Thread: Complancency and emotion can kill, or remove body parts if you are lucky.

Originally Posted by Pearo

I was using a stick to push the timber through, but because the timber grabbed it pulled my hand back through the blade.

Sorry to hear of your accident Pearo.

Were you using a push stick with your right hand and did the damage happen to your left hand thumb.
Just wondering if you have been reaching over the line of the blade at the back of the blade?
Which as you know is a good way to guarantee digit loss.

If it didn't happen that way please give more detail. It is a good thing to share these mistakes. Ive had some big kickbacks , never lost anything [so far] from being taught early never to cross the blade line especially at the back . Getting hit by the wood is not much fun , Learned that the hard way, it hasn't happened for the last 20 years though.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Sorry to hear of your accident Pearo.

Were you using a push stick with your right hand and did the damage happen to your left hand thumb.
Just wondering if you have been reaching over the line of the blade at the back of the blade?
Which as you know is a good way to guarantee digit loss.

If it didn't happen that way please give more detail. It is a good thing to share these mistakes. Ive had some big kickbacks , never lost anything [so far] from being taught early never to cross the blade line especially at the back . Getting hit by the wood is not much fun , Learned that the hard way, it hasn't happened for the last 20 years though.

Rob

Yup, push stick in right hand, left hand holding it down on the table. Normally my hand goes no where near the blade. Broke the rules by being complacent. I was ripping 90mm decking timber offcuts in half.

Cant count the number of nicks and cuts on my hands various power tools over the years due to the same stupid attitude.

Do you use a splitter behind the blade?

Originally Posted by Shutterbug

Do you use a splitter behind the blade?

Sure do. I suspect either the fence was not parallel to the blade, or the board was bowed, or both. I will go down and check it all out later.

All that aside, my hand should have never been where it was.

Hope you heal well Pearo
I my self got a few stitches in my thumb just over 12 months ago
For yes not focusing being in a mood at the time
You are perfectly correct machines and moods don't work

Originally Posted by Pearo

Yup, push stick in right hand, left hand holding it down on the table. Normally my hand goes no where near the blade. Broke the rules by being complacent. I was ripping 90mm decking timber offcuts in half.

Cant count the number of nicks and cuts on my hands various power tools over the years due to the same stupid attitude.

I always like having a blade coming out of the table and over the work high . so the teeth on the down cut are pushing the work down to the table and not so much pushing the work back at me like a rocket launcher. It looks scary and I keep well away from it and there is not as much chance if my attention lapses and the wood gets the wobbles that it can jump up and come back down on the top of the blade. My guard covers the work as well and prevents lift off if I have set it well

I use long push sticks as well , about 350mm long and sometimes one in each hand , This is for shorter work .

Originally Posted by Pearo

or the board was bowed, or both.

On occasion have found I push a dead straight piece of timber through the table saw only to see both pieces come out the other side bowed.

Hell is other people.

Originally Posted by auscab

I always like having a blade coming out of the table and over the work high . so the teeth on the down cut are pushing the work down to the table and not so much pushing the work back at me like a rocket launcher.

Isn't this a bit of a two edge sword? I know each approach has its advantages and disadvantages however if Pearo did have the blade set high then his thumb would have gone further onto the blade. Perhaps the counter argument is that if the blade was higher then the kickback wouldn't have occurred and his thumb wouldn't have been cut. Personally I set the blade only a fraction higher than the thickness of the timber as I would rather have less exposed blade, but that being said I haven't really studied the pros and cons of each.

Sorry to hear about your accident Pearo. I certainly know the feeling of working when tired, stressed or not really into it. There is a tendency to force things just to get the job done and safety is often overlooked. I have had a few instances where working when I shouldn't be, something happens unexpectedly and it is just enough of a fright to think its best not to continue.

The idea of running the blade higher is that it increases the angle of the teeth as they enter and leave the cut, making the trajectory more vertical and less groin-oriented.

You will find plenty of argument both sides of the debate. Some people argue that higher blade height increases the chance of kickback.

Personally I run mine somewhere in between. But at least an inch or so above the top surface of the work piece. The most important thing is to make sure that the cut is protected by proper guards, kickback pawls or a feather board, and a splitter or riving knife.

Incidentally, if the saw has a splitter, a higher blade height places the back of the blade closer to the splitter, making it more like a riving knife, which hugs the back of the blade.