How to Cut in Half at an Angle - Create Matching Widths - Woodworking Education
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ค. 2024
- Watch me show you a cool technique for ripping boards at an angle!
Hello! My name is Adam Noe from Lexington, KY. Thanks for watching! Done in iPhone 4K 60FPS!! Click the bell on my channel to get updates when I post future videos!
I'm dedicating this TH-cam video as an educational tip, you see, many woodworkers build projects and upload them to TH-cam and often time skim through important specifics of the project that we are left to figure out on our own. I'm guilty of this practice! That's not necessarily a bad thing as those are the times we learn the most but let's make it easier for the next guy and he can have the next hill. I have 2 identical pieces of plywood that were cut from the same piece down the middle and are both exactly the same width, stick around and I'll show you a simple method of how to cut a 45 degree angle down the middle of one piece creating 2 identical pieces with the exact same width. we'll see you at the end.
So I have a piece of wood that I want to cut/rip into 2 strips. We know that the center mark of the wood is typically our guide in any other scenario if we are just ripping the piece in half and we typically cut the piece 90 degrees from blade to table saw top, but in this particular case we want to cut these in half at 45 degrees. I'd like to share two simple methods.
1) We know that 45 degrees is half of 90 so if we wanted to mark a line on the top face as our reference cut line we would just offset by half the width of the piece (1/2" inch thick plywood for example) or in this case 1/4" on both sides of the center line. So 1/4" offset to the left or right of the center line. For the cut, place the piece on the table saw and set your fence so that the offset mark on the face is directly in the center of your blade. For safety we will angle the blade away from the fence with the fence being on the right side of the blade. As with any kerf cut, there will be reduction in material so that's the reason for centering the line to the blade center, ensuring equal kerf reduction on both sides.
2) I prefer this method. You really don't even need that math though if you just mark your lines. Let's just take what we have laying around the shop which most of you should have a miter gauge either from your table saw or your band saw, you can use that to mark a 45 degree line. Start with your center point line again but also mark a center point line for material thickness, sticking with the 1/2" thick piece of plywood, measure 1/4" from the top or bottom face, you should have markings that look like a plus sign. From here grab your miter gauge and set to 45 degrees and mark a line right through the center point of your plus sign AKA the center points of each faces. Make sure that it crosses the center point of the board thickness as well as through your center line and do this for both sides and you'll end up with a plus sign with an X directly through it. At this point you are ready to make your cut. Set your fence once again, just as in suggestion 1 to where the 45 degree line lands in the middle of your saw blade. Once again I prefer to point the blade away from the fence with the fence on the right side of the blade. You are ready to make your cut. Compare both halves and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You did it!
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Real simple technique if you are making french cleats or if you need two identical pieces at identical widths. Enjoy and go shape some wood!
This is exactly what I came to youtube to find, this morning. Clear and concise. Thank you.
Glad I could help!
Two years later, you're still helping out new woodworkers not feel like absolute nincompoops. Thanks for putting out an excellent guide for folks like me!
Kit Blue Nice! Appreciate the kind words! Thank you!
Somebody posted a formula that confused me so much that I gave up the idea of doing French cleats but you have restored my faith. You were clear and straight to the point. I’m a 62 grandmother that likes to do simple woodworking projects around my home and guy just elevated my skill set. Thank you.
Glad I was able to help! Thanks for watching!
This video is vital. Absolutely no one on any other channel explains how to do this. I even asked one guy how in the comments section, but I never heard from him nor from any other viewers. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!
You're welcome! Happy that I'm bringing at least some valuable info! Thanks for watching!
That feeling you get when you land the last piece of the puzzle. Big thank you for this tip!
Going through comments I haven’t responded to! You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
Thank you! I really needed that. I must admit I make things tuff.
I'll not tell you how many times I computed this and got it wrong.
But here it is for you folks that like numbers.
I'm working with a 6" piece of 3/4" ply and a 1/8" kerf blade.
I want to cut this into 2 equal halves at 45°.
6" / 2 - 3/8" - 1/16" = 2-9/16" setting on my rip fence.
1/16 of half the kerf
3/8" is half the thickness of the ply.
