UPDATE! The question I get the most is "How do I make another start with the offcuts?" I finally put together a video explaining how: ua-cam.com/video/bX_SnVSEfS0/v-deo.html
Glad I happened upon this video. I am making an outdoor Christmas tree silhouette and want to put a star on top. This just made my day as I struggled with the inner angles. Your jig also made these easy peasy. Thank you very much for this video.
Hey Jason A huge shout out from across the pond! I’ve made your jig, and had fun making some stars from reclaimed pallet wood. I got the 18 degrees spot on by using a digital angle finder, but like you, found that across all the cuts I was a tiny bit out. So I’ve got a workaround which I hope helps you & others…. We made two jig ps at exactly 18 degrees. But the second jig has an adjustment screw set into the edge of the jig. We consistently found the second group of cuts we’re out by a hairs breadth. So we experimented by winding the screw out a tiny bit, to alter the angle the timber sits in the jig. That way jig one does the initial cuts and jig two does the second set of cuts. We got pretty damn close this way! Huge thanks again for the great tutorial 🌟
I use my miter saw to make stars, as I find that is easier to work with, and because it is more accurate. I used a jig to cut the inner angles, and one for the outer angles, and I used an aluminium 90-degree profile as a fence screwed onto a board to construct them. I cut the pieces with the wood in a vertical position against the fence, and I used a digital „protractor“ / spirit level to set the angles precisely. It worked like a dream.
Great job Brother. I love the video. I've seen people make stars on a Miter Saw, on a RadialArmSaw, and on a Table Saw, and with a jigsaw, I made one with a circular saw, but it was the overlapping style.
Good stuff, I like it. I think the cleverest part is your observation that after assembling the half-points into points, you can use the jig a second time to cut the inner angles. Thank you.
I'm glad I found your video first. it was very informative. I was able to build the Jig from scraps and my speed square. no one else has a video that makes it so easy.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper well it works perfect for the open center, but has lots of gaps if I try to make a solid star. good thing I prefer the open center.
fantastic video. just wondering if the distance of the bottom part of the 18 deg fence piece that cradles the board is critical from saw blade edge?? no measurement was given. appears to be 5-6" ? Great process, simple not a lot of different setups to complete. SWEET, SIMPLE FANTASTIC.
The distance of the jig from the blade will determine the final length of the piece. So it does affect, but it totally depends on how big you want your star to be. Longer pieces will require you to move the jig farther from the blade. What is critical is that you cut each piece for that specific star at the same length.
I made a star today. I think I am going to have to adjust the jig slightly as my 54 degree cuts have a slight gap. I also want to make a smaller star and wondered if I can put a spacer at the base of the jig to put the piece being cut farther up to hang off the jig to reach the blade.
In order to avoid making too much jigs, you can actual use a circular saw with a saw track guide with T tracks, and you just prepare a few piece woods and T track clamps.
Great job. After the first series of cuts, and assembling the two halves, when you go back for the second series of cuts, do you find that the space between the bottom of your material and the surface of the table increases the risk of kickback?
I think that is likely true. Kickback is a concern with any cut, but certainly with these steep angle cuts. Ideally the jig would be sized to ride in the miter slot (like a sled) and completely fill the space over to the blade thereby supporting the material. That would be ideal, the only downside is you'd be locking in the size of star you could make with that jig.
I kinda depends on how big you want to make the star. Smaller star requires shorter pieces, larger requires larger. The longer piece on my jig is about 16" and the short about 6-8".
Basically, yes. Wood glue is very strong. The hard part would be clamping it effectively while the glue dries as the shape would make that a bit challenging.
Was the cedar supposed to ride on top of the feather board? I know it's a silly question, but you could've easily moved the feather board but didn't. It would have been nice to see at least you use the jig at least once.
Yes. The cedar rides over the feather board. I use the feather board to keep the jig against the fence. There is a brief shot of me using the jig to cut the long angle.
Yes and no. My jig rides along the fence. So bringing the fence closer to the blade makes a smaller star. Moving the fence away makes a bigger star. So my jig dictates a range of sizes. There is some flexibility.
I'll try to remember and do that next time I make some of these. Some of the Kreg jigs have clear markings and instructions for placement based on the thickness of the wood (amzn.to/37Ta6Ly). For me, with my simple jig, it was just trial and error on scrap.
If I understand what you are asking, not necessarily. The material can hangover the end of the jig. But the farther it hangs over, the less safe the cutting as it will have less of the material being stabilized by the jig.
