Kickback on a tablesaw yup its real

[William Fretwell]

I've had my share of kickbacks; bruises on thigh, punches in the gut. Most were my fault. Ripping heavy stock that is not quite flat is asking for trouble.
My saw is 240V so I installed two super fast fuses one on each half of the circuit (they are glass pre-tensioned screw in). When it binds the power is instantly cut and reduces the kickback substantially. They cost $2.00 each. Sometimes only one half blows sometimes both. I keep lots on hand. You have to experiment to find the amperage that still lets you work. This only works for thick stock but I love it. Money well spent.

A leather apron, eye protection and standing in the right spot are essential. The riving knife can be essential at times.

[Warren Lake]

wow a Mcgiver sawstop

[Dave Macy]

The micro jig setup arrived tonight via UPS so I'll put it in tomorrow. Thanks everyone. Also got my last round of bandsaw parts, so tomorrow is do or die with that thing lol.

[Merritt Conner]

I just stumbled across this topic, very interesting since we just had a "Kick-back" accident in our plastics shop. During the investigation we found it was a common practice to not use knives, feather boards, or even push sticks. One of my recommendations was to get rid of the table saw all together, and replace it with a vertical panel saw and compound miter saw. The recommendation was not met well by the plastics group who claimed "Kick-back" is common and you just need to be careful. I come from a CNC background, so am I missing something regarding the benefits of a table saw over a panel saw? The shop mainly deals with straight cut 48x96x0.25 polypro sheets.

[Martin Wasner]

so am I missing something regarding the benefits of a table saw over a panel saw? The shop mainly deals with straight cut 48x96x0.25 polypro sheets.

Two reasons. Versatility and cost.

Panel saws are good for cutting up sheet goods and that's about it. Pretty tough to process lumber on one.

A good panel saw is almost $30k new, the majority of the users of this website are hobbyists.




Kickbacks only happen when you are doing something stupid. Fact. Sorry. Material tight to the deck, tight to the fence and it doesn't happen.

[Steve Demuth]

Kickbacks only happen when you are doing something stupid. Fact. Sorry. Material tight to the deck, tight to the fence and it doesn't happen.

I disagree, and would go so far as to say there is a dangerous arrogance in believing what you say. I haven't had a kick-back in some years, and that is indeed due to thinking, following rules, and executing carefully with the saw. But I would never say kick-back "doesn't happen" to me. Just by way of example, a couple of weeks ago I was finishing breaking down some white ash lumber for a furniture project. I'd made dozens of cuts, none of which suggested the wood was anything but rock-solid stable - it was like machining a manufactured material - hardly unexpected in well-seasoned ash, but still a joy to work with. And then with no external indication of what was about to happen, I ripped a 3' piece that was not stable. I didn't get a kickback, but I got a badly burned cut and had to shutdown mid-cut when the trapped portion of the rip bowed strongly into the blade. I finished the cut on the bandsaw, and when done, the board had 3/32" bow along it's length.

This time, I did not experience a kick-back, but that was more luck than planning - all the ingredients were there, and not predictable, and not controllable by just keeping the wood tight on the deck and fence. Wood will do things like that, and wood combined with steel spinning at high speed will occasionally surprise even the best among us. You can bet I've been a bit more careful than usual about where I stand relative to the blade and board in the last few weeks.

[jack duren]

The only way you can truly guaranteed 100% that you can't get hurt on a table saw is to not use at all. Power it up and the percentage goes down...

[Merritt Conner]

The conclusions I drew from my investigation were very similar to Steve's comments. The combination of fence, blade, and friction (table surface) will always create the potential for kickback. The use of proper safeguards and an abundance of caution will only mitigate the conditions for kickback, but not eliminate them. It occured to me the easiest way to prevent kick back is to move the cutter tool through material rather then the other way around. Like I said I am from the CNC world. In agreement with Martin's comments, the more methods used to eliminate kick-back, the higher the tooling cost, which in turn pushes those safeguards out of the cost realm of the typical hobbyist. In that case kick back can only then be prevented by increased use of safe practices by the operator.
Overall I am amazed how acceptable "kick-back" is. To back that comment up, I have made a habit of looking at walls and tools directly behind any table saw (professional and hobbyist) I see now, you would be amazed how much evidence of "kick-back" you will find. Great thread, sorry if I high jacked the original intent.