WOW! 34.5k views??!! now I don't feel so bad.
😂 awesome comment Jim! Thanks for this valuable contribution!
I have search for a method of getting 2 equal width cleats with out all the scrap left from cutting to size. It seems that most if not all wood workers on TH-cam go by the mantra that knowledge is power. Thanks Adam for sharing the power.
Nice Ronnie! Happy to help! When I didn't find one myself, I decided to create this video! Thanks for watching!
Genius!! I was on the struggle bus trying to figure out how to make 2 equal pieces for my cleats. This video was a lifesaver! Thank you!!
Carly W Thank you for watching! Glad I could help!
I started to rip my cleats, thought I knew what I was doing and quickly realized some sort of calculation was off, this helps thanks!
Aaron Kay sorry to hear that but glad you caught it when you did! Happy to help!
FINALLY! THANK YOU, ADAM!
I have never made a TH-cam video, and I appreciate the time and effort required to produce one. So, at the risk of sounding ungrateful, how can any of the 100's of videos on cutting a French cleat not include a how to cut on the 45 to produce two equally sized pieces?!
Adam, again, Thank you! God Bless you!
You’re welcome! 😁Glad I could be of help! Thanks for the nice words!
I'm with you man. I've watched a lot of french cleat videos and I've got a lot of varied width cleats. Thank you for the simple lesson!
Thank you!
Thanks very much! Just what I needed to know. Much appreciated.
Glad it helped!
Thank you for going through this. This is a very simple, easy to follow, and VERY educational!! Great job.
Sure no problem! Thank you!
Adam...I cut my 3/4 ply today, following your suggestion...it worked perfect. After I had my plywood ripped to 5" wide strips, making most cuts with a hand held power saw and fence, I wanted to rip the 45's on my table saw. For accuracy I set the fence on the right side side of the blade to allow it to strike the middle of the measured line, and I rigged a fence of 3/4 ply on the left side of the blade to keep the 5" strips in place and not allow them to wander. Since the 5" strips were 8' long and I was by myself, I realized that I could use my Little Giant step ladder with the adjustable feet to rest the back half of the boards at the exact proper height. This allowed me to be closer to the blade to start with and have a nice steady even movement of the boards through the blade and onto my outfeed table. thanks again for your video and the easy calculations.
Wow, this is awesome! The mark of a good woodworker in my opinion, using all resources available to you to get the desired result, very impressive! You're quite welcome, I'm super stoked the video was so helpful!
Cool. Another use for that heavy ole little giant
Exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for breaking it down Barney style.
😁 Sure! Happy to help! Thanks for watching!
Absolute best description ever!!! THANK YOU!!!!
Thank you!
Thank you very much for the simple explanation.
Sure. No problem
THANK YOU! Exactly what was needed to explain the process. You are a good instructor.
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Yes a beginning carpenter here... Was very confused... Now that your planned I may have success... Just got rained out, will get back to the planter project as soon as I can.... Thanks so much!!
Kristen! Happy to help where you can!
Thanks for watching!
Brilliant! Worked like a charm
Thank you! Glad it worked out! Thanks for watching!
Thank you! Helped me out on that!
You’re welcome, glad I could help!
Thank you for this!
Sure, no problem!
Thank you, my dear. Your explanation is clear and useful. ❤
You're welcome 😊
This was so helpful, thanks man!
Sure, happy to help!
Thank you, that is what I needed.
Happy to help!
Yeah man! I like it! Helped me out a lot. Great job!
Thank you! Glad it helped!
Thank you for making this video. It’s simple and easy to understand. 👏🏾👏🏾
You’re welcome my friend! Thanks for watching!
Exactly what I was looking for, great video!
Awesome! Thanks so much for watching!
Excellent! Found your vid when I needed to do exactly what you did the video on. Worked perfectly. Thank you very much!
Happy to help! Glad it worked out. Thanks for watching!
Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to know.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! 🙏
Perfect, thanks!
Sure, no problem!
Very helpful! Thank you
Happy to help! It gets easier every time! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for making the only video on TH-cam that clearly and concisely shows how to do this. Just subscribed. Now to binge watch your other vids.
