Is the table saw (non sawstop) the most dangerous tool in the shop?

[Jim Andrew]

I think I must be the luckiest guy I know, Have cut myself with a utility knife, sanded myself with a belt sander, knicked a finger with a router, had a piece kick back on the tablesaw, but have never really had a bad accident since I have been grown. Once put a skilsaw down on the floor, had the guard stick open and it kicked back, but stopped at my foot. Had a couple bad ones as a child, but survived both and neither were in the shop, but on the farm. One was riding behind my sis on a bicycle, and the other was riding a horse.

[Dave Zellers]

Once put a skilsaw down on the floor, had the guard stick open and it kicked back...

I worked on a house as a ute, where a professional crew was brought in to frame it. Every job for them started with new Milwaukee circular saws and the first thing they did was remove the guard. I was stunned, remembering the fear I felt the first time I picked up my new Skill Saw and pulled the switch years earlier. They beat the heck out of them and used the deck or a nearby stud to stop the blade. They were super fast and very professional and did excellent work. This was back in the seventies but even then we never used them again. Just too much potential for something to go seriously wrong.

Make of it what you will, but my point is the same as others have made- the problems lie with the user. These guys were crazy, but understood what they were doing and never had an accident that I knew of.

Not my cup of tea, but...

[Dennis Aspö]

This conversation reminds me of surfing a british woodworking board, they're always up in arms when dado blades are mentioned and how unsafe they are, it's basically a hot button issue. The router is considered the way to go and it's seen as very safe tool in comparison. When I read here I instead see several people saying they fear the router more than the table saw. Interesting.

[Paul McGaha]

Motorcycles aren't dangerous but, the people riding them sometimes are ;-) The bandsaw is dangerous because there is a mindset that it is safe. You do know how they break down sides of beef, right? The tablesaw gets a lot of bad press but, I don't know that anyone has done a 'per instance' sort of comparison as in; there are 10 untrained folks using tablesaws for every untrained shaper user so, if there are 10 tablesaw accidents and 1 shaper accident, they're even . . . that sort of thing.

I remember a thread similar to this a few years ago. One of the creekers that posted was a high school shop teacher. He said the tool the students had the most injuries with were the band saws.

Any of the tools are capable of it though.

PHM

[Richard Wagner]

I don't think we know enough about injuriews to answer the original question. What power tool in our shop is most dangerous? Which one do we hear the most about? Probably the table saw. Which one gets used the most? Probably the table saw. If either the jointer or the shaper was used an equal amount of time as the table saw, I believe ther would be a different metric to discuss.

Which power tool results in the highest incident of serious injury per hour of operation?

Have you ever seen a finger that had been mauled by a shaper? An ugly sight. My only serious injury in the shop.

[Ronald Blue]

The most dangerous tool is the one you have became so comfortable using that you know longer respect it as being dangerous. In a word as others have said you have became complacent and careless.

[Michael Yadfar]

Something else I find to be dangerous is music in the shop. It seems pretty popular, and some may say you listen to it when you drive and your fine, but I feel 100% of your attention has to go to the tool. Sometimes personally I get a bit zoned out when I hear a good song

[Jason White]

The most dangerous tool in the shop is the one you don't know how to use properly.

If you're new to tablesaws, buy a book on tablesaws and read it or, even better, take a class.

[Jason White]

Worm-drives are no more or less safe than sidewinders (I've owned and used both). You pull a trigger and a sharp blade spins very fast.

Worm-drives do, however, chew through framing lumber a bit easier and the added weight of the saw can work to your advantage in some instances.

If I had to guess, your carpenter probably lost his fingers buy removing or disabling the blade guard because it was getting in the way of some cuts. I've seen a few framing guys do that. Don't be one of them!

I once hired a "carpenter" to help me with a quick framing job that was missing fingers on both of his hands. I didn't ask how he lost them, but recall that he teased me for having a sidewinder circular saw while boasting about how efficient his worm-gear saw was. I've heard they can be pretty torque-y and will take off digits in a hurry if you're not paying attention.

[Kent A Bathurst]

..........but the closest I've seen was on a drill press, where a guy didn't have his wood clamped and it hit him

Or where the fool looked away, and his hand on top of a block of wood slipped into the business end of a brad point bit. Which drug the hand forward as the spurs dug in.

