Odd kickback- I think I need a "Woodstop",,,,

There I was ripping up 3/4" ply like a madman for some knock together shop cabinets..

A ~30" x 24" piece windmilled back and tucked up into my belly.
Odd thing was how slow it came off the saw. I heard the saw bog down as the piece came around & I think it was the smallish motor on the saw that saved my getting bruised up by the sheet. Third time in 30 years- every time with sheet goods. My wife was standing right there & turned around to ask what happened so I brushed it off & kept cutting. I want a slider. Or at least a decent splitter on my next saw.

What is the HP/model info on your saw? Did you have any form of blade guard/dust collector hood on.

Sometimes they come off slow, and I had that happen once with a TS3650 1.5p), but I have fortunatly not yet *knock on wood* had a kickback on my sawstop (3hp).

Glad that wasn't worse. What type of splitter are you using now?

I had the same thing happen only in high speed. I was cutting some 1/4" ply but I never changed the blade height after cutting 3/4" ply. It snagged the blade as I pushed it though. Dumb mistake but fortunately only one that caused bruises. Hope you feel better.

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Originally Posted by Tom Rick

There I was ripping up 3/4" ply like a madman for some knock together shop cabinets..

A ~30" x 24" piece windmilled back and tucked up into my belly.
Odd thing was how slow it came off the saw. I heard the saw bog down as the piece came around & I think it was the smallish motor on the saw that saved my getting bruised up by the sheet. Third time in 30 years- every time with sheet goods. My wife was standing right there & turned around to ask what happened so I brushed it off & kept cutting. I want a slider. Or at least a decent splitter on my next saw.

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Tom, glad you're OK.

Obviously time to install a guard and splitter on that table saw.

I have a slider, and it's great, however you still need to use a riving knife and guard.

Regards, Rod.

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Originally Posted by Tom Rick

There I was ripping up 3/4" ply like a madman for some knock together shop cabinets..

A ~30" x 24" piece windmilled back and tucked up into my belly.
Odd thing was how slow it came off the saw. I heard the saw bog down as the piece came around & I think it was the smallish motor on the saw that saved my getting bruised up by the sheet. Third time in 30 years- every time with sheet goods. My wife was standing right there & turned around to ask what happened so I brushed it off & kept cutting. I want a slider. Or at least a decent splitter on my next saw.

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Ouch. Good job playing it off.

I was cutting drawer bottoms about 15 years ago in the winter in the unheated portion of a cabinet shop. I didn't realize that my hands had gone numb until I dropped one of the pieces. I watched it bounce in slow motion off of the stack of cut pieces, then off the fence, then fall right onto the blade. The actual kickback was not in such slow motion. However, since I am 6'9", it wasn't in my gut either. It hit me hard enough to bruise both of my thighs as well as the other parts it hit.

I managed to turn the saw off before walking away from it and passing out.

Kris

Tom, you can add a splitter to any tablesaw, I'd highly recemmond installing one as next time you might not be so lucky.

Thanks all for the replies.

The saw was one of the Ridgid contractors saws that HD sells. I don't know the Hp off hand. This is a decent saw for what it is but oddly every time I have had a kickback it's on one of these lighter contractor saws. The first time was years ago with a Delta job site saw. I was cross cutting full sheets of 3/4" PT plywood into 4' sections. By myself, tired, warped wood, no fence, no sled, no out feed table, no nothing except luck when the sheet came off the saw it just knocked me down & no cuts. I can't believe how dumb that sounds now as a circular saw would have been a better choice but that is what I was doing. Another day trying to finish some job..
This time I was going through a stack of cabinet sides in a clean sensible cut list & must have just dropped the ball somehow. We all know how to keep sheet goods under control & yet that one came back. The blade cut a foot long crescent right through the sheet. Blade was set low but I still could have gotten a bad cut. A close call.

Edit- just reread my first post:

"ripping up 3/4" ply like a madman"......................

I think I see a pattern here- this was another job I was trying to finish up under the gun..

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Originally Posted by Jeff Monson

Tom, you can add a splitter to any tablesaw, I'd highly recemmond installing one as next time you might not be so lucky.

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I am curious on this, can you buy ones that clamp on somehow. I had never heard of one until I join SMC. I have never had kick back, but never say never right.

Gotta ask:

Why weren't you using the guard? On sheet goods, it certainly doesn't obstruct the cut.

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Originally Posted by Shawn Patel

Gotta ask:

Why weren't you using the guard? On sheet goods, it certainly doesn't obstruct the cut.

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I started out with the same say as Tom. I never had my guard on either because no matter what I did, the guard would never stay aligned after the first couple of cuts no matter how I put it on, high tight I bolted it, or how many times I tried to bend the splitter.

The splitter would constantly catch one side of the cut or the other. Not to mention, it was thicker than a thin kerf blade. It was also thicker than the blade the saw came with.

Deadline-induced kickback, or DIK, may possibly be the most common form of kickback.

Glad to hear you're ok.

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Originally Posted by Victor Robinson

Deadline-induced kickback, or DIK, may possibly be the most common form of kickback.

Glad to hear you're ok.

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I have had two in my life, both were a direct result of being at the end of a project, rushing to cut "one last piece" and being tired and lazy... not doing things properly. The last one I had cured me of that... If your tired, rushed, or both, it's time to slow down and be super dilligent.

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Originally Posted by Shawn Patel

Gotta ask:

Why weren't you using the guard? On sheet goods, it certainly doesn't obstruct the cut.

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Out side of the off chance of loosing some digits I see no reason for guards on TS's.............

Just kidding but I am of the camp which typically throws away the guards on new table saws.
I have never used a guard on a table saw and have cut thousands of board feet on a decent CPMS that lost its guard years ago.
Years of house building, trim jobs, commercial work where every job is done too fast to beat a dead line and never making that one mistake which cost me any fingers.

I am having a change of heart now- the guards are there for the one mistake- even if only once in 50 years.

I am picking up a new for me cabinet saw this weekend & I am keen to get it set up well.
I am also going to fix the brake and get a guard on my trusty Hitachi CPMS.