Table Saw Fence Alignment Checked 47 Times Before Single Cut, Cut Still Not Made

Hobbyist woodworker Nolan Birch verified the alignment of his table saw fence 47 times over the course of three hours on Saturday before declining to make the cut, citing 'a feeling that something might be slightly off.'

'The dial indicator reads 0.001 inches of deviation across 24 inches of fence travel,' Birch said, studying the readout for the 48th time. 'That's within the manufacturer's spec. That's within anyone's spec. But I watched a video where a guy said he got his to zero-zero-zero, and now I can't stop thinking about that thousandth.'

Birch's verification process involves a granite reference surface, a Starrett dial indicator, a machinist's square, and what his wife describes as 'an unhealthy relationship with the concept of parallel.'

'He's been out there since nine,' said his wife, Karen, at noon. 'He hasn't cut anything. He adjusted the fence, measured it, adjusted it back, measured it again, and then started over because he thought the granite surface might not be level. So he leveled the granite surface. Then he re-measured the fence.'

Birch acknowledged that his verification protocol has expanded over the past year, noting that he now also checks blade runout, arbor alignment, and miter slot parallelism before every cutting session.

'A table saw is only as good as its setup,' Birch said. 'If the fence isn't parallel to the blade, and the blade isn't parallel to the miter slot, and the miter slot isn't parallel to the table edge, then you're just guessing. And I don't guess.'

Birch's most recent completed project — a set of bookends — took six weeks, five of which were consumed by setup verification.

'The bookends are perfect,' Birch confirmed. 'The cuts are straight. The angles are true. That's what happens when you check 47 times.'

When asked if 46 checks would have produced the same result, Birch paused and said: 'I'm not prepared to find out.'