You’re welcome! Glad this is helping folks out! Be forewarned that my earlier videos are kinda cheesy may still be entertaining nonetheless. Thank you for watching!
This video was very helpful. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about a project I’m working on. I had a thought that if I could cut two equal pieces with a 45 degree cut it would make the job so much easier. Than i rolled and tossed trying to figure out how to do it. Found your video and it is quite easy when you know how. Thank you.
Awesome, glad I could help. I think I had a similar experience 👍🏼
Thanks for the tip on making a 45 deg center cut. I was sorry to see you working with your wedding ring on. When I was a teen my neighbor lost his finger to that mistake. I helped clean up his shop, I'll never forget the mess.
Jake, appreciate you watching! Thanks for the concern. I switched to a silicone ring several years ago. Do you think those are safer?
I was just trying to figure this out. Great video. Very helpful!
Great! Glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
I'm new at woodworking and was doing this today and could not figure out how to make two equal parts. Thank you so much for making this video to show how simple it is. Ready to try it out tomorrow.
You’re welcome Jeff! Glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for this!! I was having trouble with this and your video got me on track immediately. Thanks for showing multiple methods too
Glad to help Alex! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video, your close up shots were very sharp and beneficial.
Appreciate it Bruce! Glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
Nice job. I kept going to far off but now using your method i got it perfect. Thanks!
Nice! You’re welcome! Love hearing the positive results!
Thanks for this! very nice easy way to cut the french cleats down!
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching Paul!
Thanks man , excellent tip 👍🏻
Thanks Alberto! Appreciate you watching!
Just built a cleat wall using your method and it worked the first time. Thank You!!!
Love hearing this kind if feedback! Thank you for the interesting and for watching. Share your results on IG!
Thank you!!!! This helped me so much!!!
Going through comments I haven’t responded to! Glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
Thanks. Your the first person to break it down!!!
Glad to help! I’ve had questions about other angles, so I’ll probably do another comprehensive video of different angles as well in the future. Thanks for watching.
thank you so much for sharing
Sure, no problem. Thanks for watching!
Great explanation, Thank you!
Glad this helped! Thanks for watching!
Good job mate !!
Thank you !
Thank you for taking the time.
briman2183 Happy to help where I can! Thanks for watching!
Building a French cleat tool wall and followed your video and it worked perfectly, thanks!
That’s awesome! Would love to see the results! Send pics over on Instagram @woodshaped - Thanks for watching
WoodShaped definitely!
great video! thanks from a newbie, very clear!
Glad it helped! Thanks for watching!
Great video.
Thanks!
Thank you very much. I have a Dewalt contractor saw and have not built an infeed table. So as an alternate I cut my cleats to 4 inches with a Kref Rip Cut. I used my speed square and marked the 45° cut that matched the table blade saw angle. Then I cut the the angle. I will definitely build that infeed table.
You’re welcome! Glad to help! Thanks for watching!
Very helpful for a newbie making french cleats. Thanks.
Thank you! Glad it was useful!
good vid, nicely explained. good use of closeups.
I appreciate that! Still trying to improve on the video shooting! Thanks for watching!
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you 🙏
Thanks you helped me :)
Good to hear! Thanks for watching!
Thank you !
No problem buddy, happy to assist!
Thank you !!!
You’re welcome!
Awesome explanation man, thanks. Now if only I had a table saw 😅
You’ll get there! Thank you
Thanks woodshaped ..I am just starting to
Cut my cleats and Your video is very helpful
Glad to hear! Thanks for watching!
Awesome
Thanks!
Is this some big secret in the woodworking industry? Not a single woodworking professional has showed it. I'll admit it, I had not a clue how to do this until this video. Thank you. Have to also add I would rather not watch a youtuber that is so off the wall with antics and and jumping and yelling as if woodworking is like leaping into a mosh pit at a rock concert. Slow and steady wins the race and appreciate the way you make your video's. For that one thing alone, you get my vote and my subscription.
Wow! Thank you! One of the kindest comments ever! Thanks for the sub!
Great tips
Christopher Ortiz Thank you and thanks for watching!
