I am working on some projects where I need to rip craft (popsicle) sticks a little more than half down the middle. Once done, the cut edge needs to be fairly straight as it will be glued. I did some of these projects a dozen or so years ago, but I'm not sure how I did it. I am trying to find a safe way. My first thought (without thinking about it at 5 AM trying to get back to sleep) is to rip on a bandsaw (with a sliding table), then put a plane upside down in a vise and smooth the edge after cutting. My father made some of these decades ago, and the only power tool he had was a table saw and just a few hand tools. Though he had a lifelong friend and HS classmate who was a woodworker.

Ideas?

Edited September 5Sep 5 by kmealy

1. change design so you don't have to do anything that is unsafe.

2. don't use a TS on such small parts.

3. exacto/utility knife with a good metal rule to limit/control the cut line. those sticks aren't that thick

4. be careful

Bandsaw comes to mind. A table saw for something that small just scares the bejeebers out of me.

Maybe tape a stack together and cut them all at once. Then flatten together on a flat sanding surface.

I would use my scroll saw with a fence and spiral blades.

The fence helps with the straight edge, and the sprial blades do not wander. 😃

@Headhunter’s idea sounds like good advice

Could you use the "factory" edge at the glue up, then smooth the outside cut edges after glue up?

Try using a

Zero clearance insert in the TS

80 tooth blade

push stick which supports the popsicle stick 100% from the top

May need to add a small cleat or double sided tape to help push the stick along

The piece you cut off may be the piece you save/use.

There are move expensive options

purchase a laser cutter

purchase on of those small TSs which has a ~ 6" blade (small kerf)

Danl

Pop the sickle stick in a bench vise and hand plane: the wood is so soft that it will shave quickly. Even a small/micro block plane would easily cut.

This is a little outside the box and might not be of interest. I have this "seen on TV" cutter (I got mine at Menards) that will do what you want with 2 cuts. It's not deep enough to split the entire stick, so the one in the pic I cut once from each end with the cut meeting in the middle. This cutter is really useful, I've used it to cut square ends on all kinds of tubing and garden hose, as well as cutting dowels up to 1/4" in diameter.

Well, I ran a trial and it seemed to work just fine. I taped together 6 sticks, set up a fence at the right distance, then ran the sticks halfway thru, stopped the saw, pulled them out, flipped, so the same side against the fence and cut the other half. No fingers were damaged in the process.