How to create a circle on a tablesaw

Hi, I am George Berry the Woodguy. Most wood workers will tell you that it is impossible to cut a circle on a table saw but I am here to tell you it is easy and I am going to show you how to do it. First, remember to read, understand and follow all the safe instructions that came with your power tools and wear safety glasses. Now to cut a circle on the table saw, you need a sliding table. This is my sliding table. I have had this for 20 years. It has two runners on it that fit in the slots on the table. I use it for cutting true 90 degrees instead worrying with your miter gauge all the time. To cut a circle, you draw a line. The radius of the circle away from the blade and then you are going to put a pivot point right here on that line. Nail it in and then you need to cut it about a quarter of an inch or so above the surface of the table and file it to a point so that you can use it as a pivot when you are cutting your circle. Now it is important when you put your board on the saw that you put it on the center of the board, so I am going to have it just slightly overhanging the curve in the sliding table and I want to put it right down on that pivot point right in the middle and nail it down. Now, I want to cut this into an octagon. I have got to hold it down to the table to keep it from spinning. So you just cut the corners off and then you cut the corners off again so you are actually making sort of a sixteen sided figure. Just keep cutting, spinning it slowly around, then you sort of advance the work and finish and you are just nibbling off a little bit at a time, just nibbling off, then you move it a little forward, take a little more off then just move in a little bit forward until you got the exact radius. See, I told you it was easy. If you would like to see some more tricks, visit me at my website. Woodguy.com.

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