Stupid Stupid Stupid !!!

[mreza Salav]

I hope you recover fast.

Just a question though: did you have a *riving knife* too that is properly aligned?

[Brendan Plavis]

And this is why I hate tablesaws....

I was talking to someone, and he asked me if I got kickback on a TS, I told him I dont use them, since they scare the **** out of me. He proceeded to tell me he was ripping a piece, and it kicked on him.... the piece of wood got him right in the....how to say this.... gananas..... he said he wasnt walking the remainder of the day....

My folks are afraid I am going to take a finger off.... I am more afraid of this kind of thing than I am the blade... the blade will take the finger off, and will make it go numb..... this wont nessacarily... but it will hurt like hell when you wish it just took the darned finger...

[Victor Robinson]

I hope you recover quickly Tullie. Sorry for the mishap but glad you weren't injured worse.

To everyone else: Do kickback pawls (if you have the guard on) prevent this kind of thing? I've never seen what happens to a kickback if pawls are there...

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Been there, done that. I wasn't thinking about the consequences and don't recall anyone telling me not to use the miter gauge with the fence. Luckily it didn't hit me but I have a cracked window across the shop that I leave cracked as a reminder. I will say this: Having it happen to you makes for a lesson that sinks in a lot deeper than reading about it. Now if that was just the only way to get into trouble.

[Bruce Mack]

I hope you recover well. Thanks for reminding us that the table saw can 'go ballistic' even when we are not reckless.

[Dan Karachio]

Thanks for posting Tullie, I hope you feel better soon. Gees, it sounds really painful.

I'm sorry to take advantage of this unfortunate incident for more knowledge, but can you or some of the other veterans here help us relative newbies understand this. Were you cross cutting the piece with the fence? Was that it? That the fence caused the piece to bind with the blade then result in the kick back? I think I understand that, but I don't understand what happened to your finger. This is one we have been taught to avoid, but I think people do it all the time.

Also, can you help me with a dangerous assumption? I sometimes find myself thinking that because I have a 1 1/2 hp contractor saw, kickback will not be as big of a risk as with a 3 - 5hp cabinet saw. I, of course, have had a few incidents where that attitude was proven to be stupid and naive.

[jim sauterer]

last july i had a 6 inch piece of ply kick back and caught my thumb ripped the nail right over .10 stitches later and 2 days of throbbing.it still bothers me.it happens so fast.hope you recover as quick as possible.i was gun shy going back to using the unisaw.but i try to do everything as safe as i can.best of luck jim.

[Peter Quinn]

A guy at work has a big bumper sticker in the rear window of his truck that reads "STUPID HURTS. That sticker is no joke. Now you are in the club. Of course you paid a higher membership fee than me, and for that I feel bad. Bright side is you will never be lonely in the stupid club, there are plenty of us members in it! Somehow my stupid TS move went wizzing just over my left temple and all that was lost was a good pair of trousers.

I wish you a speedy recovery, and hope not to see you at any more meetings.

[Terry Teadtke]

I'm not sure what hurt worse, the damage to my finger or the novacaine shot to the palm of my hand when I had my accident.

Hope you have some pain killers when the real drugs wear off. Ibuprofen worked for me.

Terry

[glenn bradley]

Glad that digit is still attached. I am wishing for a speedy and total recovery. No lectures here either.

I have a block that is a "known" 3/4" thick and a Rockler Universal clamp that hang to the right of the tablesaw operator position for just such occasions. I just set the saw 3/4" longer than the desired cut.

[Ramsey Ramco]

I don't know if I can call you stupid for a very simple reason. I don't know many of us who can say that even just once we didn't get careless. I had a board kick back at me once turned my hip, caught my whole right leg but fortunately missed something much more important, bruised leg for a month. Hopefully this doesn't scare you away at all. Keep on building! good luck

[Milind Patil]

So sorry to hear it brother ! I am praying for your fast recovery. Hopefully I will avoid this happening to me !

[Tullie Templet]

Yes I was cross cutting with the mitre guage with the fence set at the length of the cutoff. After the piece was cut free it binded between the blade and fence and kicked back. My intention was NOT to cut with the fence set. I was simply going to use it to set the cut distance and then move it away. I turned to set down my tape measure and turn on the dust collector. While I was looking that way I turned on the saw and then immediately started to do my crosscut forgetting to move the fence. When I passed the blade I removed the long piece from the mitre guage a realised what I had done ( the piece between the blade and fence) I kinda loss all ability to think straight. LOL !!! before I thought about turning off the saw or running it grabbed the piece and hurled that sucker like a rocket. Where my hand was and how it hit just that finger is beyond me. It all happened so fast it is hard to figure out.


As far as it discouraging me, I don't think so. When I got home I fired that sucker back up and cut the remaining sides of my box and finished it up with ALOT more caution. What's that old saying about "getting back on the horse."

Thanks guys for all the good wishes!!! Very much appreciated.

[Tullie Templet]

Thanks Glenn for the reminder about the block. I know about this method and should have used it but I was "only gonna measure it this way this one time" Careless is all I can say.

[Bryan Morgan]

For noobs such as myself, can anyone explain the mechanics of why crosscutting like this is a bad idea? Obviously the outcome here is the effect, but what of the cause? What is the more appropriate way to crosscut like this? I've cut things in the manner you did and I didn't have any issues.... but I have a riving knife, guard, and prawls... do those help in this situation or was I just lucky?