Thread: How NOT to use a table saw

Our wood working machines are funnily enough designed for cutting wood, and many of the methods and procedures likewise.
They will cut many other things very well, but the risks and reactions can be very different.
Most of the harder materials are very much more prone to grabbing and kicking back...they will grab on the slightest corner or edge of the blade where the softer timber materials would nick or chip out...SO we need to be very very much more careful when cutting other than stereotypical wood products.

I have cut quite a lot of plasics, aluminium and other things on the table saw and other woodworking machines....while it does not scare the whillies out of me, I am only too aware of the need for a massive increase in vigilance and flawless methods, when cutting these materials.

Above all is work restraint.

The push stick is universally touted as THE hand held safety device for the table saw......but it is less than half the story....and even the use of the push stick is not as well discussed as it should be.

Many people view the push stick as just that, something to push with, truth to tell, quite often there should be more downward force applied with it than pushing force.

When machining plastics and non-ferous metals on wood working machines it is imperative that the job is held firmly on the table surface and against the fence, entering the cut, thru the cut and exiting the cut, especially if either the job or the waste is small.

Even the push sticks themselves are often deficient.....I have never baught a commercial push stick and probably never will.....1/ I can make my own and 2/ mostly the commercial ones will be too short.

With the machine turned off, wind your blade all the way up and then look to see if your push stick is long enough to push a piece of wood all the way past the blade AND provide good clearance and safety margin for your hand.
On my 12 inch blade table saw, a push stick of safe length needs to be nearly twice as long as those commercially made push sticks.

Those plastic push sticks may be an issue in themselves, because they are plastic and more prone to grabbing than one made of timber would be.

The push sticks should also be used in a way, where by if there is an overshoot that does not lead the hand into the blade.

Combined with other work restraints, the attitude of the push and the BLADE GUARD, it should be near impossible to push the hand into the blade.

cheers

Agree with every thing you said.
Sometimes though, what you have done a thousand times suddenly decides it wants to do it a different way, then things go haywire
The thumb is healing nicely, thank you.
Only a large band aid needed now.

Thumb has healed nicely, thank goodness.
Only some scar tissue and some very tender new skin.
Looks like I won't have a thumbprint any more but the scar would give me away anyway
Learned another lesson, don't use the rip fence as a stop block, the off cut will be pinched between the fence and the blade.
This wasn't the case here, though, I was only ripping a thin slice off the material, too short for the sliding table.

Originally Posted by soundman

Combined with other work restraints, the attitude of the push and the BLADE GUARD, it should be near impossible to push the hand into the blade.

cheers

Problem with the overhead bladeguards is that they need to be set too high to be able to get past them.
http://images.machineryhouse.com.au/W459/0/700