Table Saw Kick Back Almost Got Hurt Yesterday A Safety Reminder

[Alan Gan]

I have been around power tools and machinery most my life and I have learned to respect them. Woodworking is a new venture for me and I have been doing crash courses researching and reading everything I can.

This research paid off yesterday. I know that I would be in the hospital right now or worse. A square 1"x1" flat ended 2 foot section of board would have went completely through me with the possibility of cutting my Spine in half.

Friends, this is a serious reminder to always be safe when working around the power tools we use in our lives. I know this has probably been posted before but sometimes it just does not happen to the other guy. All within a few seconds time space.

This board had to going a 100 MPH with tremendous force.

I went to a Estate sale a couple weeks ago, the man had been a Woodworker and had a full shop. Picked up some various wood in the 2-5 foot range most 6" wide. I have no idea what kind of wood some of it is but a few pieces are very hard.

Since I am still learning so my projects are small in scale. I am working on making some boxes currently. I ripped down a few boards into 1/2" to 2" strips about 24" long. I do not own a Jointer so have been using the Router with a straight bit to get my edges ready to glue, this has worked fine for me. On a few strips of this wood I could not stop Chatter and a rough edge in places.

So I decided to use my Table saw to just shave the edge on the pieces that were rough. I had the Fence set to the right of the blade and the waste cut to the left of the blade. Ran about 5 strips through the blade and had a nice clean edge. On the last strip that was about 7/8 x 7/8 with about 2" left to pass the blade the board grabbed.

This is what happened next. My saw (Bosch 4100) was setup on my patio due to shop size. In a split second after I felt the board grab, this strip of wood shot back and it was over in seconds.

The results were, the board hit a portable radio sitting on a shelf 20 feet away from the TS and 6" higher than the TS top, it dented in the speaker grill. From there it deflected up about 3 feet still flying like an arrow and went through the window screen and a double pane window. From there it traveled another 15 feet and hit a pantry shelf displacing several items and then bounced off the shelf and hit the side of the Kitchen cabinet. From there it deflected again and landed about 10 feet away into the laundry room.

There was glass spread all over a 300 square foot area, on counter tops, pantry shelves etc... It was a giant mess.

My entire point to this is the research and things I have learned.

I was standing to the Side (left) of the TS Blade, a good thing.

Use the proper equipment when working with small stock, I was NOT using a proper Push Stick.

Keep focused until the board has completely passed the saw blade, I momentarily took my eyes off the board being cut.

I never let people into the patio area when I am cutting. Now I will move the TS and make sure no one can be in harms way.

Thanks for reading and sorry so drawn out, I think some of this is for my benefit by writing it down.

[Bradley Gray]

I'm not sure where I picked up the idea, but ice picks are the bomb for pushing wood past a blade. I try to spring the pick, so if anything goes wrong my hand is already pushing away from the blade.

[Mike Goetzke]

Glad you were not hurt.

Were you using a splitter and blade guard? Was the wood face finished and flat?

[HANK METZ]

Check the rip or anti- kickback pawls, as purchased sometimes they need the teeth filed to a sharper point to dig in successfully and trap the kicker.

[curtis rosche]

Did you have a splitter in?

[Ole Anderson]

Glad you weren't hurt, but man, we need pictures of the carnage! I hope you haven't been watching and learning from the home improvement shows where they never use a blade guard and splitter. I learned my lesson a few years ago. And a pointy push stick isn't the answer, you need one that holds the work from tipping up as it goes through the blade. Something like this:

[Keith Mathewson]

Ole Anderson has the right push stick.

Bradley, DO NOT use a metal push stick, much less something small and pointy like an ice-pick.

[Chris Parks]

Use a half fence and the chances of a kickback are just about eliminated. Attach a sub fence onto the main fence and make sure it does not go past the blade mid point. Doing that the matrial has nowhere to be trapped between the back of the blade and the fence as the space created by the thickness of the sub fence gives the wood plenty of clearance. There is no difference in accuracy from using a full fence.

[glenn bradley]

Glad you weren't hurt. It is amazing how fast a piece of material can go from zero to gone. It is almost as if the thing just vanished, till it hits something. this is why I give a big eye-roll to the folks who post that there saw "isn't that powerful" and they can just "hold onto the wood". There's no time to make an adjustment or a judgement; the wood is already across the room (hopefully).

[Don Morris]

I use Grr-rippers (two of them on long pieces) and sometimes a spliter with a well designed push stick. I always stand to the side, wear a thick shop apron, and as you said, have the healthiest respect for my TS. Glad you didn't get hurt and thanks for the reminder that we are working with potentially deadly equipment. Or at least we should treat the TS as if it is. I love working in the shop, producing things, but know I must keep focused when the TS and/or any power equipment is on.

[Dan Hintz]

I'm not sure where I picked up the idea, but ice picks are the bomb for pushing wood past a blade. I try to spring the pick, so if anything goes wrong my hand is already pushing away from the blade.

Please tell me these picks are made of plastic, not metal...

[Brian W Smith]

Tablesaws as they are represented in home shops have to be one of the alltime,most ignorantly designed pcs of equip.Enter sawstop......leaving all opinions aside.The co did choose an easy target.From a business model(making money as the prime goal),you wouldn't pick an inherently "safe" pce to establish yourself(in the safety industry) would you?No,you'd pick the pce that is completly backwards from the getgo.Tablesaws are like muzzleloding firearms.Yes,they can be extremely accurate.......but that ain't from a safety standpoint.Always point the muzzle in a safe direction.So standing on the firing line,looking down the muzzle whilst using a tablesaw isn't exactly "safety 101".

Use a BS for cutting small pcs.Also use them for any tension or reaction pcs.Good luck,glad you didn't get hurt!

[Roy Harding]

I'm not sure where I picked up the idea, but ice picks are the bomb for pushing wood past a blade. I try to spring the pick, so if anything goes wrong my hand is already pushing away from the blade.

Regardless of safety concerns, I'm not that interested in having metal anywhere near my spinning blades.

[Pat Houle]

I've been using this push stick...works good so far...solid and confortable
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...at=1,240,45884

[Jim Foster]

This saw looks like it has a splitter or riving knife. Were you using it. In general if you use a riving knife or splitter, this type of accident should not occur.