No problem.. getting ready to make my own French cleat wall. Like how organized yours came out
Christopher Ortiz Nice! Send some after shots over on IG when you get it done! Thank you!
Thank you
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
Thank you! Keep in mind that all our time is valuable! Your content deserves a thumbs up, but the time you took to explain it deserves a thumbs down!
The goal was to be thorough enough for everyone at all skill levels. Most other viewers seem to like the pace. Thanks for watching!
thanks for sharing! I was wondering how I was going to do this so accurately.
Sure! Happy to help!
You can make your 45 CUT on either line YES
THANKS FOR THE VIDEO
Thanks!
Love you videos can you talk about the different tools you have as far as a t edges and all that kind of good stuff
Thank you! What tools were you wondering about?
A W E S O M E ! ! ! . . . - THX 🙏
Sure, no problem!
Thank you Adam thats exactly what im looking for .. its hard to cut identical pieces at 45d without a table saw i use a circular saw and its off every time .. definitely ill need a table saw in my workshop
Great! Happy to help! So did you figure it out with the circular saw? You would just need to line up the blade to the cut line and with the saw base edge I assume. You could clamp a wooden fence too. Thanks for watching!
Just what I was looking for. Should have looked you up before scrapping a few planks.
Thank you! Well at least it wasn’t more than a few 😁 thanks for watching
Thank you so much fir this ! I was making French cleats to hang a media console I just made . I will go back and redo them
They came out unequal.
Appreciate it. Good method to use if you wanna cut down middle for two equal pieces. It’s ok if they aren’t perfect though. Thanks for watching.
What if you wanted to make a higher degree cut? So the spinning blade would be even closer to the long plane of the board. I have something like a 1 x 8 that I want to cut on its full length so that when it sits flat, any water that gets on it rolls downhill.
4:38 For some reason (my fault, not yours) I kept trying to use your formula to solve for the numeric setting on my table saw fence. After producing 4 or 5 failures, I figured out that the measurement on the fence didn’t matter. What matters is-once the offset bisect angle has been marked on the end, focus all effort on the saw tooth hitting that line dead center. THEN, tighten the fence and don’t even look at the measurement window. It also helps to know that these markings are on the LEADING edge of the stock being cut and that the offset needs to be to the right of the center mark (as you view it from the infeed side of the table saw. This will orient the cut line to correspond with a table saw that does NOT have a compound mitre capability and only tilts to the left.
Great points! Glad it worked out for you!
Your method is great, but I'm to lazy to pull my miter gage off my saw if my speed square is handy. I appreciate your comments as we learn from each other. Good video!
Speed square works. Thanks for watching
Thanks for that advice. Its exactly what I was trying to get my head around the other day, now I've bought my first table saw! Now I'm trying to understand is it better to have your 'cut off' piece between fence and blade, or the other way around? Or can it be either way, decided by size of material/cut off. Hmm... Learning all the time.
Glad the video is proving useful to some folks out there! Congrats on the table saw purchase! I make my cuts with the work piece(the piece assigned to the project) between the blade and the fence and the forward, downward and inward pressure against the fence. The off cut side should be free of any pressure against the blade for safe and accurate cuts. Just so happens that the cut I made here, the off-cut also resulted in a second work piece but the piece against fence should always have the pressure on it. Hope that helps! Thanks for watching!
@@WorkingTimbersCo Thanks very much. Really helped. I've also got myself the Microjig Gripper, so can't wait to put that to use, and assist me with pressure/control where needed!!
@@Audiotechnical Nice! Love the Gripper especially with my crappy table saw :-)
Thanks new subscriber!! Can you make a video on how to mate longer sheets of wood at different angles? I make sub boxes and have a build coming up where the trunk isn’t flat (1987 Monte Carlo) and I don’t know how to mate the three different angles. Would be highly appreciated!! Thank you!!
Going through comments I haven’t responded to! Thanks for the question, I know I’m late! How did you end up solving the problem?
@@WorkingTimbersCo i still haven’t started my build yet. Would love to see a video on it if you understand what I’m saying.
Like that red t-edge, what brand are those?
