When you get to the finishing stages of a home renovation project, you’ll need shims for various tasks. For setting door frame, leveling cabinets, etc. these are invaluable. They often come in handy when doing shop projects as well, and the ability to quickly make ones to the size needed from scrap wood can be a real time (and money) saver.

To build the jig, the first step is to cut a piece of 2×6 to about 13″ long:

This length can be changed for longer shims, if needed.

Since the lumber has those silly rounded corners, they should be cut off next, leaving the stock 5″ wide:

I want shims that are 10″ long, so I mark that along one edge.

The butt of the shim will be 3/8″ thick, and I mark that as well:

A straightedge is used to draw a line from the point laid out to the corner, marking the taper for the shim.

Then cut it out on the band saw:

To hold the shim safety in place while it’s being cut, a guard is glued on. Just a piece of scrap wood the same length as the jig. It has the added benefit of covering the blade to increase safety.

To use it, I have another piece of lumber cut to 10″ long. It fits in the notch cut in the jig and running it through the saw cuts the shim:

I will get several shims from this one piece of wood.

You can quickly turn a bunch of scrap lumber (usually lots of that around during a renovation) into very useful shims of any size:

I made a quick video showing the build: