Stupid Stupid Stupid !!!

[Tullie Templet]

Thanks again guys for the well wishes. And i am ashame to say that a splitter or riving knife were NOT used. It's and older model Grizzly that doesn't have a riving knife and the saw owner I bought it fom didn't have the original splitter/guard. I was supposed to order one or the other (Splitter or ****) and have been putting it off. Well for the cost of doctor bills I could have paid for one and it would have been alot less painful. Now I am fairly new to wood working and have only used smaller saws before my Grizzly, so my question is would a splitter or riving knife deffinantely prevented this or just had a better chance of it not happening? And also is the riving knife is deffinantely better than the splitter?

[Clarence Miller]

Tulie,

I am glad to hear that you are on the mend. There was a question as to what the physics behind the accident. I am not in anyway a physics guy but from what I have read and observed, the danger comes from board being cut wedging between the blade and the fence on the backside of the blade where the travel of rotation is going up (lets call this the launch zone). The blade turns toward the operator which put him/her into the strike zone. Holding onto the work piece allows for hands to be pulled with the piece being cut into the blade (letting go is hard to do). I had a similar experience when cutting a piece of delrin. TRied to rip it down (just kiss the blade to take a hair off) after I had cut it to the finish length of 2 inches using a push stick with a short notch for a hold down (I now use a pushstick that resembles a boot profile) Long story short the piece got flipped up of the table, busted through the plastic blade guard, bounced off my forearm (bruise) and hit me in the mouth. After some blood and profanity came out my mouth I counted myself as lucky that I didn't loose any teeth and a minimal amount of blood. The shattered blade guard did leave some scratches.
The biggest dangers in my workshop are hastiness and fatigue. My most recent incident had to do with a framing nailer with a bump trigger. I was marrying an addition to the rafters and the nailer bounced and bump fired another nail. After scanning the surrounding area for the nail, hoping it didn't mar up anything on the house I realized my thumb hurt. The nail went about 1/2 inch into the knuckle on my right thumb. I had borrowed the nailer from my father-in-law's shop so I didn't even consider changing the trigger to a consecutive fire trigger until after the incident ( it was less than $20 online and was purchased that night) I keep the nail as a reminder as pain has no memory past a few days and the "oh I'll be fine" mentality begins to creep in.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Tullie, hope you heal well, sorry to hear about your accident.

In answer to your question, either a properly fitted splitter, or riving knife would have provided identical protection in your application.

The riving knife or splitter perform two functions;

- they guard the back of the blade, preventing objects from being caught by the blade teeth rising out of the table

- they act as a wedge to reduce the chances of a cut closing up and pinching the blade

Riving knives can be superior in two ways to conventional splitters;

- they can be adjusted to the exact height of the saw blade, or slightly lower, which allows them to stay on the saw for non through cuts such as grooves and rebates

- they may be easier to remove and replace, leading to more consistent use (not left under the bench)

Note that a poorly executed riving knife may be inferior to a well executed splitter, the devil is in the details.

I've found that the best solution for a North American saw is an overhead guard such as the Excalibur, and a removable splitter such as the Merlin, or even better, a true riving knife.

The above combination allows your blade guard to stay on for dado, grooving or rebate work. That's key, never run with an unguarded blade, it only takes a moment of inattention to change the remainder of your life.

If you can't perform an operation on a machine without removing the guard, there are two choices;

- use the correct machine for the job, for example cut the rebate on the shaper which has a guard for that purpose

- purchase or fabricate a guard for the original machine that provides the required protection (The Excalibur guard for example or a home made equivalent).


Have fun in the shop................Regards, Rod.

[Noah Levy]

Get better soon!

A couple of people questioned or alluded to having a lower horse power saw and being safer. I doubt horse power makes any difference. The energy imparted to the wood is delivered via the spinning blade. At a nominal speed of 5000 rpm and the relatively small, lightweight piece of say 12"x12" plywood, 3/4 hp vs 5hp probably makes little difference.

And this is the problem I have with Saw Stop. Sure, you won't cut your hot dog, but you can still get FU by a nasty kickback. In fact, Saw Stop users need to be extra careful that they don't get lulled into a false state of overconfidence. The OP attributes this accident to a moment of inattention and resulting deviation from normal work steps. He forgot to move the fence out of the way, which could happen to anyone easily enough. I know I get overconfident and lazy with guards and splitters, and have always thought that this would tend to happen more if I had a Saw Stop. Lastly, for those of you who desire more info about safe table saw practice, I recommend reading Jim Tolpin's Table Saw Magic.

[ken gibbs]

In the spring when I start my summer tan, the place where the 3/4" plywood got me doesn't tan. It just turns red.

Right after my Unisaw taught me to always use feather boards and to use a safety guard, I got religion. You think you are fast enough to duck, but it isn't possible to get out of the way. To quote an old Navy expression, Hotel Sierra!.

[kenneth kayser]

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?

Never let a loose piece of wood stay between the fence and a spinning blade, or near the blade. After the cut is complete, push the piece well past the blade. Then turn the saw off.

In this case, even when using a stop block, the off cut should be pushed well past the blade. If the off cut is allowed to lay near the blade the piece can move from vibration to touch a tooth which may then bump the piece 3/4" into the fence and launch. I think this could happen with a splitter or riving knife, but not working pawls. Working pawls would keep the piece from moving at all.

[jason steele]

Never like to hear about accidents, but it's a good reminder not to let my guard down when operating machinery. Had one of those kickbacks once. Never forget it. Hurt like hell!! Still feel it. Wish you a full recovery.

Jason