two position stop block

This is my newest invention, a stop block that is reversible to offer two positions for offset cuts. It is particularly useful for cutting the tenoned rails for bridle joints for glass doors in which the top and bottom sides are offset to allow for the glass to fit.

Can you see how simple the idea is? The surprising thing is that it can take years of doing such things to be in the exact right place and time to discover something so simple and new.

This device is useful because the measurement for the 1/4 inch offset between cuts on the top and bottom is built in. The first cuts on the face sides of the door rails are made with the face sides down, with the shorter arm of the device defining the space between the clamping block and the blade. Then the block is turned end for end without changing the position of the clamp, with the 1/4 in. longer block moving the work piece 1/4 in further from the clamping block. This creates an exactly 1/4 inch offset front to back. The idea is that it should be easy, fool proof and exact.

In the Clear Spring School wood shop today, I watched my 4th 5th and 6th grade students "thinkering and tinkering"as they worked to design toy cars. Ozric told me, "I don't know what I'm doing, but I think it is going to turn out OK."