Teacher's-Pet Safety Clamp

My junior-high students have made hundreds of heart-shaped keepsake boxes following plans that call for slicing off the box's lid on the bandsaw. Doing this requires that the blade guide be raised about 5" above the table. This exposes a great deal of blade and places the operator's fingers too close to the blade for this woodshop teacher's liking.

To help my students complete this project safely, I devised the adjustable jaw safety clamp shown at top. The key to the installation is that the rear jaw of the clamp must be at a right angle to the miter slot. This clamping method also works great for other projects and on other tools, such as a tablesaw and shaper.
—Jay C. Peterson, Lancaster, Calif.