Wedgie sled

[Angus]

here is my adjustable T track sled. It would work with the wedgie setup. No routing it can be made just using the table saw. I would recommend one longer than shown for regular segment work but that probably deserves it's own thread.

[Angus]

Now that I think about it why build a sled at all? If the wedgies are accurate as claimed why not use a miter gauge?

[Arlin Eastman]

I guess that would work but it would be best if there were two of the legs to move.  All I know is I love how Jerrys sled works and perfect segments everytime.

[Angus]

There are some downfalls to Jerry's sled designs in my opinion. At least for the work I do. But if it works for others good deal. Everyone has their own preferences.

[AHill]

Now that I think about it why build a sled at all? If the wedgies are accurate as claimed why not use a miter gauge?

Because you need two fences.  The piece gets cut on the lower fence first, which is acute to the blade, then cut second on the upper fence, which is obtuse to the blade.

[Angus]

The double fence sled is not required to use a wedgie Jerrys own single fence sled. I'm not knocking the wedgie, in fact I plan to get some. But, the double fence setup can be limiting. There will also be limitations when you start using his method for angle segments.

[Arlin Eastman]

Thanks Angus

I noticed that when I watched it the first time 8 months ago, however, he also mentions that if you have the two arms you do not have to flip the board over just put the board on the upper arm.  He also said that is the way you get the continuous grain pattern all the way around the blocks.

He also said it was easy and shown it was easy to put a 45 or 30 degree angles in the middle of the arms and that no matter how you pivot the arms together it will still end up the same degree and it is not that way with the single arm.

To me I just want ALL the guess work or anything that could go wrong eliminated if at all possible for us.

[hairy]

Incra 1000 HD miter gauge has the angles for segments right on the tool.

[SceneryMaker]

One advantage of the Wedgie sled over the Incra or the Dubby (that's the one I have) is that it's A LOT less expensive, you can grain match, and you can spiral the segments by making the angles unequal. I'm going to try that one next.

Arlin: I sent you a PM about helping you with your sled.

[Angus]

Like I said, I will be getting some wedgies. I've been hinting that the wedgie sled is limiting. I'll point out the concerns I have with it. I know some folks will have zero problems with the sled or wedgie and thats great. I just want folks to know that the wedgie system is not the be all end all to segment cutting and ti his credit Jerry never makes that claim.

Arlin, you brought up grain matching. Grain matching is very seldom done anymore and here are the reasons.
There will always be one joint that is not matched in every ring. You now have a choice to make, do you not pay attention to those joint locations in the   turning and just stack the rings? That kind of ruins the effect of going to the trouble of grain matching. The other option is to keep the non matching joints in the same area. Now you have a front and back to the turning. This limits the way a piece could/should be displayed.
The famous guys (ones with books or videos) and the guys who have been doing this for years will tell you; Never cut all the segments for the same ring out of one board. There is no faster way to end up with rings of different colors (even using the same species) than doing this.

Here is why I consider the double fence limiting and said it wouldn't work for my style of turning. If you look at the picture AHill posted the blade side of the sled is somewhat fixed. The measurement from the front side of the bottom fence to the back side of the top fence will limit the size of segment you can cut. That measurement will be dictated by the size of the wedgie. Below is just an example of a turning that could not be done with a double fence. The segments in the ring above the feature ring were about 7" wide. You could not cut those segments with a double fence sled


I'm sure some are sating I'll never cut a 7" segment. Whats the measurement on the smallest end of the wedgie you are using? Thats the segment width you will be limited to and I think most would be surprised at how often it's going to be an issue.

Now back to the grain matching color banding because it kind of ties in. I wll take the widest segment dimension and cut 2 or 3 sticks out of different boards. I cut a few segments from each stick until I have enough segments for the ring. Then I rip those same stick to the next smallest dimension and repeat. by spreading any color differences throughout the piece it appears more uniform in color by not having bands.

I plan on buying some wedgies. For me they will be a setup tool for sleds that will work with my style of turning. The only purpose of this post was to explain my earlier comments and give folks a heads up on potential limitations of the 2 fence sled. This in no way is knocking Jerrys products or his sled.