# Food for thought



## rsain (Aug 3, 2011)

Had some kickback yesterday (nothing too bad and I never stand directly behind the blade) and it got me thinking. One of my side jobs entails me talking to people about TS and other WW tools. People often state that they can 'control' kickback and are quick enough to react. Let's look at the numbers:

Average blade speed 3450rpm
Average blade size 10in

A little math - and the circumference of the blade is 31.4159 in. (d * pi = circ)

More math - that means that one tooth on the blade travels 108,384.855 inches *per minute* (circ * rpm)

That is over *1800 inches per second*.

It's also a hair over 102 miles per hour. For our friends across the pond it's over 165km/h!

Lets look at a scenario:
If you're standing behind a piece of wood - that does happen to kickback and head toward you then you don't have much time to move. At 4ft behind the piece (if accelerated to blade speed) you will have about .02 seconds to react. Good luck.

I cant wait until I can get a new saw with a true riving knife. On my way to go get a splitter now.

Be safe!

- ryan


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

A lot of people tailgate also, thinking they've the reaction time to stop when necessary. I think in the case of drivers it is Darwin at work


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## bobkas (May 23, 2010)

I have had one kick back incident and don't ever want to have another. Nothing happened to me but it wasn't for anything I did. Mark I cringe every time I have to ride with my wife, she loves to tailgate.


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

I had an off cut catch the blade and get sent trough the window behind the table saw. The only clue I had that the piece was thrown back was the sound of broken glass. I didn't even have time to see it happen, never mind react. 
Plan for the accident before it happens , don't plan to react when it does.


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## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

I will stop the blade before kickback force the blade to stop the saw cant kick me back .


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

I have an old Craftsman table saw that has a splitter and anti-kickback pawls. I use push sticks and featherboards. The saw still tends to kickback a fair amount. I have a garage shop and whenever I use my table saw, I move the stand so that it's pointing out the garage door and towards the street. I've launched pieces of wood all the way into my neighbor across the street's yard (~60-70 feet). I don't try to control the kickback; I just get the hell out of the way.

Rich


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## lumberjoe (Mar 30, 2012)

Rich, you may want to see if that saw is in proper alignment. Kickback should not happen "a fair amount". Is your fence square to the blade? Have you checked for excessive runout?


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