Push Stick
I’m struggling a bit to get content up, so please bear with me. Lots going on; my father-in-law’s home sold and goes into escrow soon and I leave for another backpacking trip tomorrow. Therefore, I’m posting another project from my teaching days.
This project is simple, but a very necessary part of many machine operations. I use this push stick primarily at my table saw, but also at the router table and occasionally at the jointer and bandsaw (my primary safety device on the jointer is the MicroJig Smart Push Block).
As I mention in the video, this design comes from John Nyquist. We used a similar design at Cerritos College, but I was never a big fan of that version. It was rectangular, which made it easy to manufacture, but the handle slot was too far forward and too close to the top.
I made my first one in around 2000 after tracing one of John’s examples. I later cleaned it up a bit and made a template from scratch, laying it out on some 1/2″ Baltic birch plywood. The 1-1/8″ radii in the corners may seem like an odd dimension, but that’s the largest radius I have on my circle template. It works. Anything in that range will work.
When I first introduced the Nyquist design to my students, those who had smaller hands couldn’t grip it well. Moving the handle higher fixed that. Move it up or down to suit your needs.
Note that the drawing (below) shows the front of the push stick to the right. That is the best way to use the template when routing, as you will be routing downhill when going over the double-bump area. I had it facing the opposite way in the video, making it more likely to tear out.
You can download the SketchUp model (a 2D profile) and the drawings below.
Hello Carl! Don’t worry about the push to get videos up. Anything you provide is welcomed! Stay well and enjoy the backpack trip.
All the best ,
Bob