I do not. But it’s not hard. Just rip a piece of plywood and put a straight piece of 1x2 at an 18 degree angle. Then use a square to put another piece at 90 degrees to the first.
Why didn't you just use CA glue when I do wood working I use the thin CA glue after I have everything lined up and then just squit it in the seams it works great and it won't come apart. I also use it in cracks and for finishing work on my lathe it turns out beautiful. Nice looking stars. I'm just not a fan of pocket screws myself I rarely use anything but wood and dowels for joints.
I’ve wanted to try CA glue but just haven’t at this point. It might be perfect for the stars. I am not a big fan of pocket screws either. I prefer traditional joinery with glue. But with stars I made a bunch and needed to save some time and clamping the stars ✨ isn’t easy due to angles. Since CA glue cures so quickly, maybe it would be better than pocket screws.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper you wouldn't have to clamp it with the thin CA glue when I make things that are flat like that I just put them together and use thin CA glue and just put some right on the joint face and it goes right down into the joints and bonds pretty much right away you can get tightbond thin CA glue on Amazon and it comes with different tips so that way you can just put a little bit right on your joints no clamping and bonds really well it won't come apart at all it works great I do that with alot of my wood working just make sure the surface is clean you can try it on a couple pieces of wood side by side and just put some right on that seam just put some right on the top of the seam and it will soak right into that seam and hold. I do that with bends also instead of glueing every bend I just put the thin strip's together and put CA glue on the top of the seam bends you can use it that was with alot of different things where there's seams. Hope that helps. Just make sure if you try it you get the thin CA glue when doing it that way.
I definitely want to try it. I just didn’t have any when I made the video and haven’t tried it yet. But I have a project in the works where I will have many small surface cracks to fill and from what I can tell, CA glue would perfect for that!
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper yeah it works great it also works great if you have a beautiful piece of wood that is somewhat punky if you put some of that thin CA glue on that area it strengthens that wood and it's like a rock I've done that quite a few times with projects cause I do alot if live edge furniture and sometimes there's a soft spot but I don't want to remove it so I just use the thin CA glue to fix it and also cracks that way I'm not filling it with epoxy cause I do that when I'm done. If you want to try and great epoxy I would recommend Stone coat epoxy there out if Oregon best epoxy I've ever worked with I will never use anything else. You have to go directly to there website to get it though but they do ship it directly to your house and if you have any questions you can call them there very helpful. I highly recommend there epoxy I use to with all my counter tops and live edge stuff in all my tiny home builds. And they have alot of different products to choose from.
Sure. There are 2 approaches to this. One is to make the initial cut with the jig in a way that cuts the blank roughly in half. This will give you 2 pieces of roughly the same size with the initial cut which can be used in the same star. The other method is to cut as long of a piece as possible on the first cut which leaves a smaller off-cut. But, you can then use that off cut as is to make a smaller, solid (no open space in the center) star. Or you can rip the off-cut and cut off a little on the short side before making the second cut and you can have a smaller star with an open center. It's a little hard to explain...but that's the basics. Maybe I'll do a video showing that the next time I make some stars.
When I make them for people, I charge between $25-50 depending on size. I shipped one to a friend, but learned they are just too big to ship effectively.
True. I made the jig years before. I do talk about it in the video. Square up a piece of plywood. Add a 1x2 at 18 degrees, and another one at 90 degrees to that. Fine tune it and you are good to go.
I am pretty sure they were 3/4 inch pocket hole screws. 1 inch might also work. The trick is that the cedar fence pickets are NOT 3/4 inch thick. They are more like 5/8 or a little less. Too long of a screw will poke through the front side. Experiment on scrap to get the proper placement for the pocket hole and length of screw.
Hey! Thanks for video. Could you possibly make a separate video with measurements for making of jig? Been through A LOT of wood trying to make a star. Not an overall idiot, just new to workworking and lousy at math. Does the jig ride in the mitre slot or is it just held in place against the fence using the featherboard?
Not a bad idea...making a video about making the jig. And no, my jig does not ride in the miter slot. I jus ride it against the fence so I can make different size stats.
Jason: I know you & I have never met but with the amount of screws your using. Look at Amazon GRK Screws they have an 1 1/4 screws little longer but cost is 54.00 for 1300 screws I use them on my kreg jig all the time. Just don't try to pull it deeeep if you know what I mean. They have the same screw inn a washer type runs about 6.50 to 9.00. per 100. or look at the line on www.buygrkfasteners.com/ Sorry so long. hope maybe it helps!!!
