Yet another kickback story

[Pat Barry]

He was ripping off 1/4" from the edge of a 6 inch piece. There is no way that a sled would be safer than using the rip fence for this IMO. In fact I would be far more afraid of the miter slide or the sled for this operation than I would be to use the rip fence. The danger is in the exposure of the cut end to the blade unsupported on top by a push stick. You need to use the type of push stick that allows you to push down on the top of the wood, not just the top corner or end of the cut piece.

[Bob Wingard]

The only not so smart thing you did (my opinion) was to not use the one tool at your disposal that would have prevented the injury ... your GRRIPPER. Live & learn.

[scott vroom]

I used to get a lot of kickback until I got a saw with a riving knife. Not one kickback in 5+ years now. I would not use a saw without one.

Unfortunately a riving knife won't prevent kickback of a short piece that twists into the blade.

[lowell holmes]

My safety gear includes safety glasses, hearing protection, and Lee Valley Canvas Shop Apron.

The canvass double layer bib prevented me from injury when I experienced a kick back in the chest.

Some have said the canvas wouldn't help, but the kickback knocked the breath out of me and I had no blood, not even a bruise.

[Keith Hankins]

I am so glad you were not seriously hurt. Yep, a TS can bite you in a skinny second. To help and these are not cheap, I reccomend the Grippr's. You are able to keep total control on both sides of the blade and your hands away. I have two of these and would not think of a rip without. If you did not have your splitter on, please reconsider. Take care.

http://www.woodpeck.com/gripper.html

[Rod Sheridan]

I am so glad you were not seriously hurt. Yep, a TS can bite you in a skinny second. To help and these are not cheap, I reccomend the Grippr's. You are able to keep total control on both sides of the blade and your hands away. I have two of these and would not think of a rip without. If you did not have your splitter on, please reconsider. Take care.

http://www.woodpeck.com/gripper.html

Any device which requires you to remove the saw guard or splitter is a safety hazaard.

A sled or sliding saw with a hold down clamp is the safe method of making that cut, with the guard and riving knife/splitter in place.......Rod.

[Mike Audleman]

Nothing gory, fortunately.

My son and I built a little dump truck today - his first real project in the shop - and the last cut of the day resulted in kickback. [Clarification: I don't let him anywhere near the power tools, so he was never in any danger.] We were cutting up a 2x4 to glue and nail together, and he was having trouble with the coping saw. I figured it was kinda mean to have him clip 1/4" off each 2x4 edge by hand, anyway, so I turned to the table saw.

Now, I've read the stories on here, I've read the magazine articles, I've read the books, and I've watched the movies. I'm pretty paranoid and careful around the tablesaw, as I really didn't want to experience what I did today. And STILL I wound up with a block of wood to the chest. Luckily, it was soft pine (2x4) and only about the size of my fist, but as I pushed the block through (with a push stick, mind you), the block tilted ever so slightly left, got picked up, and WHAM...right into the left side of my chest. The blood was minimal, but you can see the end grain pattern in my skin, embossed through my t-shirt, and I've a welt that swollen at least 3/4". This small block - about the size of my fist - made me feel like I got kicked in the chest by a mule. And it's darn sure gonna leave a heck of a bruise. [It's wierd - I can feel the pain in my neck and jaw, it's radiating that wide.]

So......I figured I'd publicly shame myself as an object lesson and take the opportunity to remind people - be careful! Even though I know how it happens and was taking great care to avoid it, it still happened to me. And I figured there was no way - I was standing to the RIGHT of the blade, not even in line with it! Turns out, the block bounced off the inside of the push stick and barely missed my hand, the deflection angled it into my chest. See, I figured I'd be smart and push from the back and left to keep the piece close to the fence...and that is almost certainly what caused the front to angle into the blade. If I were to do it again, I'd make the cut on the bandsaw instead...but it isn't set up yet, so I was making the cut on the TS rather than lose an hour with the boy while I tinkered with it and dug through boxes to find the blades. (Let that be a lesson to me!)

Be safe, folks. And don't do what I did.



daniel

I'd say you got lucky.

My dad was running dados in some oak for gun cabinets when I was still living in Florida (20+yrs ago). Stupidly he was using his right hand to feed the boards and his left hand to hold them down flat on the table. He probably thought the saw couldn't hurt him as it wasn't going through the wood. One kicked back. It flew 10' across the garage into a wall sheet rocked on both sides with 4" of insulation, through both sides of the wall and pushed a dresser more than a foot from the wall. When he looked back at the saw thats when he realized the tip of his middle finger was gone down past first knuckle. The dado blade had chewed it right off leaving a small flap of skin. He called me from the hospital. Yep, he drove himself to the hospital. Anyway, turned out it appears like one of the carbide teeth came off the blade and I suspect thats what caused the blade to bite on the wood suddenly instead of cleanly cutting it. We found the tooth while I was sweeping up on the other side of the shop about a month later. It was embedded in the side of a metal cabinet. It scares me to think what it could have done to human flesh had he been in the wrong spot.

On the bright side, dad couldn't flip anyone off with his left hand anymore


So, the fact you just got whelped in the chest and didn't need to go to the emergency room says you got real lucky. But its good you walked away, and learned from the incident.

[Keith Hankins]

Any device which requires you to remove the saw guard or splitter is a safety hazaard.

A sled or sliding saw with a hold down clamp is the safe method of making that cut, with the guard and riving knife/splitter in place.......Rod.

