Was cutting out some letters that are 3/8 inch tall tonight and was struggling with holding the small side down and happened to remember cowboy_silversmith's posts on cutting ties. I always wondered why you would leave connectors in a piece. Then I realized that three points of contact make for a very solid surface to cut. I thought about it for a bit and thought "Why not drill and pierce cut as much as you can?" I did that and came up with a set of letters that are connected and all I have to do is saw around the outside and they are done. The other pic is of my "big thumbnail for holding right next to where the saw blade is. It is simply a barrette pattern and is rounded. I just use it to hold the material down to the cutting block and you can get very close to it without having a thumbnail full of saw cuts. It seems like it takes longer at first to drill and cut out a lot of little things, but in the long run, it turns out better and is actually very much less frustrating. What does everyone else use for a base for cutting? Mine is just a piece oak board with a slit in it.
JBM
JBM