1. Registration trouble? Please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom right corner of the page and your issue will be resolved.
    Dismiss Notice

Table Saw

Discussion in 'The Tool Shed' started by jeepstar, Aug 19, 2016.

  1. Sep 6, 2016
    termin8ed

    termin8ed I didn't do it Staff Member

    Mason, MI
    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2002
    Messages:
    4,418
    [​IMG]
    When i worked for a builder we used something like this on the jobsite. We just had the top made out of a 4x8 sheet of plywood with 2x4's framed around the edge. Just set it on a pair of saw horses.
    Had a spot on opposite end for a router mounted on the bottom side and had a detachable rail on the top
     
  2. Sep 6, 2016
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2015
    Messages:
    6,656
    I've been earning a living behind a table saw partially for 22 years, solely for 16. I have all my fingers due to diligence, care, and respect for the tool. I agree with you guys that operator error is the cause of 99.9% of table saw injuries... But there is always that .1% chance that a freak accident can happen wether all the precautions are taken, and all the guards are in place or not.

    Case in point: I was working on a rustic hickory bar for a (magazine-featured!) man cave back in '08. "Low grade" hickory is some of the most beautiful wood on the planet IMO, but it is a bear to work with. Rock-hard knots, swirling grain patterns and hidden checks add to the already difficulty of the density of the wood.

    I was ripping a piece of 5/4 to around 1" wide. I got near the end, was using a push stick, when BANG!! My hand felt like it got hit by a bullet and the push stick went flying up into the rafters. I looked at my hand and it had a 12" long spear of hickory sticking out of it between my thumb and forefinger. My first instinct was to grab it and pull it, but it was lodged and broke off at the skin.

    As it turned out, there was a section of the board against the saw top that was seperated along the grain. I cut off a 12" sliver of this, and it got pinched between the off-fall and the blade, and rocketed out into my hand (at an angle that would have completely missed a guard).

    An ER visit got a 1" piece out, but after two weeks of no improvement, I had an ultrasound done (wood wasn't showing on the XRays) to find another piece of similar size still in there. A scheduled surgery got the other piece out. The surgeon said it was wedged between a nerve bundle and an artery. :shock:

    If you're grossed out by stitches and drain tubes, don't scroll down. :D








    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    And for what it's worth, I think a jointer is WAY MORE dangerous than s table saw.
     
  3. Sep 6, 2016
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Messages:
    9,754
    ITLKSZ, do you think any kind of safety guard would have prevented your injury?

    Incidentally, I got a broke-off splinter just like your second one jammed into my calf muscle two weeks ago, chasing cows around the pasture. Didn't want to go to the ER on a Friday night so I used a razor blade and some bleach, cut down to it, then pulled it out with pliers. Of course hands are a lot more complicated and critical - with more nerve endings too!

    Anyway, woodworking is just one of many ways to get hurt!
     
  4. Sep 6, 2016
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2015
    Messages:
    6,656
    I really don't. A typical table saw guard has an open, angled front to allow it to slide up the workpiece. The spear shot out at such a low angle, I'm certain it would have missed the guard completely. The only way it would have avoided my hand was if I reached over the blade and pulled the piece through (don't like to do that), but then it would have been in direct line with my neck or lung.

    Another FWIW, the most unsafe I've ever felt around table saws are ones that had the overhead dust collection, blade guards, paws, and/or riving knives installed full time. Some of the accessories have their place, but not all machines, all the time. (Steps off soapbox.)
     
  5. Sep 6, 2016
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Messages:
    9,754
    Agree, many times the 'safety' equipment makes it diffcult to work safely.
    Installed by lawyers to protect the corporate interests.
     
    ITLKSEZ likes this.
  6. Sep 7, 2016
    Danefraz

    Danefraz Well-Known Member 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Chico CA
    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2012
    Messages:
    2,263
    what i hear here is machinery. Moving parts of steel, flesh near those parts in close proximity and real world physics.

    No matter the equipment, It takes skill, some training, it takes respect for mechanical advantage, it takes more importantly, attentive care and it takes knowledge of what the material's potential to the machine reaction is.

    All the safeties and rubber bumpers and kevlar chaps, gloves, eye wear or tool housings (think split rim tire changers, basically dynamite in a metal cage / box) cant keep us safe from our own mistakes. After accident reports mostly indicate human error...

    At 15, I nearly shot a 16p nail thru a guy's jugglar once framing a house with an air nailer, safety was intact, i missed the center of the board and it shot thru the board corner, he was holding the corners together below me... I was tired and it was our last top plate, last nail. Scratch on his neck reminded me, intently. Never forgot that moment.

    I have run a chainsaw in the dark under a headlamp on uneven, loose, very steep ground with lots of fire near by, with someone reaching their hands near the spinning chain to grab the cut brush... I have also been the swamper with my hands in there. I have no scars from that, and all my appendages.

    I once on a weekend of cutting a dead walnut orchard into firewood, had a chainsaw kick a small branch into my shins, below my 'shorty' chaps, hard enough to send blinding white stars from my shins to my eyes and that the piece that hit the saw head poked a 1" hole thru the motor case into the oil tank (stihl 044) but like the splinter shown above, not much i could do differently there (ok, my full skip chain had rakers that might have been 005 thou too low ... or so)...

