Dumb things you can do to hurt yourself on a TS

[Dan Friedrichs]

Pretend that ever piece you are cutting could magically disappear, zap, gone . . . what would happen to your hand . . . Think PATH ! ! !

+1. I think the sometimes overlooked safety aspect is what happens if something goes wrong. Consider where your hand(s) will go if something goes wrong with the cut.

One thing that I've seen Norm do on occasion is have his hand directly over the blade when doing a non-through cut. I would never do that, because the piece could get thrown backwards, and your hand would land directly on the blade. Likewise, I have a wide piece of red tape on top of my jointer fence indicating an area +/- 6" to the cutterhead. If the jointer were to kick the board back out, I don't want my hand to fall and land in that area.

[Neal Clayton]

there's no reason to look at the blade, you know it's cutting, look at your hands and the fence. if you can see your hands and the blade at the same time very close to each other, something is wrong.

there's no need to stand directly behind the blade either. stand to the right preferably, or stand to the left if that's not possible.

feel is about 90% of it to be honest, you learn feel by...

a) using the tool

b) having something go wrong

if you want to see what happens when something goes wrong, stand in front of the saw and wedge a piece of scrap into the blade, and watch it fly the other way, you'll feel the blade grab, you'll see how fast it is, and you'll hear the blade pinch as it bogs a bit right before it happens.

then cut something properly, and notice how much resistance there is, how the blade sounds, etc.

should you ever let go? if something is going badly wrong, yeah, i have let go a couple times. all the more reason not to stand directly behind. if you're standing past the fence on the right, you won't get hit, if you're standing on the left assuming that's not possible, you won't get hit. so if something goes horribly awry and you're not standing in the way, you can let go. how do you know something is going wrong? variances in resistance, odd noise from the blade, etc. see above.

fwiw i've used stationary large saws for about 16 years. the only time i've cut myself on one has been on a bandsaw. why? because a bandsaw is "safer" and you have a tendency to not appreciate "safer" tools. i've never even felt the wind from the blade on my hands and fingers in that 16 years from a table saw blade.

[glenn bradley]

Placing your table saw on an ice chest would probably qualify as a dumb thing:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/g...mputation.html

Well there you have it; table saws are dangerous. I wonder if that guy owns any firearms?

[Myk Rian]

Well there you have it; table saws are dangerous. I wonder if that guy owns any firearms?

I wonder if it's the same guy that started his TS with his foot, while a bucket held the belt loose.

[Scott Hildenbrand]

I wonder if it's the same guy that started his TS with his foot, while a bucket held the belt loose.

That one was beyond disturbing.

[Mark Beall]

I'll say a couple of really obvious things here that I'm sure you've probably picked up on:

- use the safety equipment that came with your saw, if you don't like your blade guard, buy a replacement one that you do like (the most important thing here is that it's quick and easy to replace after you do operations that you can't use it for - that way you'll actually put it back on)

- remember that the blade doesn't stop spinning immediately when you hit the off switch. Wait until it stops before you do anything near it. The first time I ever had a TS throw a piece of wood at me I had reached over to flick a small offcut out of the way and it caught on the blade (I didn't have the blade guard on - I don't do that anymore). A 2x2 piece of oak hitting you in the nipple really, really hurts.

- when I'm doing cuts up close to the saw, I stand such that I can turn off the saw with my thigh and I always turn it off that way. It's now such a habit that, if things seem like they might be going badly, it's just a reflex to hit the switch with my thigh. I don't have to move my hands at all.

- never, use a TS or any other tool when you're in a hurry. I'd guess that being hurried and not thinking about what you're doing is a major contributor to accidents.

mark

[Dave Tesch]

That one was beyond disturbing.

OMFG. i had to look at what you were talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp-bQ...layer_embedded

[Steve Walls]

Listen to that voice inside when it says what you are about to do might not be safe. Think it through and anticipate where things can go wrong. Make sure the fence and blade are properly aligned to the miter slot. Focus on your task at hand and you'll do fine.

[John Coloccia]

OMFG. i had to look at what you were talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp-bQ...layer_embedded

Good Heavens! Starts off talking about dust masks and safety. Follows it up with a bucket lifting the motor, pliers holding the belt off the spindle, and winding it up with his foot (because the starter cap is dead), and then engaging the belt on a moving spindle. Grand finale is making a crosscut with the miter gauge and rip fence, then pushing the cutoff (the piece between the fence and blade) through the rest of the way with a satisfying GRRRSHHHHH as the wood gets shaved by the back of the blade.

