How To Cut a Circle on a Tablesaw

Here's a brand new spin on cutting a simple circle. Follow these simple steps below and with a little practice and a little patience, you'll be impressing your friends with your table saw skill. Make sure that you exercise extreme caution with power tools and always wear protective gear.

1. The first step in cutting a circle with a table saw is to read and understand the instructions that came with your power tools, and wear your goggles. Safety is the most important part when it comes to working with power tools.
2. Draw a line the radius of the circle away from the blade. You will also need to have a sliding table available. You will use it to guide your cutting.
3. Put a pivot point on top of the radius line with a nail, and hammer it in a few millimeters. Cut the nail about a 1/4" away from the surface of the sliding table and file the nail to a point. This will be used as a pivot to spin the wood on while you're cutting the circle.
4. Place the middle of your wood square on top of the pivot point and hammer it down, sticking it to the sharpened nail. This will allow the wood to spin, allowing you access to all sides of the wood.
5. Cut off the four corners of the board first, creating an octagon. Hold the wood down firmly on the sliding table to prevent it from spinning on the pivot point and ruining the cuts that you've made.
6. After the octagon has been cut, cut the corners again to create a shape with 16 sides called a hexadecagon. You'll start to notice that the more pointed sides you cut off, the more the wood starts to look like a circle.
7. Keeping cutting the points of the wood, slowly rotating the circle on the pivot point. Move the board slowly forward, cutting off any points and smoothing out the sides of the wood. Going slowly and with smooth strokes will ensure you have an even, well-crafted circle.