Table
Also called: table frame, table leg
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A woodworking table is a supporting surface that holds or guides timber while it is cut or shaped.
Reference and support
A fence, a fixed guide at the table, gives the work a reference as it passes a cutter. A stop can gauge the distance from the end of a piece, while a clamp holds the work against the fence on a tilting table.
A sliding table
A sliding table is a movable support for work beneath a cutter, including when a drill press is adapted to cut a mortise, a rectangular joint hole. The fence keeps the work referenced during that operation.
Machine settings
On a thicknesser, a machine that reduces a board to a set thickness, the table is the adjustable support that determines the finished thickness. Keep any cutter exposed on the machine guarded while it is in use.