Dan Shapiro

And now I’d like to introduce another guest author. You can tell who it is because his name is at the bottom of this article, or maybe the top. I don’t know because I’m editing this article in the authoring interface, which for some strange reason, DOESN’T INCLUDE THE AUTHOR.
Unbelievable.
So without further ado, I’d like to introduce someone I think very highly of. He has year(s) of experience woodworking and/or doing home improvement work, and is a good friend of mine. I trust his judgement implicitly, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have given him the password to submit this article. I’m glad he’s writing here, despite not knowing who he is, because from the looks of this article he’s pretty damn good at it.
I’m off to buy a Grip-Tite. –dan
Well, I’m a bit behind on Safety Month, but since every month should be Safety Month in the workshop, I’m going to share my favorite safety device to date: The Grip-Tite magnetic feather board. This little gem is the invention of Jerry Jaksha, a hobbyist woodworker like you and me who was willing to go through the hell that it takes to turn a great idea into a real product. You can find his humble home at http://www.grip-tite.com/.
The Grip-Tite is a very simple device consisting of a solid plastic block with a very strong magnet embedded in the base, a handle for positioning it sticking up from the top, a little ‘wing’ sticking out each side, and a lever on the back. Check out the web site as my description will undoubtedly fail you.
Operation couldn’t be simpler. Place the wood at your tool of choice, grab the Grip-Tite, place it near the wood and shove it till one of the wings just flexes against the wood. That’s it! In just a few seconds you’ve got a feather board that isn’t going any where. Just try to lift one of these off your table saw! The lever on the back lets you break the magnet’s contact with the table when you need to lift it.
The key to these wonderful devices is just how easy they are to use. Traditionally, setting up a feather board is a cycle of trying to find a position where you can place the feather board at the correct angle and offset and then trying to find a secure place that you can reach with a clamp and still have the clamp out of the way of the operation. For most woodworkers that means that they use fewer feather boards then they really should, or they cheat and end up with hands and fingers too close to hungry blades. With a few Grip-Tites around I’m never tempted to skimp on safety for even the smallest operations.
They are also magic on the jointer because they stick to both the table and the vertical fence. With one on the in feed, one on the out feed, and one on the fence just behind the cutter head you can easily get perfect results even on small stock and you’re fingers never get within six inches of the blade. The Grip-Tite company also offers a steel face for your table saw fence so that you can use them as a hold down there as well.
At $40 for a feather board, most people experience a bit of sticker shock when they first go shopping, and I was much the same. I’m forever guilty of having a gadget addiction, but even my addiction couldn’t over come the price tag at first. That all changed when I took a class at Woodworker Academy. Jerry had several of these around and demonstrated their use on jointers and table saws. After spending a couple of days using the Grip-Tite on most setups, I was sold. Almost nothing goes through my table saw or jointer with out one any more.
I really can’t say enough good things about the Grip-Tite. The only minor issue I’ve run into is the rare occasion when the magnet lands on the miter slot on the table saw. In this case there is not enough steel for the magnet to grip and I have to either change the order I cut in or literally dust off a standard feather board.

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