UPDATE! The question I get the most is "How do I make another start with the offcuts?" I finally put together a video explaining how: ua-cam.com/video/bX_SnVSEfS0/v-deo.html
I never heard the slogan your grandfather used to say…I like it. I’m going to add this Star to my list to try in the workshop. Thanks.
You should!
Glad I happened upon this video. I am making an outdoor Christmas tree silhouette and want to put a star on top. This just made my day as I struggled with the inner angles. Your jig also made these easy peasy.
Thank you very much for this video.
I made the stars for last Christmas (2022)and they turned out great. I am going to make more and give them as gifts.
Awesome! I've given away a few myself.
Lovely video Jason. Made one and it came out beautifully. Thank you very much for sharing. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This looks awesome ,gonna give it a shot. Stay Tuned!!
Hey Jason
A huge shout out from across the pond!
I’ve made your jig, and had fun making some stars from reclaimed pallet wood.
I got the 18 degrees spot on by using a digital angle finder, but like you, found that across all the cuts I was a tiny bit out.
So I’ve got a workaround which I hope helps you & others….
We made two jig ps at exactly 18 degrees. But the second jig has an adjustment screw set into the edge of the jig.
We consistently found the second group of cuts we’re out by a hairs breadth. So we experimented by winding the screw out a tiny bit, to alter the angle the timber sits in the jig.
That way jig one does the initial cuts and jig two does the second set of cuts.
We got pretty damn close this way!
Huge thanks again for the great tutorial 🌟
Nice!
I use my miter saw to make stars, as I find that is easier to work with, and because it is more accurate. I used a jig to cut the inner angles, and one for the outer angles, and I used an aluminium 90-degree profile as a fence screwed onto a board to construct them. I cut the pieces with the wood in a vertical position against the fence, and I used a digital „protractor“ / spirit level to set the angles precisely. It worked like a dream.
Looking Nice. Cool! 👌🏽👍🏼🤩
Thanks! 😁
Great job Brother. I love the video. I've seen people make stars on a Miter Saw, on a RadialArmSaw, and on a Table Saw, and with a jigsaw, I made one with a circular saw, but it was the overlapping style.
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing. Using one jig is excellent!
Yes. I have to admit that someone else pointed out to me that you could use just one jig. Once you fine tune the jig, you can just keep building!
😊😊
Good stuff, I like it. I think the cleverest part is your observation that after assembling the half-points into points, you can use the jig a second time to cut the inner angles. Thank you.
Honest man
I'm glad I found your video first. it was very informative. I was able to build the Jig from scraps and my speed square. no one else has a video that makes it so easy.
Thanks! I am glad it's helpful. If you are like me, you may have to tweak your jig to really get the angle dialed in.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper I think I either got really lucky, or the fact that both angles are cut on the same Jig cancels out any errors.
@@robertmiler6652 Awesome! I am a little jealous. :)
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper well it works perfect for the open center, but has lots of gaps if I try to make a solid star. good thing I prefer the open center.
I really like the table saw jig idea.
Yes. It makes it so much easier!
I just make my star follow you instructions, turn out really nice, i really appreciate, keep the good work!!!
It worked perfect, for both of the stars
Very well made and explained as well.
Great Job! Your Grandpa sounds like a very wise man !!!
Thanks. And yes, Grandpa was. He had lots of great lines like that. :)
It turns out very beautiful! Good luck!
fantastic video. just wondering if the distance of the bottom part of the 18 deg fence piece that cradles the board is critical from saw blade edge?? no measurement was given. appears to be 5-6" ? Great process, simple not a lot of different setups to complete. SWEET, SIMPLE FANTASTIC.
The distance of the jig from the blade will determine the final length of the piece. So it does affect, but it totally depends on how big you want your star to be. Longer pieces will require you to move the jig farther from the blade. What is critical is that you cut each piece for that specific star at the same length.
Cool project, thanks for sharing. Full View and Like
This is a great video and I cannot wait to make one. Is there a tutorial on making the jig.
Muchas gracias por compartir!!!!!,buen trabajo!!!!!
I made my first star using my fence boards that I had left over. Thank you for the video and instructions.
Awesome! I am glad it was helpful.
very nice
I made a star today. I think I am going to have to adjust the jig slightly as my 54 degree cuts have a slight gap. I also want to make a smaller star and wondered if I can put a spacer at the base of the jig to put the piece being cut farther up to hang off the jig to reach the blade.
I would think that would work for a smaller star. As long as it stays in place that should work.
In order to avoid making too much jigs, you can actual use a circular saw with a saw track guide with T tracks, and you just prepare a few piece woods and T track clamps.
Great video - thank you.
Would love to see a vid on making a star with the off-cuts.
