Kickback on Camera

[Ole Anderson]

There is a reason new tablesaws require a riving knife, they work, and they work better than a splitter. The knife is right behind the blade, whereas a splitter is inches behind the blade, and sometimes disaster is but a fraction of an inch away. Even my Skil flooring saw with a tiny 4 3/8" blade so hidden you can hardly see it has a riving knife.

[Fred Belknap]

Tom don't do that no more!!

[Stan Mitchell]

No version 2.0 please.

I really enjoy your website - but that convinces me that you should stick mainly to tool reviews.

I still admire your intentions for the test though.

[Henry Ambrose]

Tom, I'm glad you were not hurt.

As a caution to all who read this, please be aware that a splitter or riving knife will NOT prevent kickbacks. While either may help mitigate the severity of such events, they are not a guarantee of safety - not even close. For maximum safety, develop methods of working that guide the wood into the saw as straight as possible and that allow for no divergence from a straight path that is parallel to the blade. Your method should be so convenient and so workable that you can and will use it every time you operate the saw, without fail.

Short handled push blocks like the sanding pad used in the video leave your hands too close to the blade - we all saw how that worked. Any kind of metal stick is to be avoided - the last thing you want is metal shrapnel spit back at you, or a metal arrow to pierce your body. For push sticks, wood or plastic are good choices. I use an 18" long piece of wood about 3/8" by 1 1/2" with a small notch in the end. This pusher is placed on the piece to be cut such that it is to the blade side of the center of the wood. This directs the forces applied to push the wood toward the fence, keeping it there and not swiveling back into the path of the blade while additionally holding the wood down on the table surface.

I don't hold the pusher with the end in my palm, I let the end extend back out of my grip so that a kickback does not ram the stick into my palm. The pusher is purposely selected so that its not very stout and it has the edges eased to prevent cuts. My hand is far away from the blade and if something bad happens, the pusher will escape my grip without injury. Should all that fail, the stick will break before transmitting damaging force to my hand.

The main idea I'd like to share here is that anyone using a table saw or other such tool needs to spend some time thinking about how to use the tool safely. Your safe operating technique, used every time you run the tool is what will save you.

[Ole Anderson]

Henry, I agree, there are no guarantees, but let me be the first to pile on about the use of small notch push sticks. In my book they are a no-no. I had one my son made in JH wood shop twenty some years ago. It helped start a nice fire in the fireplace several years ago after it finally broke. They do absolutely nothing to hold down the FRONT of a short board. And if (when) the blade starts to lift up the front of the board, it is usually not a good thing, therefore the migration to other methods which not only push, but hold down the board such as the Gripper (which I have not used but comes highly recommended) or the type of push block shown in the first 2 pics on post #21. Or you can simply make a long notch push stick with a notch at least 5 inches long. On short boards I will use a push block in conjunction with a feather board or a scrap of wood to hold the material against the fence until it passes the splitter. And once the board passes the riving knife or splitter, a violent kickback is unlikely as the board cannot rotate into the blade uncontrolled as in the video.

I understand the theory behind it, but I find Sam's push prick downright scary. Just my opinion.

[Sam Murdoch]

I understand the theory behind it, but I find Sam's push prick downright scary. Just my opinion.

Completely understandable to be scared by a pointed metal push stick. I know that any kind of accident is possible regardless of how "careful" or "prepared " you are. Table saw accidents are explosive and no one can be that prepared, as Tom's video so vividly demonstrates. I don't offer my suggestion as the best of the worst, just a very good one for me and perhaps for someone else. Having said that and having tried every manner of push stick or pads - they all have their deficiencies. The one I use has given me the GREATEST CONTROL of any. The biggest downside of most notched push sticks is that they only hold your stock down at the very end and give you no lateral resistance whatsoever. My push stick allows me to secure the board 4" or 5" away from the end with a secure down force that allows me to push in any direction I need to maintain control. It is a very small contact point that lets me hold down smaller stock or profiled stock without getting anywhere near the blade. I have NEVER nicked off the end of one of these in over 20 years of use.

I do have Table Saw rules that I adhere to very strictly (and insist that everyone who has ever worked with/for me follow as well - though I do not impose the use of "my push stick" on anyone). Safety and comfort with a procedure is too personal. Just a few rules that have guided me trough my professional career behind a table saw: 1st - I don't pass any piece of wood through the saw that is not longer than the exposed blade. I want as much bearing on the fence as possible so I try to keep every piece longer than I need until it is ripped to size and plan my stock use accordingly. I would rather throw away 3" of a board than 3 fingers any day. 2) Never rip a board in such a way that a pointed cut off is facing towards me - thick end to the driver - always. 3) Don't push one piece of stock through with another leaving your cutoffs to fall to the floor or cross cut a bunch of ends leaving the cut offs to lay around the table top until swept away. 4) If I must achieve a narrow rip (less than 3/8") I use all kinds of strategies to avoid that even if I must set the saw fence a few extra times in order to leave the big part of the board at the fence with my less than 3/8" piece being the cutoff. Obviously these are just a few - too many safety precautions that are almost second nature to me to recall as I sit here writing. Safety is the PRIME CONSIDERATION for me - everything else, economy, speed, easy, are all far behind as a priority if they compromise safety. I would never have done Tom's cut even without the "controlled" demonstration - the length of that piece of wood violated my rule # 1.

OK, enough of what you already know. Just adding to an important discussion. Thanks.

Sam

[phil harold]

Note: Demand for this video has gone way beyond what we can handle individually. We are in the process of creating a DVD

so now I have to buy this to see it?

[Tom Hintz]

so now I have to buy this to see it?

Yes. It's a get rich quick scheme. Or, you can just watch the one at the original link for free.

[Phil Thien]

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing that.

[phil harold]

Tom, thanks for risking life and limb to remind everyone just how dangerous a 3 hp cutting machine really is. But, what am I missing? Where in the link do you click to view the video? I guess I am the idiot as everyone else has it figured out. Edit: my wife found it: hover over the camera at the bottom and you will see the start/pause button.

Yes. It's a get rich quick scheme. Or, you can just watch the one at the original link for free.

Now i am the dumb one I finally found the link...

[George Gyulatyan]

For those asking where they can get aftermarket splitters or riving knives, I got a set of splitters for my Jet ProShop from http://www.leestyron.com/sharksplitter.php. They're great.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I had purchased a table saw with a riving knife instead of the ProShop. With splitters, unless you make custom ZCIs with glued in splitters at various distances, you are always likely to have the splitter far enough away from the sawblade to render it ineffective. Riving knife OTOH follows the blade very closely.

[Sam Murdoch]

Here is a link that might prove useful for an aftermarket conversion:http://www.garymkatz.com/ToolReviews/riving_knife.html

[johnny means]

As a caution to all who read this, please be aware that a splitter or riving knife will NOT prevent kickbacks.

Actually, a properly installed riving knife should make a kick back impossible.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Actually, a properly installed riving knife should make a kick back impossible.

I agree, with the caveat that you have to be cutting a piece long enough to span the length of the exposed blade and reach the riving knife before the cut is complete. My kickback injury (posted earlier in this thread) happened while my riving knife was installed, but it was because I was cutting a very short piece of wood (really really stupid!!). It kicked back before it reached the riving knife.

[Tom Hintz]

Note: The requests for the kickback video have far exceeded our ability to deal with individually. I am working around the clock to get a DVD (Blu-Ray also I think) put together and into production that we are going to sell through our store at the lowest price we can and still cover the cost. As soon as this is done we will have it listed in my on line store. We simply cannot handle this on a one-on-one basis anymore.