Woodworking accessory for making tapered cuts on a workpiece

A fixture for use with a table saw for supporting an elongated workpiece having a head end, a tail end, an end surface at said tail end and a central longitudinal axis, said fixture enabling longitudinal tapered cuts to be made on said workpiece, wherein at least a portion of the head end of said workpiece retains its original cross sectional dimension after tapered cuts have been made in said workpiece, said table saw having a saw blade and a horizontal guide fence extending parallel to said saw blade, said fixture comprising:

• (a) a first rail having a first head end, a first tail end and a first vertical guide surface which extends longitudinally from said first head to said first tail end and which enables said fixture to engage said guide fence and to be guided longitudinally along said guide fence;
• (b) a second rail having a second head end, a second tail end and a second vertical guide surface that faces away from said first vertical guide surface and extends longitudinally from said second head end to said second tail end, said second head end being pivotally connected to said first head end so that said second vertical guide surface can assume a plurality of angular positions relative to said first vertical guide surface;
• (c) a head end retaining mechanism mounted on said second rail, said head end retaining mechanism having at least one vertical bracing surface which is parallel to said second vertical guide surface and which faces away from said second vertical guide surface for engaging the head end of said workpiece at one side of said workpiece and at least one horizontal bracing surface for engaging the head end of said workpiece to enable the head end of said workpiece to be located at a fixed point relative to said second vertical guide surface, said head end retaining mechanism being adapted for clamping the head end of workpiece so that the central longitudinal axis of said workpiece remains in a fixed position relative to said second vertical guide surface before and after longitudinal cuts have been made in said workpiece;
• (d) a tail end retaining mechanism mounted on at least one of said first and second rails, said tail end retaining mechanism comprising
• (1) a first stop having a first vertical stop surface which faces said head end retaining mechanism for engaging the end surface of said workpiece;
• (2) a second stop having a second vertical stop surface longitudinally spaced from said vertical bracing surface for engaging a side of the tail end of said workpiece that faces said second vertical stop surface;
• and
• (3) a third stop having a horizontal stop surface for engaging the top of the tail end of said workpiece, each of said second vertical stop and said horizontal stop being adjustable so that said second vertical stop surface and said horizontal stop surface are adjustably movable relative to said second vertical guide surface toward and away from said workpiece for maintaining said second vertical stop surface and said horizontal surface in contact with said workpiece for each longitudinal tapered cut that is made in said workpiece.