Ripping Wood: How to Use a Table Saw for Even Cuts

Ripping wood is more challenging than standard cuts—here's how to do it safely

By
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender
Lee Wallender

Lee has over two decades of hands-on experience remodeling, fixing, and improving homes, and has been providing home improvement advice for over 13 years.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
Updated on 12/07/22
Ripping Wood on a Table Saw

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Project Overview
  • Working Time: 5 - 30 mins
  • Total Time: 5 - 30 mins
  • Skill Level: Advanced
  • Estimated Cost: $0

Some home improvement projects—and some types of cutting—require a table saw; nothing else will really do the job as well. Manual circular saws, miter saws, hand saws, and reciprocating saws all have their place and can produce an amazingly wide variety of cuts. But when it comes to making a length-wise rip cut in wood, a table saw is the best tool to do it accurately while producing cuts that look like factory edges.

The terms rip cut and wood ripping both refer to cutting a piece of wood lengthwise, usually parallel to the direction of the wood grain. Rather than using standard cross-cutting on wood to make pieces shorter, ripping wood makes the pieces thinner.

For example, when building a door or window frame, or installing flooring planks, you may need to shave off a half-inch from the edge of a board. Or, you might have a sheet of plywood that needs to be cut lengthwise in order to fit the layout of a subfloor installation. While you can rip wood with a circular saw if you don't have a table saw to make this kind of cut, it may seize up when cutting thicker boards, such as 2x stock. And a circular saw can be difficult to use when ripping thinner boards, such as trimming down a 2x4 or 2x2 to fit a particular application. Saws like miter saws, chop saws, and cross-cut saws cannot be used to rip wood.

A table saw is the best tool to use when ripping wood, but safe cutting requires that you carefully follow recommended procedures.

Safety Considerations

A table saw is the safest tool to use for most wood ripping operations, but you should follow these procedures for safe work:

  • Use a push stick—an expendable stick of wood about a foot long and about 1x1 inch square or similar—to push the workpiece the last foot or so through the saw blade. With a push stick, you won't need to place your hands near the blade. Many woodworkers create their own push sticks, but there are also commercial push sticks you can buy.
  • Keep the table saw unplugged except when you are cutting wood. Many accidents occur when a table saw is accidentally turned on.
  • Always use safety glasses and hearing protection when using the saw.
  • Avoid using gloves, as gloves can sometimes get caught on the wood or in the saw, drawing your hand into the blade.
  • Keep the blade guard on the saw whenever possible. While some cutting jobs require the blade guard to be removed, your saw will be much safer to use if you leave the blade guard in place.
  • Do not attempt to rip severely bowed or curved wood. If the piece has a slight bow, place the convex edge against the fence while cutting.

More Safety: Watch Out for Kickback

Kickback is a dangerous situation that is responsible for many injuries during wood ripping operations on a table saw. It occurs when the workpiece pinches against the blade while cutting. The rapidly spinning blade can then throw the workpiece back in your direction with great force, perhaps striking you in the stomach or chest with enough force to puncture the skin or break bones.

Kickback can occur when the workpiece wanders away from the fence as you feed it through the blade, or when the edges of the kerf pinch together around the blade. Watch out for wet wood and for knots in the wood, which can make kickback more likely. And make sure to keep the workpiece pressed tightly against the fence as you feed it slowly through the blade.

Use a splitter to keep the kerf—the space left where the wood has been removed by the saw blade—open to keep it from pinching the blade as you cut the workpiece. Standing slightly to one side rather than directly behind the board will keep you from getting hit in the stomach or chest if kickback does occur.

Make sure the blade is correctly aligned so it is exactly parallel with the rip fence. Kickback becomes much more likely if a misalignment is forcing the workpiece to press against the blade.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Table saw
  • Measuring tape or square
  • Pencil

Materials

  • Push stick (or expendable piece of scrap wood)

Instructions

How to Rip Wood

  1. Choose the Right Saw Blade

    Ripping blades have fewer teeth than cross-cut blades because they are intended to cut with the grain of the wood instead of against it. For this reason, rip blades cannot be used for cross-cuts, as the result will be jagged. A cross-cut blade can be used to rip wood, but the process takes longer than using a ripping blade.

    Aim for 24 to 30 teeth on a 10-inch blade and less than 40 teeth on a 12-inch blade.

