jim Hampton, I just hope you're smart enough to post under a soodonim (or whatever them fake names is called). Your family will never no.

@@johnbluebeard4355 the word (spelling) you are looking for is pseudonym. Remember what mom said, mind your P's and Q's.

@@darrowfortheprosecution1404 Well, I was telling him that I hoped he used a soodonim so that his family woodent read his post hear and figger his trick out. I assumed my bad spellings would alert everyone that I was making a poor attempt at humor, because nobody can spell that badly by accident, (or maybe they can).

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AgVthkUE4AU.html

Stane Berghaus thanks

thank you for the metric version as imperial is out of my understanding being an Aussie

This makes no sense at all to me.................have tried inches and mm with my new calipers but keep getting rediculas numbers that make no sense at all.................very frustrated....all I want is an accurate cross cut !

Well, mranchovydrumbass, you have to first learn how to use a caliper before you can build a cross cut sled using this method. If you are getting "rediculas" numbers that "make no sense at all" the problem is not with the instrument, it's the user.

I agree working with metric measurements is just so much easier. No fractions to convert and in the end, it still comes pretty damned close to standard (SAE) measurements. I'd much rather measure a cut by counting the increments without having to convert fractions down to 32nds or 64ths of an inch. For example, say I need to measure out 425.29 (16.75"); of course, 16 3/4" (still had to convert .75 to 3/4 though) is pretty easy, but what if I needed 16 21/32" or 16.653? What if I'm checking for square before a cut and I need the hypotenuse (diagonal or "long side" of a triangle) angle to be 16.653"? Hope you have tape measures that'll show you where 16.653 is and nope, 16 5/8" is too short while 16 11/16" is too long! But if I'm using the metric tape measure, I'd easily measure out 423mm without converting anything. And remember, the longer the measurement is, the larger the error would become by distance, so a 1/16" error could become 1/4" depending on length and then all measurements taken from the original error will all be erroneous. Why not just use a metric tape measure that's really easy to use. The decimal measurements in the metric system are still parts (or fractions) of the whole, but much easier to find without converting anything. If nothing else, pretty much everything is metric anyway (medicine doses, syringes, fluid measures, weights, volume, etc.) I understand avoiding the metric units of measure just because one is just used to SAE, fractions, and decimals, but why convert when you don't have to? The metric system for woodworking and automotive and pretty much all else is just easier. Thanks for your example Mr. (Herr) Berghaus.

João Eduardo, Thanks for asking, it shows you respect other peoples work. By all means translate, it's meant to be shared. Thanks.

wnwoodworks Thanks Willian. All knowledge should be shared. Only good things would come from this... keep on sharing and best regards!

Well now. William, you are great in these videos but different from what Norm does. The thing is, Norm would use (and probably does) your videos to first create exacting tools for himself, such as your crosscut sled. THEN he can make his furniture creations with clearly exact cuts, as we see on his videos. Too bad he's quit making them on NYW.

I also f' it up today. I had already seen the video twice and still made the error of cutting almost through the base, before finishing the calibration. I screwed a piece of scrap so that the two pieces stay together

Royal Poison Thank you to

I saw that. I am vindicated. ;)

He's only got 500 clamps. I would too instead of spending all that money at home depot! 😁

You know those clamps.. i made a mistake too..same grey clamps the plastic comes off again and again ... i dont visit that trash store any more

Some come off easily and annoyingly, some don't. Perhaps in the shopping process we can carefully examine the tools we're trading money for. I have a couple that do this as well and noticed that they were actually a different design than the ones that don't. The store doesn't make them, they buy them wholesale in closed cases and sell them to us. We as buyers can be careful and attentive to the items we purchase and choose them carefully, regardless of what store we're standing in. I've had items I wasn't happy with bought from Lowe's as well and exchanged them for better units. There are variations in most manufacturing and tools are no different than what we make with them, in that regard. Edited as I misread a word.

Also, 25:25.

Funny how the release of this video coincides with the great Harbor Freight Clamp heist of 2012. Coincidence? I think not.

lol i was like daaayuuum, i wonder what over the years made him go with so many clamps. im sure there is a reason for it, warping etc

The clamps are nice but I want to see his clamp storage system. I wonder if he has a tractor trailer backed up to the shop to store them all.

I thought so at first as well. Then I recalled that he is a teacher. Then it all made sense. When working with acrylic, the Weldon is super thin stuff and it is not forgiving. You have one chance to make contact on all surfaces.

Probably because it's a Biesemeyer. I'd like to have one on my Grizzly table saw but the well-over-$200 cost is more than I want to spend. Especially when I feel lucky that my Grizzly fence is "very good" in its accuracy. It has always been solid as a rock and does not change over time. But think about how the fence works. The most important part is that the distance from the fence to the cutting edge of the saw blade remains constant, and also reflects the measurement seen on the fence tape. I don't think I could improve much on mine.

A couple things...first, find the area that seems to balance out the pivot near the middle of the fence, and that's where you tap. Might be a bit closer to the heavy side of the fence, (usually the front) taking weight into account. Second, if you know your fence is going to pivot on you, assuming your blade is centered front to back compared to the latch points for the fence, tap the end that needs adjusting (which end depends on too large vs too small adjustment, and left vs right racking) twice the amount you need to correct the blade distance. You can get the amount you need and bring your fence closer to square for a better cut, at the same time. Last...have you considered building a fence? You can use the same principles in this video, with a bit more metal hardware, to build your own saw fence. There are various videos on YT that go into detail on how some users made their own fences to suit their particular needs.

We don't have to, we have the freedom to choose our overly-complicated stupid fractional systems that vary between binary, 12ths, thirds, and 5280ths, instead of just moving a decimal point to convert from one unit to another. That SI stuff would be far too easy and make more kids stop hating math! Can't have that here, nope.

eizzle78 HaHa That's OK with me, I've been blame for worst things. Thanks for the comment.

yeah, eat off the floor.

Yes if you drop food on the floor the 5 second rule could be extended to an hour or so. That's how clean it is.

@2300Kenzie - You need to quit talking nonsense. You know good and well you couldn't perform an appendectomy on the countertop.... The dust collector in his shop doesn't reach over to the countertop, and you'd need suction to perform a surgery. So, if you want to perform any type of thoracic surgery in his shop, OBVIOUSLY you would need to do it on the router table.... Got good suction for lots of blood at the router table. Carry on.