Woodpeckers T-Square - go check this out- th-cam.com/video/_yBzFBOI3Ps/w-d-xo.html
Still good info
Appreciate it!
basically the formula is: 1/2 the blade kerf + 1/2 the board thickness + 1/2 the board width = set on the rip fence of the table saw. Right?
God damn should have watched this first. Just went through almost half a sheet lf 3/4" plywood trying to get the position correct.
Ah man that sucks! I wasted some myself when I started out.
yes the 1st one would be nicer if you used metric like most of the world, but you saved me with the second "no math inch to mm conversion just angles" method thumbs up :)
Thanks!
A much easier tool to use for doing the "X method" is your combination square or a speed square. On the "math method", one COULD also simply add 1/2 the blade thickness to the offset rather than trying to hit the center of the line. For the common 1/8" thick blade, that would mean adding another 1/16" to the offset. Me, I would simply aim for "close", and then, with the pointy end against the fence and the blade back to 90, trim ALL of the cleats to exactly the same width. Takes a little bit longer, makes a bit more sawdust, but not as fussy.
Great video.
Thanks for the suggestions!
How is the wall board dimension?
what is the width of the narrow side and what is the width of the wider side?
and what distances between the battens on the wall?
Thanks for watching. Check my other French cleat videos, I answer all those questions! 👍
Forgive the obvious question. So, my understanding is that the offset is always half the thickness of the piece being cut.
Peter Batah Yep, as long as it’s a 45 degree. If the angle changes it can get more complicated.
Half the length of material - half the thickness of the material - half the kerf of the blade
Good stuff!
When mounting a small cabinet for example how to assure that it will be level. Thank you sharing your time and experience with us
I have a long way to go to improve my knowledge. I share because I enjoy it. Do you have a level tool?
@@WorkingTimbersCo I picked up the Bosch GCL 2-55. I don't think that getting the wall plank level is going to be an issue. I am mounting several 2'x4'x6" acoustic panels and am a little concerned about the cleat that is going to be screwed to the back of said panel. Especially, given the fact that some panels may be mounted next to each other with only inches or up to a foot separating them. Sorry about the super long reply by the way!
No worries at all. I’m trying to visualize what you are explaining. So your dilemma is getting the cleats level with respect to the acoustic panels or not having enough room to determine level? Message me on IG too maybe you can send a photo.
@@WorkingTimbersCo Sent you a couple of pics via IG. Hope they made it because I'm new to IG
Does this same methodology work for cutting 45 degrees using circular saw?
What are you using as a fence to make cuts? If you have your mark set and you can cut straight, should work the same but ripping small narrow pieces isn’t recommended with a circular saw where the blade and saw are moving instead of the work piece. You can’t see the piece usually
shits relaxing to watch hahaha
😁 Glad you enjoy it! Thanks!
I'm new to woodworking and about to purchase my first table saw I just have a dumb question:
Could I set my blade to 45 degrees and adjust the fence to where it acts as a 'stop block'.
Since the fence and blade is set, couldn't I make repeatable 45 degree cleat strips everytime, or do I always have to keep measuring the middle with a guage/square/pencil? I'd be using the gripper push block since I heard making cuts with the fence is dangerous.
I'm trying to understand, sorry.
You can certainly try to eye ball it if you are cutting pieces in half. It’s not as easy as it sounds though just using the fence and blade. Remember that the pieces will be opposites of each other after the cut and the blade will eliminate some of the width of the piece. Hope that helps.
@@WorkingTimbersCo Thanks, it makes sense now. Would you recommend the Dewalt 7485 or the Dewalt 7491rs table saw? I wonder if the 8 1/4 is sufficient for woodworking or having the 10 inch is more better in the long run.
Personally my next saw will have a very wide cutting width because I’ve had to work around not having the width I need on my current hand me down saw 😁 so I’d go with the 10” if it were me.
@@WorkingTimbersCo what do you think about the Skilsaw 10inch worm drive table saw?
I haven’t researched it much but that worm drive is cool man!
If you are going to be regularly ripping cleats, once you have gotten the fence set correctly, draw a line along it. Then place a strip of tape along the line. Label the tape for the size of stock that it is for and save yourself a lot of repetitive work.