I never suggested that you operate a saw without a splitter. If your saw does not have a riving knife, the microjig will function in that capacity very well. The Grippr will slide right over it. You are able to apply pressure and use contol on all sides both infeed/outfeed, and both sides of the blade. Sleds are great for cross cuts not rips. No offense intended but You don't need a slider to make a safe rip cut.

[Jim Finn]

Yes: what Pat Barry said about the push stick. I also place the fence between me and the blade. I reach over the fence and if a kick-back occurs the wood will not hit me. (Well my hand maybe)

[Charlie Velasquez]

I do most of my ripping on my RAS, so it may not be germane, but the ras has a more robust reputation for kickback (undeserved imo) than the ts, so maybe it is. Controlling the stick between the blade and the fence is paramount to stopping kickback. I switch to a taller, unkerfed fence that allows me to clamp an extended length featherboard to it. It seems this would also be effective on the ts.

[daniel lane]

Yes: what Pat Barry said about the push stick. I also place the fence between me and the blade. I reach over the fence and if a kick-back occurs the wood will not hit me. (Well my hand maybe)

Jim, I was standing to the right of the fence, the block deflected off the push stick and hit me in the chest. Just so you know, it can still happen.


daniel

[glenn bradley]

instead I should have used my Grrripper or the like to hold the piece down and push it straight through.

Being a Grr-Ripper user, that is exactly what jumped into my mind when considering this cut. I too cut small pieces frequently when I am doing a batch of 'goodies for gifts' between larger projects. Small sleds, clamping little pieces to bigger pieces to aid in control and all that can help assure safety. I hope I took your post as intended; a friendly reminder that we all are open to an oops moment and that the more accepting and cognizant of that we are, the safer we are apt to behave in the shop. Thanks again for sharing your boo-boo; I share mine too and for the same reason

[Keith Mathewson]

I'm so glad your ok, recover soon. That said.....being dumb is no accident. And what you did was. Don't ever push a piece of wood that small past a circular saw blade again. You need to make a chunk the size of your fist smaller, you need another tool or a new piece of wood. There is no safe way to rip parts that small on a TS, a kick to the gut is THE MOST LOGICAL outcome of your actions, not a result of your taking care or lack there of. Stock control is the central pillar of table saw safety, there is no way you can control parts that small past a 10" blade (unless you make a jig with hold downs, or screw them to a bigger piece of plywood, or similar).

Similar restrictions apply to jointers, planer, and of course shapers. RAS and SCMS's have their limits too. So please work safe. No more small parts for you. The hand saw was the better option.

+1
if I saw one of the guys in the shop try that we would have to have a safety meeting.

[Peter Quinn]

Peter, I can accept being called dumb as part of my self shaming - especially "non-accidental" dumb (I assume you mean that dumb mistakes don't count as accidents, rather than that I'm consciously dumb) - but I have to say, I don't think a 6" long piece is too small for the table saw. If so, my boxmaking days are long over. No, I believe my mistake was in both the type and angle of push stick that I used. I should have known better than to use a stick, especially with an angled force; instead I should have used my Grrripper or the like to hold the piece down and push it straight through.

There is plenty of opportunity here to discuss the best way to make such a cut, and I welcome the discussion. This was a 6" long piece of 2x4 DF (I said pine before, sorry), ripping 1/8" off one long edge (needed 1/4" off, blade kerf made the rest). The band saw would have been a better idea, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's not a cut that should be attempted on the TS. As I've said, I feel it's the type of cut that should be made with a push block that offers more control, and I've certainly learned that lesson.


daniel

Daniel, I had no intention of insulting you, merely trying to state in strong words what I still believe to be true, no real safe way to push that particular stock dimension past a TS blade. I've read too many kickback posts that boil down to stock too small to work safely to keep quiet on the issue. I do this for a living, the guys who trained me were.....lets say much less gentle than I've ever been. It is my sincere hope that you go a lifetime without any more TS incidents.


I'd rip 6" box material with a push "block", a 6" (2X4) is another matter. Boxes use thin stock typically, so less projection equals less distance front to back of blade in play and a gentler angle on those critical rear saw teeth. Once the blade is up 1 3/4" you have more length of blade in play then you have stock for that cut, so the potential for it to twist is exaggerated, there just isn't enough contact between edge and fence to exert the proper force for control, and your teeth are headed more vertical than horizontal, the ever pleasant up and back kick back. A push "stick" is a scary thing to me...like playing shuffle board with a board chucker. The TS and the baseball pitching machine both involve very similar mechanical designs, at least you get to hold a bat with the pitching machine. My push blocks are shop made, the heel is just shy of the thickness of the work being processed, they are typically made form 6/4 drops or double 3/4" MDF laminations in my shop, typically 8" to 12" long and 3"-5" tall as needed. Its the same idea as a gripper, but its cheap, customized to the work being done and completely sacrificial. They go right through the blade on narrow rips or as required, and with a tall fence you can wrap your hand around the block and fence to keep things moving the right direction. Its a chunk of wood, you are pushing down on the front and back of the stock at the same time on shorter work. There are some good examples of versions that are actually part of a push jig that wraps over the fence so you can't rotate, bit of sandpaper keeps the stock in control better, I've never been organized enough to make the full blown jig. Its all about stock control. When you rip shorts....that are thick....no real control....go to BS directly. Or frankly, I could plow off 1/4" with a jack plane quicker and smoother, very little risk of injury.

Lots of ways to skin a cat....question is what do you intend to do with all that cat meat?

[Ray Newman]

"... no intention of insulting you, merely trying to state in strong words what I still believe to be true, no real safe way to push that particular stock dimension past a TS blade."
--Peter Quinn

Bingo!