Table Saw Kick Back Almost Got Hurt Yesterday A Safety Reminder

[Tai Fu]

Next time use a bandsaw for smaller stock. Tablesaw isn't the right tool for small stocks.

[Chris Fournier]

Next time use a bandsaw for smaller stock. Tablesaw isn't the right tool for small stocks.

This is nonsense. A tablesaw is just fine for small work, it must simply be properly set up to do so and the appropriate stock holding and guidance devices must be made. Before the advent of laser cutters all architectural models were made using the TS. The pieces they cut for their scale models were often very small and cut in great numbers. Worked for them. Works for me as a guitar builder making small pieces for rosettes and will work for anyone else who sets themselves up for success.

[Jim Matthews]

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:

Is that the piece you were cutting, or the offcut?

I was taught to never pass anything less than 12" long over a tablesaw blade.
Smaller pieces are more likely to twist and catch than longer ones.

[Chris Parks]

I would not use an elevated push stick for a bet. The stability of an elevated push stick is absolutely in the hands of the gods and I think they are dangerous and an accident waiting to happen.

[John Downey]

There are as many opinions on which stick to use and how to avoid accidents as there are people using table saws

Bottom line for me is if an experienced user is comfortable with his methods and doesn't have accidents, then odds are good he's doing something right. The main thing to avoid with any power tool is complacency. From the accidents I've seen over the years, that is the cause 3/4 of the time - stuff you've done a thousand times and don't pay much attention to.

[Chris Parks]

Ask yourself what is the most stable, an elevated long push stick or a push block that rests on the table bed.

[John Downey]

Well, my preference is for an elevated pusher that keeps the hand over the stock so that it pushes down as well. But as I said, there are lots of opinions available, many disagree, and all are worth exactly what you paid for them

Work in the way that you are most comfortable, not in the way that is best for someone else. A nervous saw operator is likely to have an accident, just as is one who's not paying much attention to what he is about.

[Pete Duffy]

I don't have this problem with my underpowered Craftsman.

[fRED mCnEILL]

A simple riving knife or splitter would have prevented this.

[Jim Andrew]

Think it was about 1969 when a guy was killed in a high school shop from a kickback. The guy killed was not operating the saw, he was behind it. This happened in Salina Kansas. I later met the guy who was operating the table saw. I went to a small school near there, and it made us think. When I was in college, the instructor had a triangle painted on the floor behind the tablesaws, and you were not allowed in that area when the tablesaw was running.

[Myk Rian]

I stand on the left side of the saw. I use 2 ice picks. They are springy......

Never heard of a springy ice pick.

[Tai Fu]

General safety rule dictates that no one is supposed to be behind a tablesaw when someone is operating them, but here in Taiwan people ignore that all the time. I've seen so many contractors operate their homemade tablesaw with their backs to the street.

[Derek Stockley]

Thanks for taking the time to write up such a detailed post. I force myself to read every single accident post on every forum I visit because it's a crucial reminder to me to never become complacent about the fact that my hobby is at times terribly dangerous.

[Earl Rumans]

Well, my preference is for an elevated pusher that keeps the hand over the stock so that it pushes down as well. But as I said, there are lots of opinions available, many disagree, and all are worth exactly what you paid for them

Me also, that's why I like my GRR-Ripper push pads so much. They give me control of the cut over both sides of the blade and keep my hands above and away form the blade.

[Charles Coolidge]

Beware dropping a push stick on the blade that will launch a missile also. Don't ask me how I know this.