Wow. I've never seen anything like that.

edit: until I saw this. He's got other videos. Check out 1:30. If I ever run into this guy at a craps table, I'm putting it all on him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsEGTzKnlbs

[Dean Karavite]

Just a FYI, I read this last night and today while at Woodcraft picked up a GRR-Ripper. It's great! Not only do I feel safer, I am getting nicer cuts. I also put in one of their MJ splitters last week. On another thread I mentioned I also bought a Incra 1000SE. It sure was a big day for the table saw, but it's all good stuff. Safer and the right way to do things.

Victor, I'm betting there are wood working classes in your area. See if anyone has a class on basic shop tools and safety. I have learned from a friend who is a professional furniture maker, but even with that, I learned mostly by doing. Another post mentioned podcasts. There are a ton of online articles and videos. Fine Woodworking magazine costs $14 a year for their online service. I think I have downloaded 25% of every pdf they have and watched countless hours of video.

I would also suggest this (I have done this). Take a bunch of scrap wood and practice different cuts and get really comfortable with each type. Ripping, cross cutting with the miter gauge then maybe try ripping sheets (that aren't too big for your saw). Make a simple cross cut sled too.

[harry strasil]

Read the instruction manual, USE COMMON SENSE, and you have to be smarter than the tool you are using, everything can be made dangerous. Ever get a paper cut, but no one ever complains about paper being dangerous.

Power tools are only as dangerous as the person operating them.

The power tool won't chop off your fingers, BUT YOU CAN.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Personally, I would not like to learn about TS safety from the Internet.

As you could see on the links above, there are many "Satans"...

I would recommend to buy a book like Jim Tolpin's "Table saw magic" or Ian Kirby's "The accurate table saw" and learn from them the best safety procedures on TS.

As for your questions;

The riving knife will reduce or minimize (better than a splitter) the chances for a kickback but will not prevent it totally.

Blade guard is a must...maybe you've read on the internet those "Who is using the blade guard" posts and you've seen many replies like "I don't use it for 30 years and have all my digits" but remember, that not everybody is made the same or, in other words, not everybody can be an Astronaut or F-16 pilot and here is an example of a guy that was probably influenced by one of those Machos and....read all this post and click to open the pics on post #17... http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ght=bosch+4100 (and that happen at the FIRST "fire-up" of the TS.

Use featherboard to keep the workpiece tight to the fence before entering the blade front teeth.

I have an "Iron rule" - no hands or fingers around or above the blade...when the workpiece edge reaches the table top, I revert to push stick/shoe and try not to pass my hand parallel to the blade...

There are many more safety rules that you can wright a book...

work safe
niki

[Cody Colston]

"My question is this - does a riving knife and proper feed method (that keeps your hands away from the blade, e.g. GRR-ripper) basically guarantee you won't experience an injury?"

There is no tool or that will guarantee that you won't incur an injury while using the tablesaw. It spins a razor sharp blade at a high speed and if any part of your body contacts the blade, you will get injured. You can even be severly injured if the blade launches a piece of wood at ~100 mph and you are in the line of fire (kickback).

A properly tuned saw, good technique and use of safety gear will reduce the liklihood of injury but will not eliminate it. That's because the human factor is always present and is unpredictable.

Toasters come with guarantees. Table Saws come with an operator's manual.

[Neal Clayton]

Blade guard is a must...maybe you've read on the internet those "Who is using the blade guard" posts and you've seen many replies like "I don't use it for 30 years and have all my digits" but remember, that not everybody is made the same or, in other words, not everybody can be an Astronaut or F-16 pilot and here is an example of a guy that was probably influenced by one of those Machos and....read all this post and click to open the pics on post #17... http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ght=bosch+4100 (and that happen at the FIRST "fire-up" of the TS.

yea, i'm one of those people. learned in high school shop class on a massive old oliver saw with no safety devices, first saw i owned was a ~60s unisaw with no safety devices, and upgraded that to an 80s PM66 with no safety devices, which i still use now.

the flip side of that argument is "safety devices give a false sense of security, and thus people don't learn the finer points of operating the machine".

i think either argument is valid. which one a person decides on depends mostly on whether he gets a new or old saw, and personal preference.

even if i had a TS with a blade guard and riving knife, i build things that require constant switching between the regular blade and the dado. would i remove and put back all of those guards 3 or 4 times a day even if i had them? probably not.

not to say they're superfluent things, especially for a new user. but required for safe use for an experienced user, imo, no.

[Myk Rian]

Just a FYI, I read this last night and today while at Woodcraft picked up a GRR-Ripper. It's great! Not only do I feel safer, I am getting nicer cuts.

I use mine a lot. It's nice to have.