Angling the Sides

Although the sharp keysticks all appear to be the same width, they're not. However, the sharps that we will glue onto these keysticks must all be equally wide. Therefore, they will not fit equally well on all of the sharp keysticks. We'll measure the width of several sharp keys with a micrometer and determine the average width of the measured keysticks on their bottom surfaces. We will use this average width as the width of all of the sharps.

Flip the sharp blank right side up so that the beveled end is facing forward towards the blade. By trial and error, figure out where to make the second cut so as to end up with a sharp whose bottom surface measures the same as your pre-determined sharp width. Holding the sharp blank in this position on the miter gage or crosscut sled, use a small block of wood against the fence to register this cut and make it repeatable. Be sure to place the block in such a way that the sharp blank clears it before reaching the blade.