I would generally consider the BS or the DP as the safest. Only the RAS scares me - and that is why I don't have one.

My point - every machine is safe. Every machine is unsafe. All depends on operator's attention to correct operating procedures.




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[Gus Dundon]

Any tool can be dangerous. That's why we need to read the manual. When I was starting, I always asked questions. I don't assume.

[John Stankus]

Worm-drives are no more or less safe than sidewinders (I've owned and used both). You pull a trigger and a sharp blade spins very fast.

Worm-drives do, however, chew through framing lumber a bit easier and the added weight of the saw can work to your advantage in some instances.

If I had to guess, your carpenter probably lost his fingers buy removing or disabling the blade guard because it was getting in the way of some cuts. I've seen a few framing guys do that. Don't be one of them!

My dad tells me of when the circular saws were starting to become available to carpenters, that there were a lot of injuries. This was due to the fact that with handsaws they used to brace the board across their leg and cut the piece to size. Many carpenters followed the same work process and cut into their legs with the circular saw.

John

[Mike Henderson]

My dad tells me of when the circular saws were starting to become available to carpenters, that there were a lot of injuries. This was due to the fact that with handsaws they used to brace the board across their leg and cut the piece to size. Many carpenters followed the same work process and cut into their legs with the circular saw.

John

THEY STILL DO THAT!!! I have a friend who's an emergency room nurse (and a woodworker). She gets guys in the ER who have cut across their thigh. She always asks them what they were doing and whether they had tied the guard back. Most of them were cutting across their leg and they had the guard tied back.

Mike

[Lee Roberts]

Just yesterday I took the guard off my SS to run a little dado, and then cut a small sheet of plywood without putting it back on. Twisted the darned thing and took it in the gut. Isn't the SS supposed to prevent that?!

Only tool I have hurt myself on was a bandsaw (50/50 chance of losing a fingertip, but got lucky), but the one that scares me the most is the router table. Lots of way that can get you.

You're joking about the SS preventing kickback, right?

The three 'more than minor' injuries I've sustained in my shop:

Worst: Years ago, I upgraded to a SS from a cheap contractor's TS. With the old saw, the blade would simply slow down or stop if my workpiece got bound or crooked, so I didn't give it a second thought when I loaded up a 2'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF and began cutting it the 'wrong' way (making the cut on the 2' side). Well, the piece got bound and the SS kicked the piece back so hard and fast that it knocked me down a left a cantaloupe sized bruise on the front of my upper thigh. I walked with crutches for a week. If I hadn't been wearing a thick tool belt, I think it might have broken my leg.

Not Quite As Bad, But...: I keep sheet goods standing on end and I used to fasten the batch to the wall using a bungee. I had 5 sheets of 4'x8' plywood/MDF against the wall and was trying to remove a piece in the rear. The tipping point at which one can no longer continue to hold the entire stack was MUCH less than I anticipated. I realized that the whole stack was coming down and tried to just let it go, but I got trapped by the refrigerator in the garage. I 'helped' lower the stack on top of me, but my ankle ended up wedged between the wood and the refrigerator. In case you're wondering, getting out from under 5 full sized pieces of sheet goods isn't easy. Really bad sprained ankle.

Lastly: I neglected to clamp a large-ish piece of metal to my drill press. The bit caught and spun the piece of metal into my hand. Broken pinky.

I spend about 30 hours per week in my shop. I've slowed my roll quite a bit, and safety is always my first consideration (thought it was before, too). I simply can't afford to get injured, but I'm sure I'll screw something up in the future and bang or break something.

Before anyone chimes in about me being a moron, I knew before each of my accidents that I was attempting something that I knew was advised against. In the moment, I thought I had everything under control. Things go south so fast, though.

Safe wishes to all!

[Pat Barry]

THEY STILL DO THAT!!! I have a friend who's an emergency room nurse (and a woodworker). She gets guys in the ER who have cut across their thigh. She always asks them what they were doing and whether they had tied the guard back. Most of them were cutting across their leg and they had the guard tied back. Mike

I can not believe any one would actually do this, besides if that's the way they are doing it having the guard tied back wont make any difference.