    Mundane maims. Must keep your head in the game. I learned stuff from this post. Thanks for sharing.
     
  7. Sep 7, 2016
    Alan28

    Alan28 Well-Known Member 2022 Sponsor

    Châtillon en...
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2012
    Messages:
    2,327
    By the way, I wear good supple leather gloves to make handworks. I change them every 2 months when they are tired.
    It avoided me a lot of cuts. I also wear glasses. Body equipment for protection are useful.
    When I don't wear them I see that I should have wear a protection.
     
  8. Sep 7, 2016
    Stout

    Stout Member

    Quakertown, PA
    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2010
    Messages:
    958
    I hate using a table saw, always have. I'm comfortable with a miter saw, drills, grinders, virtually any other power tool but table saws make me uncomfortable. I know that I am accident-prone so maybe it's just my instincts realizing my limitations, but either way, I only use my table saw when I absolutely have to.
     
  9. Sep 7, 2016
    Mcruff

    Mcruff Earlycj5 Machinist

    Albertville, AL
    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2002
    Messages:
    5,349
    For handling of the material or welding, gloves are fine, wear them in a machine shop while running a machine and your fired. Around a mill or a lathe or any other rotating machinery, you are guaranteed to loose a finger, hand or your life. A glove gets caught by a fast spinning chip your hand and arm are sucked into a machine and your in major trouble before you even realize it. A table saw or radial arm would do the same thing.
     
  10. Sep 7, 2016
    tarry99

    tarry99 Member

    Northern California
    Joined:
    Oct 29, 2012
    Messages:
    3,784
    YEP , YEP & YEP.............Welding Yes , Handling Hot or sharp things ,Yes..........around Spinning equipment Bad Idea.

    Hopefully all of us have learned by our many near misses , I know I have.................no Rocket Science here , just plain old Common Since!
     
  11. Sep 11, 2016
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

    exploring the...
    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2009
    Messages:
    3,869
    i have a good friend that has been bitten twice by the same table saw one kick back and two mushed fingers(like no good now mashed) and one plunge cut that plunged into the same palm the second one coulda killed him. he no longer uses a table saw.
     
  12. Sep 11, 2016
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Messages:
    9,754
    I have noticed that some people seem to consistently have a lot more "accidents" than other people.
     
  13. Sep 11, 2016
    Alan28

    Alan28 Well-Known Member 2022 Sponsor

    Châtillon en...
    Joined:
    Oct 21, 2012
    Messages:
    2,327
    Until today, no accident, of course small problem sometimes but nothing serious, never been to any hospital.

    I made various sports, including scuba diving, motorcycle, lot of handwork with tools and all is OK.
    But I don't push my chance too much.
    And when tired, I stop and take some rest.
     
  14. Sep 11, 2016
    aallison

    aallison 74 cj6, 76 cj5. Has anyone seen my screwdriver?

    Green Cove...
    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2006
    Messages:
    1,929
    This is very true. Some people should not be around sharp things. Especially spinning sharp things. I agree with not using the blade gard, anti kickback prawls, etc. I do agree with using proper hold downs, splinters behind the blade if the grain will cause a bind on the back of the blade, feather board and push sticks. I used so many push sticks, I had a program in the CNC when I was cutting if I had a little extra space I could drop one in. Using a good miter gauge (I have an incra 3000) also makes the use of the saw safer.

    another big mistake I see is people not cutting with the long side against the fence. I see them trying to use the rip fence and putting the short side and just pushing it through. It is very easy to get it cocked and have the back edge of the wood climb the spinning blade and it come back and wack you in the hip. Or worse and pull your hand into a blade.

    I also see people fighting a cut. If the wood is not cutting easy and you have to force a cut, you are almost always doing something wrong. This goes for any tool in the shop: joiner, planer, sharper, anything. Most important, never, never put your hand close to the blade.

    almost as important, stop when you start to get tired. Do not get cut doing something if you can't concentrate. OR assemble something wrong. Or run a nail through your hand.

    I really enjoyed the shop but I just got too old to make a living at it. And I like to teach just as much. I wish we still had woodshop and I'd teach that.
     
    69Willys likes this.
  15. Sep 12, 2016
    ITLKSEZ

    ITLKSEZ Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

    Liberty Lake, WA
    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2015
    Messages:
    6,656
    On the subject of push sticks, I've found this design to make much more sense than the standard design. It allows you to apply solid, square downward pressure to the workpiece, get your hand ahead of the end of the wood, and essentially pull the piece through the end of the cut. Your hand is past the blade as the blade exits the piece.
    Great use for small scrap plywood pieces.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Sep 12, 2016
    PeteL

    PeteL If it wasn't for physics, and law enforcement... 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Hills of NH
    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Messages:
    9,754

    Like a skinny jointer push handle. Cool.
     
  17. Sep 12, 2016
    aallison

    aallison 74 cj6, 76 cj5. Has anyone seen my screwdriver?

    Green Cove...
    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2006
    Messages:
    1,929
    Very similar to the ones I made but I had a handle sticking up. I did not want my hand as close to the blade as that.

    Mine looked more like this just without the words and made out of MDF...
    [​IMG]
     
New Posts