ouch.. kickback.

Ouch! a word of advice: never stand in the way of the board :-)
two things you should try:
1) when the blade start binding, stop the saw. see if the kerf is closing after the saw. if it is, then either you have tension in the wood or the fence is a bit pointing “in”.you can check this by using auxiliary short fence on your fence. this will remove the pressure on the board if there is one after the blade. if its tension in the wood, a splitter will do wonders. you can use zero insert with splitter (i think someone posted this not long ago)
2) try a rip blade. thats a very good thing to do for ripping. finish blades heat and burn the wood.

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

Also if you don’t have any kind of splitter, you’ll have to put a small wedge in the saw kerf toward the end of the board, to keep the cut from closing back up. It’s safer if you have a helper to do this for you. If not, just stop the saw and put it in.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

i would think that maybe the fence could have a bit of bow in it. it will be set correctly and go in good but then when it starts to get pushed toward the blade because of the bow and that would cause kickback. just a thought

If you have checked your fence alignment, the most likely culprit is moshel’s #1 above – tension in the wood. Check that first before you go crazy trying to adjust your saw.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

good info at http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2313 see niki’s post (the 7th more or less) re making sure blade parallel to miter slot, then check to see if fence is parallel to miter slots. (some set fence to slightly veer away from fence at rear by a couple of thousands

-- Fred, Springfield, Ma

As mentioned above a splitter might do the trick.

Here is one that I use all the time.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/2303

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Also make sure that the thinner piece is on the outside and not against the fence if possible. This will help reduce the binding also.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

I used to have problems like that every once in a while, then I bought a really good blade. I found that if I did a lot of ripping, the blade would heat up and want to “warp” slightly. That would bind things up. Also, you need a fence that is parallel to the blade, and good support on the back of the saw to catch the workpiece. If you find that this persists on occasion, then you may want to buy a $25 foot pedal for the saw. Get the type where you have to hold your foot on the pedal to keep it on, then lift your foot off to turn off the saw. That way, you can keep both hands on the workpiece, and turn the saw off when it starts to bind. That foot pedal is one of the most uesful safety devices I have in my shop.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Thanks for everyone’s advice. I ended up renting a saw this afternoon (the Ridgid contractor style..) with the splitter, blade guard, and the anti-kickback teeth. Different blade too. Huge difference. Once everything was aligned, everything was ripped in a matter of an hour or so. I ended up with the pro-rated fee rather than a full day. Good times.

Thanks again for everyone’s advice. As a professional musician, the safety of my hands and ears is paramount, and the information here goes a long way.

Steve, while I am wanting a deadman’s switch for my scroll-saw, I never contemplated on on the TS. That’s thinking outside the box!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

The splitter is one of the most important safety devices on a table saw. I would NEVER use a saw without a splitter. Not only do you run the risk of a board whacking you, or going right through you (like Johnny Cash’s brother), but very often you end up with your hand in the blade. I have always used a splitter on ALL of my saws and I have never once had kickback. I also have always had machines with splitters that were properly designed to track the blade.

By the way, the anti-kickback pawls are just a goofy idea designed to compensate for a poorly designed splitter. Have you ever seen these on a European machine?

-- Joe, http://www.cft411.com

I’ve been reading some pretty scary stuff about kickback with a circular saw, too. Guess I’ve been especially lucky all these years. Don’t even want to think about the crazy stuff I used to do with that tool. Lately I’ve been much more careful to get my boards clamped down first, before I ever turn the switch on.

-- http://www.ezwoodshop.com