Appreciate the suggestion! The only down side is if you use your fence at a width wider than the tape mark then the stock will sit on top of the tape and lift it up slightly. Probably not significant enough to cause issues on one piece but if you cut pieces for joinery I could see it compounding the slight miter and creating gaps. Excellent idea for cutting all your cleats at once though! Thank you!
yup! i did trial and error on a scrap piece, moving the fence about 4 times and remeasuring. this was much faster, simpler, cleaner.
i wonder if there's some sort of mathematical equation that helps putting the saw fence quickly and consistently.
if a piece is 6 inches, y=6/2-(1/4") or something.
Right on! If there isn’t an equation, we should come up with one! 😁 Thanks for watching!
So if you are ripping 3" you set your fence at 2.75 or 3.25? Sorry but I'm dumb when it comes to cutting angles. Dados 4 life
humpmeimapilot Thanks for the question. Really should make the cut based on where you’ve marked your lines since each blade and fence setup may be different. What’s your blade width, what’s your material thickness? In the video I demo using your lines as a guide for fence placement
The plywood you used was 1/2 inch thick and the offset was 1/4 inch. This changes for 3/4 inch plywood? The offset would be 3/8 inch, right? For 1 inch think wood the offset would be 1/2 inch and so forth?
Yes, exactly. This is only for a 45 degree because its half of 90. Hope that helps. Always test it out with a scrap piece
Set your blade to 45, set your fence to 1/2 the board with minus 1/2 the board thickness.
Thanks!
I want that shirt!
Thanks! Where are you located?
@@WorkingTimbersCo Northern California. Do you sell them? Didn't see it on your site.
Did you notice that they say Sharper Things instead of Stranger Things right? What size are you? I may have some in stock still
@@WorkingTimbersCo Oh yeah, that's why I like it. Getting into making related t-shirts lately - just bought one from FixThisBuildThat too. I wear a large - if you've got one to sell I'm into it :-)
Really appreciate it brother. I have two left. 1 Large and 1 XL here: workingtimbersco.com/products/sharper-things-woodshaped-tee-2-left
An easy way to do it at a 45 degree angle using math is:
Devide the piece in half and then subtract half of the thickness to that measurement and viola!.
Example:
Piece width is 6" and is 1" thick.
Half of 6 is 3
Half of 1 is.5
3 minus .5 is 2.5.
If you set your tablesaw to cut 2.5" then the pieces will be identical. Don't worry about the blade kerf unless you need a very specific measurement in which case you have to start with a piece that is a blade kerf wider.
Referencing the example above, i stead of starting with a 6" wide board, start with a 6 1/8" board.
Nice 👍🏼 Great breakdown!
Helpful comment 👏🏼
old lady here, so a tad slow.... is the offset then equivalent to half of any board thickness. You were using 1/2" so your offset was 1/4". Suppose I had a board 1" thick. Would the offset then be 1/2", not the quarter?
Now worries! You got it! As long as you are doing 45 degrees the answer is yes. Offset of 1/2” if using 1” thick. If the angle changes, it all changes. Make sure and run a test piece through anytime you are trying this and then confirm the results. Thanks for watching! Let me know how it goes.
@@WorkingTimbersCo thanks so much for the quick reply. I'm setting up french cleats in my shop and without a table saw I am using the circular saw. Will let you know how I did.
This was very helpful as I'm a newbie woodworker and just putting a workspace together. I must say on a side note and I just want to bring this to your attention, You seem to be a guy who is very perfection oriented with all the Woodpecker tools you have on the wall, and your investment in Maple plywood and french cleat system. Your table saw needs attention, I am by no means a master carpenter but you are missing a blade guard, a riving knife, and the gap between the blade and the insert seems excessively large and I think it invites a potential safety hazard. For a guy who invests a lot of money in good tools, I think it would be wise to invest in safety on the most dangerous tool in the workshop. Just a friendly suggestion not trying to criticize.
David! Could not agree more on that table saw! Was my Dad’s. Hand me down. I’ve just been living with it for now Trying to be extra careful. I’ll hopefully have a SawStop soon. Glad the demo helped some, thank you! 🙏