You certainly can cut it with a table saw and probably about as accurately as you would be able to do with a circular saw unless you made a very good jig.
A small table complicates the task particularly if you are cutting only a short piece off, the closer to the middle you are cutting the easier it will be to balance the board on the table. The other issue is the miter gauge. Even professional wood workers don't like to cross cut anything but short pieces with the miter gauge usually supplied even with very good table saws. There are very expensive and sophisticated accessory miter gauges and for wider stock most will build a panel cutter which is a fairly large sheet of plywood fitted to a guide that fits into the miter slot on the table saw and which has a fence along the rear edge to hold the panel and carry it through the saw. If you can attach a suitable straight piece of wood to the miter gauge across it's face so as to lengthen it, you will find it will support your board better. It just struck me that maybe I should explain that the miter gauge is that device which fits into the slot on the table top. It has a raised piece that can be adjusted usually through 45 or more degrees to either side. You should not use the rip fence to set size because the board you are cutting off can and usually will get jammed between the fence and the blade and will quite likely come flying back at you, usually striking at high speed some place between belly button and knees if you follow. This is not entirely true of course, the correct way if you were say cutting several 16 inch lengths and want them all equal is to clamp a stick to the fence leaving 16 inches from the blade edge of the stick to the blade but clamping the stick back along the fence far enough that as you push the board through the trailing edge passes the end of the stick before the leading edge contacts the blade. In this way there is always going to be some space, the thickness of the stick between the end of the board you are cutting off and the fence allowing the cut-off somewhere to go if it needs to. Ok, Once you figure and measure the length to be cut off you hold your board against the fence on the miter gauge, usually in the slot on the left of the blade and extend it out beyond the blade to the right of the blade the distance you intend to cut off. You will probably want to slide the rip fence right off of the saw table depending on how much you are cutting off. Once the amount you intend to cut off is beyond the blade to the right you back it off a touch holding the board firmly to the miter gauge, turn on the saw then gently slide the board into the blade until you pass right through. A long board will give you some trouble, helps to have something to hold that long left free end up. This is not so easy to do and you must take care not to grab for anything should it get away from you, another board can always be had but replacement fingers are not so readily available. I have cut many many boards just like this over time. Because the miter gauge is short and the board is heavy it is not easily done and absolute accuracy is difficult to insure but for most of us it is still more accurate than working with a hand saw unless it is very sharp and mounted in a good miter frame or box. You need to make sure that the miter gauge is set and the adjustment knob snug. For 90, if you don't have a positive stop, turning the gauge over and running it in upside down until it comes into contact with the edge of the table can be a good way to set it depending on the design of the table. You may also use the corner of the table as a pretty good guide to set it square. Hope this is helpful. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert J. Moore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, September 01, 2006 10:25 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] using a table saw. > Hi gang I have a 1 by 11 by 8 foot board that I need to cut for some > shelves. > I do not have a cercular saw. all I have is a hand saw which I really do > not > want to use for this project. I also have a small table saw. I don't know > the size of the table saw but suffice it to say it is not a large table. > Is > there a practicle way to cut this board on the table saw or do I need to > either have some one with a cercular saw cut it for me or buy one and do > it > my self? > I would like to learn to use a cercular saw but that just is not in my > budget at this time so if it needs to be cut that way I would just have > some > one do it for me. > > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From > Various List Members At The Following Address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.405 / Virus Database: 268.11.7/436 - Release Date: 1/09/2006 > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following Address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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