  2. Set the Blade Depth and Angle

    Adjust the blade for the proper depth. The recommendation is generally to set the blade so it extends about 1/8-inch above the top surface of the workpiece. For example, if you are cutting a 3/4-inch piece of plywood, set the blade at a depth of about 7/8-inch. This reduces the chance of serious injury if you accidentally brush your hand over the top of the workpiece while cutting.

    Most table saws also offer the option to make angled cuts when ripping wood, which can be set at various angles between 0 and 45 degrees. 45-degree cuts allow you to fit two beveled pieces of wood together in a perfect right angle (such as attaching two edges of a cube).

    Tip

    Proper blade depth is argued by woodworkers, with some saying that setting the blade higher reduces the chance of kickback since the teeth of the blade will apply more downward pressure on the workpiece as you cut. They argue that a shallow blade depth causes the teeth of the blade to strike the workpiece in a manner that pushes the wood back toward the operator.

  3. Mark the Workpiece for Cutting

    One benefit of using a table saw to rip cut wood is that you can adjust the fence to whatever measurement you want, and then trust that the saw will maintain this measurement all the way through the cut. This means that you can measure and mark just the front end of the board, adjust the fence to this distance from the blade, then feed the board through the saw. Provided you keep the board tight against the fence for the entirety of the cut, you're assured that the width will be uniform throughout.

  4. Set the Table Saw Fence

    Set the marked end of the workpiece on the top of the table saw so it just touches the blade. Adjust the workpiece so that the teeth of the saw are just touching your pencil mark. Then, move the wood slightly left so that you will not be cutting exactly on the mark.

    Table saws chew up so much wood that they will throw off your measurement by at least 1/8-inch— or the width of the blade— if you do not preserve the mark.

    Make sure that the fence is snug against the side of your workpiece, and then snap the fence lock tightly into place.

  5. Position the Outfeed Support

    With benchtop table saws, often the table is rather small. Rip long boards on this table saw by establishing outfeed support to hold the end of the board as it comes off the saw. Without some kind of outfeed support, the workpiece can wobble up and down as you feed it through the blade.

    An additional support may not be necessary if you have a stationary table saw with a large extension table that already provides plenty of outfeed support.

    Tip

    You can create outfeed support by stacking blocks of wood on the outfeed side of the table at the exact height of the saw's table. As the workpiece comes off the saw table, it will glide over this outfeed support. There are also adjustable outfeed roller stands you can buy. These can be adjusted to the precise height you need; they feature a roller or ball bearings over which the workpiece glides as it comes off the end of the saw's table.

  6. Rip-Cut the Workpiece

    Put on safety glasses and hearing protection. With your push stick near and the saw's safety guard down, flip on the power switch and let the motor come to full speed.

    Push the workpiece through the saw blade at a slow but steady rate, keeping it pressed lightly against the fence. Once you begin feeding the workpiece, complete the cut in one continuous motion. If you slow down or stop, you may notch big grooves out of your wood, destroying your straight line.

    When the wood is about halfway through the blade, pay attention to the outfeed side of the table, making sure the workpiece smoothly settles onto whatever kind of outfeed support you are using.

  7. Finish the Cut Using a Push Stick

    As you approach the end of your cut, your hands will get closer to the saw blade. Use a push stick to guide the end of the workpiece through the saw blade. Make sure that the push stick does not slip off of the workpiece, causing your hands to fall into the blade.

    Make sure the push stick is placed on the portion of wood between the blade and fence. That is the part that could bind and kick back.

  8. Power Down the Table Saw

    Once the cut is complete and before retrieving the workpiece, turn off the saw and wait for the blade to stop turning. Only now should you reach to lift the workpiece off the saw table. If you do not expect to be making another cut, unplug the saw.

FAQ
  • What tool should you use to make a rip cut?

    A table saw is the best tool for ripping wood to get straight, even edges. A circular saw can also be used when a table saw is not available.

  • How do you cut wood without a kickback?

    Kickbacks occur when a workpiece becomes pinched or stuck during cutting. Help prevent kickback by using the correct saw height, using a splitter to keep the wood open during cutting, and using a sharp blade. Always stand to the side while using a table saw, and keep the wood parallel to the saw.

  • What can you not do on a table saw?

    Table saws can not make rounded cuts or any cuts that are not in a straight line. These saws can be used for rip cuts and cross cuts, along with beveled angles. If you need to cut a rounded edge or a particular shape, opt for a circular saw or a multi-tool.