Good suggestion. I will likely make a few more of these in the next month or so. If I do, i'll be sure to show what I do with the off-cuts.
I finally posted a video on this: Making a star with the offcuts. ua-cam.com/video/bX_SnVSEfS0/v-deo.html
This is the simplest DIY doable instructional video. Thanks for sharing.
Great job. After the first series of cuts, and assembling the two halves, when you go back for the second series of cuts, do you find that the space between the bottom of your material and the surface of the table increases the risk of kickback?
I think that is likely true. Kickback is a concern with any cut, but certainly with these steep angle cuts. Ideally the jig would be sized to ride in the miter slot (like a sled) and completely fill the space over to the blade thereby supporting the material. That would be ideal, the only downside is you'd be locking in the size of star you could make with that jig.
Awesome , thanks for sharing all of your information, this is going to be great project for me :D
What is the length from the bottom of the jig to the top cut on the 18 degree cut
Do you have a accurate drawing for the jig.
I am just starting my hobby and I really like the project.
I do not. But ultimately you just need to get the angle right. I believe it is 18 degrees. I mention it in the video.
Hahaha my grandpa said the same saying back in the day!!
When you made the jig for the stars ,how long do the peices on the jig need to be
I kinda depends on how big you want to make the star. Smaller star requires shorter pieces, larger requires larger. The longer piece on my jig is about 16" and the short about 6-8".
Nice tutorial. Thank you. Would this be just as strong with wood glue?
Basically, yes. Wood glue is very strong. The hard part would be clamping it effectively while the glue dries as the shape would make that a bit challenging.
Was the cedar supposed to ride on top of the feather board? I know it's a silly question, but you could've easily moved the feather board but didn't. It would have been nice to see at least you use the jig at least once.
Yes. The cedar rides over the feather board. I use the feather board to keep the jig against the fence. There is a brief shot of me using the jig to cut the long angle.
Boa tarde amigo qual foi o grau que você cortou as peças
Did you use same jig to do bot cuter
Yes. Same jig for both cuts.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper okay, tanks
Does the size of your jig only work with the dimensions of star you just made there?
Yes and no. My jig rides along the fence. So bringing the fence closer to the blade makes a smaller star. Moving the fence away makes a bigger star. So my jig dictates a range of sizes. There is some flexibility.
can you do a short video on where to place the kreg pocket hole maker, to get the holes set correctly..
I'll try to remember and do that next time I make some of these. Some of the Kreg jigs have clear markings and instructions for placement based on the thickness of the wood (amzn.to/37Ta6Ly). For me, with my simple jig, it was just trial and error on scrap.
Would the jig work without a featherboard ?
Yes. The feather board is like having and extra arm, but it can be done without. You just have to be careful
Does the long part of the jig need to be as long as the piece you're cutting?
If I understand what you are asking, not necessarily. The material can hangover the end of the jig. But the farther it hangs over, the less safe the cutting as it will have less of the material being stabilized by the jig.
Do you have a video on how to make your jig?
I don't. But it's literally just a piece of plywood with a 1x2 attached at an 18 degree angle, and another one 90 degrees to that one.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper ok, thank you! I'm going to make one this weekend. Those stars are so pretty
Do u have a video on the jig
I do not. But it’s not hard. Just rip a piece of plywood and put a straight piece of 1x2 at an 18 degree angle. Then use a square to put another piece at 90 degrees to the first.
Hand Crafted by Jason Cooper thank you for the help, I will go try this , thank you for a awesome video
Why didn't you just use CA glue when I do wood working I use the thin CA glue after I have everything lined up and then just squit it in the seams it works great and it won't come apart. I also use it in cracks and for finishing work on my lathe it turns out beautiful. Nice looking stars. I'm just not a fan of pocket screws myself I rarely use anything but wood and dowels for joints.
I’ve wanted to try CA glue but just haven’t at this point. It might be perfect for the stars. I am not a big fan of pocket screws either. I prefer traditional joinery with glue. But with stars I made a bunch and needed to save some time and clamping the stars ✨ isn’t easy due to angles. Since CA glue cures so quickly, maybe it would be better than pocket screws.
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper you wouldn't have to clamp it with the thin CA glue when I make things that are flat like that I just put them together and use thin CA glue and just put some right on the joint face and it goes right down into the joints and bonds pretty much right away you can get tightbond thin CA glue on Amazon and it comes with different tips so that way you can just put a little bit right on your joints no clamping and bonds really well it won't come apart at all it works great I do that with alot of my wood working just make sure the surface is clean you can try it on a couple pieces of wood side by side and just put some right on that seam just put some right on the top of the seam and it will soak right into that seam and hold. I do that with bends also instead of glueing every bend I just put the thin strip's together and put CA glue on the top of the seam bends you can use it that was with alot of different things where there's seams. Hope that helps. Just make sure if you try it you get the thin CA glue when doing it that way.
