Miter Saw Tried to Bit Me

[Steve Eure]

I have a Dewalt DW715 that I've had for about 20 years. Although I know this saw has a terrible startup, I've not had any problem with the torque until this afternoon. I went to cut a piece of aluminum angle, 1/16" thickness. I have done this numerous times. When I touched the start switch, the saw jerked so quickly and that it jumped and hit the aluminum so fast that it violently slammed it into my hand. and threw it across the room. At first I was afraid to look at my fingers. They hurt as if a sledge hammer had hit them. First thing I though was that I had lost some fingers. Luckily all if well there, although my three fingers are bruised and hurt like hell. No broken bones, nor cuts or tears, just smashed.
I feel fortunate that this was not worse. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye, even when we think we are being careful. And yes, before anyone asks, a am experienced with power tools and have been woodworking for over 50 uears with no other issues.
I now and thinking that I need to upgrade my saw with a new soft start miter saw. Any suggestions?

[mreza Salav]

Was the blade push down close to the piece? Sounds like it came in contact with the piece before speeding up....
Has happened to me when cutting a piece (of wood) in a rush and push the saw down too fast....

[Maurice Mcmurry]

There are lots of opportunities for violence with that type of saw. I have paranoia about the chop saw and the R.O.S. I add your story to the reasons why. I am glad you are OK!

[Andrew Hughes]

If that were my saw I’d bash it good for doing that.
Miter saw are cheap compared to working with a corked finger or two.
Little bit of sawstop logic
Good Luck

[Ron Citerone]

Glad you are ok! Yes, things happen fast!

[Warren Lake]

with lots of time on different machines, least time is on those sliding compound mitre saws. I had a radial it did rough cross cut and fine in the shop. Doing a roof a friend loaned me his 10" milwaukee compound brand new very nice of him and meant I didnt have to use the sears radial.

At a customers once I let off after cutting aluminum once out of the cut on the way back up. There was a bang and got belted and I learned that some of those chop saw things snap down when you let off on the throttle and that is what it had done. If I finished the cut leaving it buried it would have been fine. I think it was a dewalt and chop saw but too long to remember for sure.

That being ive never shut anything off that then goes off on its own. I always remember that now as the blade was toast and the what the hell aspect. Ive run 9 and 10 HP machines and nothing ever had a feature in it that I worked on like that, my view they are made that way you make your cut blade is burried you let off and it is made to go down when the trigger is let off. If im reading it wrong then tell me, if I had a dewalt here id test that thought to be sure.

[John Ziebron]

One thing I always do with my miter saw is make sure it's up to speed before I even start a downward stroke with it. I have cut aluminum many times without incident and I believe one of the tricks is to lower the blade into the piece very slowly and don't raise the blade until after it stops. If you can't clamp the piece, which sounds like the case here, there is a safer way to hold it without having your hand close to the blade. This Fastcap tool is the best accessory I have for my miter saw: https://taytools.com/products/fastca...ec488695&_ss=r

[Thomas McCurnin]

How does the Fastcap stick work? It seems similar to any push stick.

I don't think this was the saw's fault. It does sound like perhaps you were in a hurry and very comfortable with the cut and the blade made contact before it was at full speed. The good news is that you're safe and probably learned a lesson about miter saws in general and will be safer in the future.

[Steve Eure]

Thomas, I do believe you are correct. I have been going over what happened and it was definitely operator error. I did not go all the way back up before starting the saw and the initial torque pulled the saw down into the piece before coming to full speed. I have never liked the torque on this saw, but again, never had an issue like this. I definetly learned a valuable lesson.

[Warren Lake]

what does it do when you let off on it. Does it also snap down? the one I was using did. I was letting it up and on the way and out past he material let go of the trigger and it snapped back down.

[Ole Anderson]

Never start your miter saw in anything other than the up position. Let it get up to speed, then bring it down into your work. Especially when cutting non-ferrous material with a toothed blade.

[George Yetka]

What was the orientation for the angle? 1 leg should be against fence and the other against base. There shouldnt be any way for it to grab unless it got under the leg on the base and lifted it. If it wasn't moving fast enough the blade could lift the angle and spin it violently.

[Frederick Skelly]

One thing I always do with my miter saw is make sure it's up to speed before I even start a downward stroke with it. I have cut aluminum many times without incident and I believe one of the tricks is to lower the blade into the piece very slowly and don't raise the blade until after it stops. If you can't clamp the piece, which sounds like the case here, there is a safer way to hold it without having your hand close to the blade. This Fastcap tool is the best accessory I have for my miter saw: https://taytools.com/products/fastca...ec488695&_ss=r

I have one of those too, and find it helpful.

[Tom M King]

It's not a push stick. It's a hold down stick. Three points are always down so it's very stable. You can hold something close the the blade while the hand is over a foot away. I like it a lot. I shortened a short piece of pipe with it a couple of weeks ago, and also had to shorten the hub on an awkwardly shaped shower drain. It paid for itself with that one job.

[Jimmy Harris]

I don't think a soft start is going to do you any good here. It would seem to me that slowing the blade down so that it takes even longer to get up to speed would increase the odds of something like this happening again. Because the sawblade itself didn't jump out of your hand from just a fast start. There's just no way to make the physics work for that. It had to of contacted something. The forces from a rotating saw blade alone won't pull it down.

I think your best bet is to just keep using the saw you have. It scared you but you survived. That fear will teach you to pay closer attention.

If you want a new saw for other reasons, that's fine. But if you think a new saw is going to be safer, then you'll only wind up putting yourself in more danger.