Safety poll: Do you use the guard on your tablesaw?

[Jerry Thompson]

No. I have yet to find one that is not a pain.

[roger wiegand]

Overarm guard and splitter on my PM66 whenever they aren't in the way of actually making the cut.

[Matt Day]

No 1, but I use feather boards and push sticks extensively.

+1........

[Rich Engelhardt]

#2 - I use a MJ splitter and no guard.

The POS guard/splitter that came with my Ridgid TS3660 is far too dangerous to have on. It never lined up right from the get go. I lost track of the number of times I had to back the stock I was cutting out & wriggle it around so it would feed through the splitter.
How insanely unsafe is that?

[Keith Hankins]

My answer would be depends on the operation being done. I have the Sawstop, so I have both However when doing say a non through cut it's only a riving knive. I also use Grp-rrr's as push sticks. (lets not forget the safety glasses and yes even steel toe boots). Sorry I work in manufacturing all my life, so PPE is critical.

[ken masoumi]

Don't have a guard ,the saw didn't come with one.hardly use my table saw .

[Jim Andrew]

3 I have a sharkguard on the unisaw, and it does get in the way of narrow rips, but the Hammer tablesaw guard is narrower and narrower rips work ok on it. When I did construction, never used a guard, but now I'm older and appreciate safety more, and don't like sawdust in my eyes.

[Mark Bolton]

#1 and #2 here. Never a guard, sometimes a riving knive when the operation benefits. It will be interesting to see how long it takes this thread to blow to bits. There are dozens of pages of this exact same question in the archives and they never end well.

[Mike Wilkins]

Both 1 and 4 for my situation. I have a sliding tablesaw that came with both a splitter and guard, and also an older Craftsman with neither. Before I got the slider, I had an older Rockwell/Delta with the pop up splitter. It was not a good system, and rarely used. After getting the slider, I began using them all the time. Even without using the guard, a splitter is now there all the time.
Still counting to 10.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, my answer is 3.

My saw has a riving knife and a crown guard with dust extraction.

When I owned a cabinet saw I had an Excalibur overarm guard and a Merlin removable splitter.

I wouldn't reccomend the Shark guard unless it's a model that isn't splitter/riving knife mounted as you won't be able to use it for non through cuts.

regards, Rod.

[Mike Wilkins]

Oops. I meant to say 1 and 3.

[Rod Sheridan]

#3- I have a sharkguard on my Ryobi BT3100. The only time I take it off is for narrow rips. On the other hand I volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, no guard there

Be careful with that, Habitat could be considered your employer and OSHA applies..........Rod.

P.S. My oldest brother ran into the same problem at Habitat in Ontario.

He informed the manager about their liability for not complying with the law and presto, a new saw with guard appeared.

[Mark Bolton]

crown guard with dust extraction.

This will be the only reason I install any form of a guard. The dust off the top of the blade is a real irritation. I do a lot of ripping with the feeder and the blade is burried under the feeder and would love a retractable solution where I could attach the dust collection to a boot on the feeder and keep the wheels clean.

[Mike Heaney]

#3: Guard and riving knife whenever it is possible. I just upgraded to a new saw, and added above table dust collection to the mix at the same time. Even with my old delta contractor saw I had the blade guard on whenever I could. Personally, I don't think I need to see the blade- if I can see the wood's relation to the fence as it is fed in and where it is against the fence after the cut, then I think I have enough information.
also use feather boards whenever possible, and a big orange handled push board thing from Bench Dog. Oh, and plus 1 on eye protection, ear protection and steel toe work boots.

[Don Morris]

I use splitters, Grrrripers and sleds. Push sticks if that's all I can come up with, depending. Never just a bare blade. At my age and stage, on a fixed income, I will stay with what I have, but wish I had a riving knife or enough space for a slider.