I just had my first ever kick back and it scared the daylights out me. It's even worse because I don't know why it happened so I'm wondering if anyone has had this experience...
I was putting a 45 on a piece of Ash, very hard wood. The wood is 1 inch by 1.5 inch and about 30 inches long. I have a Makita 10 inch sliding miter saw so I set the saw, put the piece in holding it by hand and started the saw in from the front and BAM. The wood went flying and my thumb was almost broken and a plastic piece (guard) that attaches behind the safety cover was on the floor.
I cleaned and inspected everything and checked the fence and saw for alignment and put the piece back in, this time I used a hold down. I started cutting and BAM the metal hold down had sheared and I said a prayer that my hand wasn't holding anything.
I've been using the saw for a couple of years but now I'm afraid to try it since I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Tom S