I don’t really work with power saws much, but occassionally it is much easier to rip boards with my cheap bandsaw.
It’s a tabletop model just 12 inches off the ground/table, so I made some quick and dirty stands to help me feed larger material through it and keep it (mostly) level.
Generally, I don’t buy tools unless I need them and I usually start with something cheap before I invest real money. I have too many hobbies to go all in on one thing.
I do want to get a tablesaw at this point, but will wait for the right opportunity. I need to invest in a Mythos fuzz pedal for my guitar first :).
But I also do like the tradeoff of the less straight cut for the smaller kerf from time to time.
Anyway, I made a contraption out of my worst scrap 2x4s and 1x4s, and the cheapest rolling pins I could find on Amazon. Apparently, no one wants Christmas-themed engraved rolling pins for cookies. But they provide an excellent way to support and feed boards in a straight line.
I also used this as an excuse to practice some joinery, like I do for most of my shop jigs. The result doesn’t matter as long as it works.
The 2x4 base is 2 pieces joined with a half lap in the middle. I did use screws to help fix them in place since some were a little loose.
The 1x4 supports are joined with normal rectangular mortise and tenon joints. If you look at the picture you’ll see they they’re pretty wonky in their placement. These scaps were the worst and I had to do some filthy things to work around knots.
The supports are also extremely bowed. I tried to put the cupped side facing inwards. This just “felt” better to me.
I carved and rasped out the indents for the rolling pin handles to set the top of the rolling pins at 12 inches to match my band saw. I glued them down which doesn’t do a ton, but made it sticky enough to make drilling pilot holes and countersinks for the screws that attach them.
Then I just had to come back and push down on one of them because the cheap rolling pin bowed upwards from pushing down on the handles.
I’ve used them now to break down a headboard and footboard from an old broken bed that I’m just using for wood. The nice thing is that when I didn’t plan their positioning perfectly, it was easy to move them around without having to remove the wood and start over again.
Even though they are exactly the right height, they don’t end up that way in reality because my garage floor isn’t level. But it’s definitely good enough.
Should you do this? Probably not, because ideally you shouldn’t need them. But I thought I’d share something I slapped together.