I definitely want to try it. I just didn’t have any when I made the video and haven’t tried it yet. But I have a project in the works where I will have many small surface cracks to fill and from what I can tell, CA glue would perfect for that!
@@HandCraftedbyJasonCooper yeah it works great it also works great if you have a beautiful piece of wood that is somewhat punky if you put some of that thin CA glue on that area it strengthens that wood and it's like a rock I've done that quite a few times with projects cause I do alot if live edge furniture and sometimes there's a soft spot but I don't want to remove it so I just use the thin CA glue to fix it and also cracks that way I'm not filling it with epoxy cause I do that when I'm done. If you want to try and great epoxy
I would recommend Stone coat epoxy there out if Oregon best epoxy I've ever worked with I will never use anything else. You have to go directly to there website to get it though but they do ship it directly to your house and if you have any questions you can call them there very helpful. I highly recommend there epoxy I use to with all my counter tops and live edge stuff in all my tiny home builds. And they have alot of different products to choose from.
im going to try and make a flower planter based on the star shape. challenge ;)
You mentioned saving the off cuts and making smaller stars. Can you elaborate on that process?
Sure. There are 2 approaches to this. One is to make the initial cut with the jig in a way that cuts the blank roughly in half. This will give you 2 pieces of roughly the same size with the initial cut which can be used in the same star. The other method is to cut as long of a piece as possible on the first cut which leaves a smaller off-cut. But, you can then use that off cut as is to make a smaller, solid (no open space in the center) star. Or you can rip the off-cut and cut off a little on the short side before making the second cut and you can have a smaller star with an open center. It's a little hard to explain...but that's the basics. Maybe I'll do a video showing that the next time I make some stars.
Here is a video explaining: ua-cam.com/video/bX_SnVSEfS0/v-deo.html
that was a great video. Thank you so much. Just what I was looking for.
How much do you sell them for?
When I make them for people, I charge between $25-50 depending on size. I shipped one to a friend, but learned they are just too big to ship effectively.
As far as instructions go, you should have shown us how to make the Jig.
True. I made the jig years before. I do talk about it in the video. Square up a piece of plywood. Add a 1x2 at 18 degrees, and another one at 90 degrees to that. Fine tune it and you are good to go.
Awesome! What size screw did you use? Thanks
I am pretty sure they were 3/4 inch pocket hole screws. 1 inch might also work. The trick is that the cedar fence pickets are NOT 3/4 inch thick. They are more like 5/8 or a little less. Too long of a screw will poke through the front side. Experiment on scrap to get the proper placement for the pocket hole and length of screw.
Hey! Thanks for video. Could you possibly make a separate video with measurements for making of jig? Been through A LOT of wood trying to make a star. Not an overall idiot, just new to workworking and lousy at math.
Does the jig ride in the mitre slot or is it just held in place against the fence using the featherboard?
Not a bad idea...making a video about making the jig. And no, my jig does not ride in the miter slot. I jus ride it against the fence so I can make different size stats.
Thanks for your reply. Figured it out. Worked well. Cheers!
Had a hard time with 54 degree cut. Had to do it on the chop saw
Vary cool, clean up your shop.
thanks....and it does get cleaned up from time to time, but I sure mess it up quickly! :)
👍👍👍👍👍
bom video porem muita teoria e pouca pratica
👍
Shouldnt we wait until we watch video first and then decide if we want to subscribe or if we like it? 🤔🤔
I really need to see at least one cut at regular speed to see how it should turn out. Ruined the entire video.
Jason: I know you & I have never met but with the amount of screws your using. Look at Amazon GRK Screws they have an 1 1/4 screws little longer but cost is 54.00 for 1300 screws I use them on my kreg jig all the time. Just don't try to pull it deeeep if you know what I mean. They have the same screw inn a washer type runs about 6.50 to 9.00. per 100. or look at the line on www.buygrkfasteners.com/ Sorry so long. hope maybe it helps!!!
Thanks for the tip! I’ll check them out.
Nuenazooo!!!!.
Buenasooo!!!!
Woodglut is nice for that.
Warum nicht Deutsch?????
Ich spreche kein deutsch. :)
Y
Speak louder please!
Make it wooden with the help of the Woodprix instructions.