How to Correct a Crooked Board

The table saw is a perfect tool to rip a straight edge on a board that has one crooked edge.

But what do you do when a board has two crooked edges?

What you need to do is create a straight edge with a rip of plywood — nothing more than a 5- or 6-inch-wide piece of plywood that has a perfectly straight edge on one side — and you’re just going to set it in place. Make sure that it is overlapping one of the edges on the board itself.

Then we’re going to secure it with a couple of screws.

And we’re going to cut a perfectly straight rip right into that bottom board.

So now, we have one perfectly straight edge on the board. We can remove the plywood, reset the board on the table saw and run it through, ripping off that final crooked edge, and we’ll have a board with two perfectly straight edges.

Watch the video above to see Joe’s Simple Solution.