Woodworking featherboards have been around a long time with little to no changes to their basic construction or design. If you've used featherboards in the past you know that while they do increase safety and help secure workpieces as they are fed through the table saw or router table, the basic design can really leave a lot to be desired. The same goes for shop-made featherboards. The new FeatherPRO and FeatherDUO from Bow Products take the basic concept of the featherboard and improve on both design and function taking advantage of modern materials and manufacturing techniques.
Typically, commercially available woodworking featherboards are made of a one-piece plastic body and feathers that fit into the miter slot or T-track of power tools like the table saw or router table. These hard, plastic featherboards can be difficult to adjust for tension and are prone to breaking if they come into contact with a spinning saw blade or router bit. Once adjusted properly, they can do a good job of supporting the workpiece but they're not all that great at helping to eliminate kickback, should it happen.
The Bow Products FeatherPRO and FeatherDUO solve all of these problems. First of all, they use removable and replaceable "feathers" made of hardened EVA foam. The feathers themselves are cut with a laser to create what Bow Products calls a "living hinge." This design allows the feather to flex and apply a consistent tension to the workpiece through a large adjustment range, making them much easier to set up than a traditional featherboard. Should kickback occur, the FeatherPRO "hinges" lock the workpiece against the fence making them much more efficient at absorbing and stopping kickback than a traditional featherboard.
Unlike the plastic fingers of a traditional featherboard, if the FeatherPRO comes into contact with the table saw blade or router bit the feathers will simply be cut in that location. With traditional plastic featherboards, the feathers could break and turn into flying debris.
Because the feather insert is replaceable on the FeatherPRO and FeatherDUO, the total investment of the tool is not lost. A secondary benefit of this design is that the feathers can be flipped over if you need to reverse the feed direction without using tools or removing and reinstalling hardware from the featherboard's base. Reversing the feathers is as simple as pulling the feathers out of the base, flipping the feather insert over, and then pressing it back down. Replacing the feathers with brand new ones is equally simple. Replacement feathers are available in two different tensions: Standard (black) and Ultralight (gray). So you can fine-tune the tension for your specific task.
The FeatherPro for woodworking comes in two basic configurations. The Original FeatherPRO and the FeatherDUO. The FeatherPRO is a single featherboard that includes the hardware to be used in a traditional 3/8"-deep x 3/4"-wide miter slot and includes a Standard tension (black) feather insert.
The FeatherDUO includes a pair of FeatherPRO featherboards, a pair of spacers, and all the hardware to use both featherboards individually in a miter track, in a 1/4"-20 T-track, or tandem-stacked to produce excellent support for tall work-pieces. The FeatherDUO also includes a pair of standard pressure feathers (for firm pressure) and a pair of ultralight feathers (for delicate work pieces or tandem use). Because you get two featherboards and 2 pairs of feathers, the FeatherDUO is an extremely versatile option and an excellent value.
One of my favorite things about the FeatherPRO and FeatherDUO is how easy it is to feed the material through. I have always struggled with the stiff fingers of a traditional featherboard causing excessive pressure or not enough pressure. But the FeatherPRO, with its "living hinge" design, produces a consistent amount of pressure on the workpiece and is much less touchy. In other words, I find the FeatherPRO and FeatherDUO to have a big sweet spot of just the right amount of tension. This design really makes them a pleasure to use.
If you are inclined to forgo using woodworking featherboards because they are hard to setup or simply do not perform as well as they should, these featherboards by Bow Products are definitely worth a try. The FeatherPRO is a featherboard that is easier to use and provides better protection from kickback. And with the FeatherDUO there is almost no work-holding problem that can't be solved.
