The table saw only knows how to cut parallel to its fence. This sled holds the leg crooked on purpose, so the parallel cut comes out as a taper: the same taper on every leg, starting at the same place. You never dial an angle. You mark the first leg, lay its line on the sled's edge, and the jig is set by the part.
Craft intelligence, written down.
The wrong way to cut a taper is the most common one: the leg angled against the rip fence by hand. Nothing holds the angle, and an angled piece pinched by the blade gets thrown. This jig exists so that never happens. A badly set jig is a safety problem before it is a precision problem, so these come first.
Your saw's own blade guard and riving knife go on before any cut in this plan, the parts included, and stay on. This is a through cut; nothing on the jig needs them off. If the guard won't pass the clamps, move the clamps.
Both hands ride the two handles, set 6 inches or more out from the blade. The leg is held by the jig. Handles closer than that are a sizing mistake, and this page won't draw them.
Before every switch-on, look at every toggle: locked down on the work. The heel stop takes the push; the toggles stop the leg lifting or turning. No clamp body sits nearer the blade than 2 inches.
Push until the heel stop is past the back of the blade, to a strip of tape on the fence. Stop there. Switch off and let the blade stop. The offcut stays where it falls. Never pull the sled back past a turning blade.
The taper is two widths at two places on the leg: the blank's width where the taper starts, and the foot's width at the bottom. Leave the top full width for the joinery. The grey numbers in the boxes are a common side-table leg, so you can see the shape first; type your own over them. Any box you leave blank is sized from the sample, and the answer will say which. The angle is worked out, never set: the first leg, marked and laid on the edge, sets the jig.
Every number here is the sample leg's and the sample saw's, not yours. Type your own in the boxes above and size it again before you cut.
From the blade: the sled's width, because its edge is the cut line.
At the foot, running to nothing over 23 in. That's 0.3913 in per foot of taper.
Worked out, never dialled. The marked leg sets the jig.
| Part | Qty | Thickness × width × length (in) | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 1 | 0.5 × 8 × 34 | length = part_length + 6, to the next 1/4; width = the wider of blank + cradle + riser + 2 3/8, and handles 6 in out from the cut line plus the handle, to the next 1/4 |
| Cradle fence | 1 | 0.75 × 0.75 × 28 | length = part_length; height = 3/4, or the leg's thickness if less; set against the first leg as it lies |
| Heel stop (takes the push) | 1 | 1.5 × 1.75 × 2.25 | height = the leg's thickness, so it bears on the whole end; length = blank + cradle - 1/4, stopping short of the cut line |
| Toggle riser | 3 | 1.5 × 1.75 × 3 | height = the leg's thickness (risers matched to the stock); one per toggle, 3 toggles, no more than 12 in apart |
| Handle (your hand goes here) | 2 | 1.25 × 3 × 4 | set at least 6 in out from the cut line; here 6.0 in, clear of the risers |
| Toggle clamps (bought) | 3 | horizontal | horizontal toggle clamps, bodies at least 2 in from the cut line, pads on the far half of the leg |
Test: Caliper the test piece at the taper start, 5 in from the top, and at the foot. It must read 1.75 in and 1 in, each within 0.02 in, and the taper must start within 0.04 in of its mark. That is the target, not a guarantee of exact.
If it fails: The foot reads wrong, or the taper starts in the wrong place: the leg was not on its line when the cradle and heel stop went on. Back the screws out, lay the leg on its line again, refix them, cut scrap again.
Can you undo it: Yes. Only scrap has been cut; the cradle and heel stop are screwed, not glued, until the test passes.
Test: Caliper every leg at both stations: each within 0.02 in of its targets, and every leg within 0.02 in of every other. Stand them together on the bench and sight the start line: it should read as one line.
If it fails: One leg is the odd one out at arm's length, or a pair differs past the target.
Can you undo it: Partly. A fat leg can be cut again on the same setting; a thin one cannot be made fat.
Type each leg's width at the taper start and at the foot, and the page checks them against 1.75 and 1 in, and against each other.
What's true about this page today. The jig comes from a draft entry in Hewn's jig notes, written down and not yet through its outside check. The numbers are worked out from yours and the formulas are shown. The travel mark is a strip of tape and a rule, not a block that stops the sled. The 3D model is a picture of these numbers, not of a built jig. The pass line is a target, half a millimetre, not a promise of exact. Nothing you type is kept.