Make Wood Wedges and Shims Safely with Power Tools or Hand Tools #Woodworking How-to

Learn 5 different ways to safely make wood wedges and shims. We also show you the unsafe ways you should not use to make wood shims or wedges. These techniques cover the use of power tools and hand tools, so hopefully one of these will work for you with the tools you have. A wedge or shim must be cut parallel to the grain of the wood otherwise it will break across the grain as shown in the video.

What is the difference between a wood wedge and a wood shim? A wedge is used to drive top pieces a part. Think of the common phrase "driving a wedge between..." A shim is used to take up space between two parts. The doors and windows in your house were installed with shims to level up the window or door casings so they are aligned where the builder wants them to be.

To make wood shims, there are safe ways to do this and unsafe ways. In my opinion, a table saw is not a safe way to cut shims. In the video, I show the forces of the table saw blade on the wood and at the back of the blade, there's a risk that uncontrolled wood can climb up the blade and cause an accident... and no one likes the words "accident" and "table saw" together. All material run through a table saw must be controlled between the blade and the fence, otherwise disasters can happen. If you understand that, then why would you cut a shim and allow that shim to freely float between the blade and the fence/jig?

The safe way to make shims is on a bandsaw. The blade direction is straight down at the table and does't present the risk of throwing material back at your, or even worse, dragging your hand across a moving blade from the uncontrolled material. The key to cutting shims on a bandsaw is to make a 1 degree jig to nest the block into. This can be as simple as cutting a gentle angle in a block of wood or as sophisticated as making an adjustable jig as I show in the video. If using a table saw is your only option for making shims, I encourage you not to take the risk and instead, spend $2-3 for a dozen shims at the hardware store.

To cut wood wedges, I prefer the bandsaw. There are several ways to do this. I use my adjustable wedge cutting jig, but you can also use a miter gauge with some success. I attempted cutting wedges free hand on the end of a board with the bandsaw and with a Japanese hand saw, but neither results worked well for me.

I cut small wedges for repairing through tenons on chairs. To do that, I use a hand plane and a wedge cutting jig I mount in my workbench vice. It's a simple jig that has a pocket for the wood shim I'm making. I simply split off a piece of wood from a 3/4 inch block of Birch, insert it into the jig and start planing. I plane one side smooth and then flip it over to plane down the second side flush with the jig surface. I typically make the wedges in small batches so I have wedges on hand when I need them.

Another way to make a wedge by hand is using a technique that Curtis Buchanan shows in his chair making videos. It's using a small block of wood and a very sharp chisel (you can watch how I get mine to a mirror finish in the video). The technique is to pare away progressively more wood starting from the back and moving forward to make the wedge shape. It's a good technique to use if you only need a few wedges.

#Wedge #Shim #Woodworking

[lukafilm]

Damn! Never thought I'll watch someone talk about shims and wedges for 20 min, but it was awesome and informative! 😀

[ChiriKain]

good timing, two days ago i was thinking about wedges and how i need some, now i know how to do them.

[mikekossi]

I also never thought I'd watch someone talk about Sims and wedges for that long but you are so informative and to the point. I know some of us will a little experience no kind of what we're doing and I can totally relate to your explanations which personally is the icing on the cake man you're right Hands-On explanations of safety which is a big thing for real are great very impressive I really wish I had a band saw and a router table! Also your shirt is awesome! Thanks again for your wise experience and wisdom, I will be following along have a great day

[seanbrotherton]

I know exactly what my next empty jar of peanut butter is going to be used for! I'm making some wedges and going to use them for dowel storage also. Then I'm going to tell my wife "honey, Scott says I have to buy my bandsaw now." 😂

Thanks for sharing some good ideas!

[jerrys]

I'm glad some people have the time & patients to make wedges with a chisel. NOT ME!
I'd like the plans for the wedge jig. I could handle that.

[teddydanh]

I was about to try making these on my table saw until I watched this. Definitely going to go buy some instead, thanks for saving my fingers.

[jackwody]

I came here to learn how to make shims for getting a bookcase plumb to the wall. Pretty much all the bookcases I've installed leaned away from the wall at the top and therefore need a shim along each of the verticals and another spacer at the front. Very informative and useful!

[mattheww]

Great video exactly what i was looking for

[frazerreid]

Thank you very good presentation. I was looking at a jig for the table saw but my fingers didn't like the feel of that. I will do this work with the bandsaw from now on. Thanks again for helping me keep my fingers and thumbs !!!

[michaelthys]

Wedges are how I hold the work on my viseless bench. I appreciate your exhaustive approach. I took to clamping a thin piece of wood on the end of my bench to push against. Kind of a combination of the last two. Hand plan but letting the wedge rest against a stop block. I loved your jig though.

[kerryfoster]

Great video! I use wedges all the time - all hand cut. Very tricky when I first started but Like you I worked out the best method.
Most use is keeping pieces solid in my portable workbench!

[EricMeyerMaker]

For most of my needs, I have found the chisel to be the quickest. I made up a dedicated block for paring the wedge tapers. It essentially is a fat L. Throw that in a vise and you are ready to go.

[superspecialty]

You have a style that is very conducive to absorbing information i.e., SMOOTH!

[ellisc.foleyjr]

Hi Scott, tnx fer a very informative way of making wedges. for my purposes, I like the miter gauge on my bandsaw.( I don't use a lot of them and make them as needed.) but loved all the ways you've shown. more techniques to my arsenal. Thank you for taking the time to show us, and for sharing.

[caroltanzi]

As a designer, I have used shims a lot more for making furniture level on an uneven floor.
I have bought them.

[SirArghPirate]

Very informative. That band saw jig was really beautiful as well.

[billhaughenberry]

Very good information I never would’ve thought about Using a chisel, I use 2-4 foot wedges all the time that I cut a 2x4 on a bandsaw. I use them on a Ron Poulk table with bench dogs for glue ups and hold downs work wonderfully quick and simple. Thanks

[makenchips]

This was a very good overview on wedge and shims. Well done with your sample demonstrations and review.
One thing i did note that when you use the wedge making jig in the vice, your bench longitudinal stiffness was not there for planning!

Why not push your bench against the wall and secure it. Or add a filler board an shim it in! Of course the rear of your table will have to nr secure to the wall. Or fix your bench.

Good video learnings over all. As for wedges and shims are on of my favorite simple machines. Where would we be without them!

Coumbus Michigan

[bigoldgrizzly]

handy video thanks - get that bench stable and bolted down !

[davidbuchan]

I love youtube tutors. I needed to make a ton of opposing wedges to stabilise some box frame shelving against a brick wall. I can only assume the bricks were laid by a Victorian (1888 London) apprentice on their first day... my frames vary from 30 to 0mm (!!) off the wall. Anyway, thank you very much for this as my shelves are now the most solid thing in the house! I didn't have time to build your awesome bandsaw sled... but this vid made me realise I could cut a master wedge, put my blocks against it and safely push it through the bandsaw with some push sticks, flip the master, cut, etc.. Now I have a ton of scribing to do to clad the frames. Anyway... blah blah, you saved the day! New subsciber! Have you got a vid for that sled? Cheers.