[Joel Wesseling]

Thanks to this thread I have reinstalled my riving knife. Now I have more power transfer to the blades teeth and no power lost from the blades surface. Of course it's safer as well. Thanks! Not sure why I removed it in the first place.

I have one issue. Maybe someone has a suggestion. I was cutting inch and one quarter thick hard maple, five inch wide boards. I'm ripping these in half but part way through the pressure of the maple on riving knife is so great that I cant push any more and complete the cut. The good thing is that the blade spins without resistance with the wood stuck in the riving knife.
So what do I have here? The riving knife is to thick? Should I try wax. I had no problem with 1/2" maple and 2" oak.

[Jim Becker]

Joel, what you describe is probably the result of the maple "pinching" the riving knife as stress is relieved by the cut. In other words, it's most likely the specific piece of wood, not the saw. That can be because of improper drying, uneven drying or stress while the wood was "still on the hoof"...

[John Sincerbeaux]

I disagree, and would go so far as to say there is a dangerous arrogance in believing what you say. I haven't had a kick-back in some years, and that is indeed due to thinking, following rules, and executing carefully with the saw. But I would never say kick-back "doesn't happen" to me. Just by way of example, a couple of weeks ago I was finishing breaking down some white ash lumber for a furniture project. I'd made dozens of cuts, none of which suggested the wood was anything but rock-solid stable - it was like machining a manufactured material - hardly unexpected in well-seasoned ash, but still a joy to work with. And then with no external indication of what was about to happen, I ripped a 3' piece that was not stable. I didn't get a kickback, but I got a badly burned cut and had to shutdown mid-cut when the trapped portion of the rip bowed strongly into the blade. I finished the cut on the bandsaw, and when done, the board had 3/32" bow along it's length.

This time, I did not experience a kick-back, but that was more luck than planning - all the ingredients were there, and not predictable, and not controllable by just keeping the wood tight on the deck and fence. Wood will do things like that, and wood combined with steel spinning at high speed will occasionally surprise even the best among us. You can bet I've been a bit more careful than usual about where I stand relative to the blade and board in the last few weeks.

I don't think Martin's comment was any more "arrogant" than many "ignorant" posts on this thread that imply if you're not using a splitter and a guard you're operating dangerously.

[Joel Wesseling]

Joel, what you describe is probably the result of the maple "pinching" the riving knife as stress is relieved by the cut. In other words, it's most likely the specific piece of wood, not the saw. That can be because of improper drying, uneven drying or stress while the wood was "still on the hoof"...

Thanks, Jim.

Still having same issue with some boards - 7/8" maple as well, and have to use jig saw to finish ripping them.

Anyway, have to live with this until I come up with a better way around it.

[Jim Becker]

Joel, is this with the same blade as you used for the thinner material? If not, perhaps the blade you are using for the thicker material is slightly narrower than the riving knife... If it's the same blade, and the riving knife is co-planer with the blade, it's almost got to be the material.

[Joel Wesseling]

I'm using the same blade for all different wood and the blade is co-planer with riving knife.

It is the wood. After I remove the half ripped board from the riving knife the cut gap tightly closes at the boards end.
All the wood is rough lumber that I purchased from local, and dressed at home.

I suppose I would use a band saw(when I get one) with nasty pieces, cut a little wide, and trim off thin piece with table saw.

[Jim Becker]

Bummer. At the very least, you're going to have to rip that lumber wide and then dress on the jointer and planer to get things usable if that's possible. Clearly, it's stressed or has a major moisture imbalance. Try working with the shortest pieces you can get away with, too.