Thread: Keen on keeping all my fingers

It really comes down to commonsense but sometimes sense is not that common
Keep you fingers well away from the blade at all times and for narrow pieces of timber, use a push-stick to push your work piece past the spinning blade. Keep the riving knife in place, don't remove it. It's there for a purpose and it can prevent a nasty accident. Featherboards/fingerboards are useful in keeping the workpiece stable while using the saw.
A good blade is also essential to give you a smoother precise cut and reduces the chance of a kick back.
Always use a fence or sled to guide your timber to make the cut. do not make a cut freehand, (recipe for disaster)
Before you make a cut, set the saw to the right distance from the fence and with the saw switched off, practice the movement you will make to execute the cut. This will help you get your balance and get a feel for the real thing.
Never over reach, only push your timber by hand as far as you feel comfortable with and keep your balance. Use you push-stick to complete the cut if you find you are reaching too far.
Be extra cautious if you are wearing long sleeved shirt and if you are, make sure your cuffs are buttoned up.
If you need to rip thin slices off your timber, rip the timber so the thin part falls away from the blade on the opposite side of the blade that is closest to the fence. don't have the thin piece between the fence and the blade.
Don't take your eyes off your workpiece or sawblade. Keep your TS free of any other materials or tools only have your workpiece on the table.

Don't leave trailing fingers at the end of your workpiece, keep your fingers on top of the timber and tuck your finger in as far away from the blade as you possibly can.

Very importantly, Dont become complacent.
Never leave your saw running, not even for a few moments.

The list goes on and I have probably overlooked some of the most obvious ones but as I said, it's mostly commonsense.
I am sure you will have lots of fun with your new toy and with care and caution, will remain totally intact.

Oh, and don't remove the guard, safest position if to have it adjusted to a height just above the thickness of your timber.

Cheers, Yeah common sence is a given but like you said sometimes its not that common. I have seen people say that push stick are good to use but give you little control in keeping the timber against the fence, I take it thats what the riving knife is for to keep the timber from floating into the up spinning blade and causing a kickback.

It also states that the bench should not be used for slotting (stop grooves) does that make any sence or is it just a cover as this can be dangerous and being a "Hobby" bench they would just prefer you didnt do it. Only reason Im asking is that I want to half mitre 90mm posts in the construction of a bench.

Thanks again

The compound mitre saw should be able to do the trenching cuts. Set the depth stop and a couple of backstops and away you go.
Cheers

Buy a Saw Stop saw

..and some sausages to test it with....

Another thing for your tablesaw, make sure the fence is aligned to the blade so that timber doesn't 'bind' as it passes through. Always a good idea to have the far end of the fence kicked away from the blade very, very slightly (e.g. 0.1mm or so) to make sure the timber can pass between blade and fence easily on the outfeed side. The back edge of the blade should not mark the timber in any way.

All good advice. Only things I'd add:
1. Create an imaginary area around your blade, and never let any part of you go into that area when the blade is spinning.
2. Make sure you can always see your fingers and the blade when cutting - don't let the wood or anything else obscure them
3. Try to do your cutting in the morning when you're fresh. Most accidents happen when you're tired.