Why is the fence on the right?

[Cliff Holmes]

I threw my back out of whack this morning while adjusting my new tablesaw, so I spent some time just sitting in the shop and thinking. The tablesaw injury thread from yesterday came to mind and I was contemplating kickbacks and how they happen.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel most comfortable feeding wood into the tablesaw with my right hand, which means the natural position is generally just to the left of the blade line, i.e. right in the path of a kickback.

So I wondered "why are fences always on the right side?" Is there some reason not to put the fence on the left side?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Cliff,

They aren't always on the right.

In fact, my fence has magnifiers and adjustable position indicators on both sides so it can be used on either the left or the right side of the blade.

[Cliff Holmes]

Well, yes, I know you can put the fence on the left, but that's a limited range. Usually only a foot or so, while you can go out 50 inches or more on the right. But I've never seen a saw where the extended range is on the left, it's always on the right. Why is there never a saw with a foot on the right and 5 feet on the left?

[Mitchell Andrus]

I threw my back out of whack this morning while adjusting my new tablesaw, so I spent some time just sitting in the shop and thinking. The tablesaw injury thread from yesterday came to mind and I was contemplating kickbacks and how they happen.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel most comfortable feeding wood into the tablesaw with my right hand, which means the natural position is generally just to the left of the blade line, i.e. right in the path of a kickback.

So I wondered "why are fences always on the right side?" Is there some reason not to put the fence on the left side?

If you stand to the right of the blade, you've got to reach across the blade to clear the cutoff at the left side and at the rear of the blade - or walk past the blade's plane to get to the left side so you can clear debris without reaching across the blade.

Standing to the left of the blade and reaching across to use a push stick on the right of the blade is relatively safe (safer) because:

1. Your right hand is 'mounted' to the stock with a push stick and the stock is riding the fence. Overall, this is a relatively stable condition for one of your hands.

2. Your left hand is then free to control the loose cut off at the left of the blade without reaching across the blade.

That's how I do it anyway.

No doubt professionals in the insurance industry have studied this to death and if the best we can do after 100 years is the Saw Stop, there must not be very much further we can go with regard to where to plant our feet.

(Relax, I think the Saw Stop is WONDERFUL and is on my short list of wants. Let's not get sidetracked)
.

[Lee Schierer]

The piece that is most likely to be kicked back is the piece trapped between the blade and the fence. Since the majority of users are right handed it is easier for them to use their right hand to push the piece being cut toward the fence with their right hand. This places the body to the left of the piece being cut and out of the way of a potential kick back. The cut off piece left of the blade isn't trapped so it is not likely to ever kick back.

Standing to the right of the fence while cutting to the right of the blade doesn't make any since since you can't see if the piece is tight to the fence and you can't get your hand turned properly to grip the piece.

[Jim O'Dell]

There isn't any written rule that says you can;t put the fence and longer part of the rail to the left. In fact, in researching longer rails for my Biese fence, I remember one of the options as being one that was 72 to the left, and 24 to the right.
I would think the big thing would be to use the saw in the way that you feel most safe and secure. Most rails that use the angle iron to mount the rail to the saw are set up to go to the right. A little bit of grinding with a hand grinder would easily convert it to go to the left. Replace the tape with one that reads right to left and you're in business. Jim.

[Cliff Holmes]

This places the body to the left of the piece being cut and out of the way of a potential kick back

Actually, if you look at the physics of the kickback, generally the left edge climbs the blade, which pins the piece between the fence and blade. This causes the piece to spin and throws it to the left of the blade, not straight back.

[Lee Schierer]

Actually, if you look at the physics of the kickback, generally the left edge climbs the blade, which pins the piece between the fence and blade. This causes the piece to spin and throws it to the left of the blade, not straight back.

Really, I've never observed the piece on the left moving unless I pushed it into the blade. I've always understood the usual cause for kick back is a piece being pinched into the blade by the fence, that is why many folks recommend tailing the fence away from the blade slightly at the back of the saw. Tailing the fence away would provide no benefit if the piece to the left of the blade caused the kickback.

Once I tuned up my saw so the blade was aligned with the miter slot and the fence was aligned with the same miter slot, making it also parallel to the blade, I've not had a kick back of any type.

Feather boards will prevent most kick backs before they can start so I use mine regularly.

[Tony Bilello]

.......I spent some time just sitting in the shop and thinking....contemplating kickbacks and how they happen.

....I feel most comfortable feeding wood into the tablesaw with my right hand, which means the natural position is generally just to the left of the blade line, i.e. right in the path of a kickback.

I personally feel that 95% of kickbacks can be avoided by not thinking about them.
Generally speaking, kickbacks are caused the wood getting pinched inbetween the blade and the fence. One cause is the fence alignment where the rear of the blade is closer to the fence than the front of the blade. Another cause is the wood changing shape while still being cut due to relief of internal stresses. And lastly, due to the twisting motion of the wood caused by the operator because he is fixated on not standing in the line of fire. This is probably the largest cause.
Forget the nonsense about 'dont stand in the line of fire'. You must stand in a place where you have the best balance and the best leverage for pushing the wood through as straight as you can irregardless of your position in relation to the line of fire. If you are pushing from a slight angle with the sole purpose of avoiding kickback, you will actually cause it.

[Cliff Holmes]

Really, I've never observed the piece on the left moving unless I pushed it into the blade

No, I mean the left side of the piece on the right, between the blade and fence.

[Cliff Holmes]

Found this video showing a kickback in slow motion, you can see the wood climb the blade and shoot off to the side.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...B78388564520B4

[Lee Schierer]

Exactly my point. That kick back never would have occurred if he had control of the piece with his right hand holding it to the fence and by pushing the part all the way through the cut past the blade. He made the problem occur by trying to control the piece with finger tips instead of a push block and by reaching awkwardly over the table and fence. By stopping part way through the cut and releasing the back end of the piece while pushing the leading edge toward the blade with his fingers, he guaranteed he would get a kickback for his video.

[Cliff Holmes]

OK, PLEASE, before yet another thread degenerates into "only unsafe people have accidents" chaos, stop!

Let's just go ahead and concede that I'm a total moron who juggles live toasters in the bathtub.

The point of showing the video is to demonstrate that WHEN a kickback happens, it DOESN'T go straight back. So when my stupid self gets a kickback, standing to the side is NOT safe.

There, I feel better now

[Scott Hildenbrand]

Actually, if you look at the physics of the kickback, generally the left edge climbs the blade, which pins the piece between the fence and blade. This causes the piece to spin and throws it to the left of the blade, not straight back.

If you put the fence on the other side, you reverse the physics and the kickback would thus fly to the right.

[Cliff Holmes]

Exactly. Which is the point of wondering about putting the fence on the other side, to reverse the direction of the kickback to where I'm not standing.