# Does this look safe?



## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

See the below image. This came in an email from Jet. Is it just me, or does the guy in the photo appear to be doing something just a little unsafe? Hand on the table right in front of the blade, and leaning into it? I doubt the saw is running and the guy is a model and not a woodworker and is just standing like the photographer told him to stand, but you would think Jet should not use photos like this. At least he's wearing safety glasses.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

He also appears to be wearing two watches. I wouldn't trust him.

From the angle of the picture, it looks like the fence is far enough away from the blade that the wood won't even touch the blade. So yeah, it's safe.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Even worse is that board will never connect with the saw blade so it must be safe!


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

That's a good point Ed! I'm also sure the saw isn't even running. But it's the point of the photo. Don't lean on your table saw, and especially don't lean on it with your hand in front of the blade!


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## stevepeterson (Dec 17, 2009)

Yikes, standing right in line with the small sliver that he is shaving off. And both hands in line with the blade.


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## Minorhero (Apr 8, 2011)

There is a reason why these saws are on sale, they are covered in the blood of slaughtered models!


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## Ripthorn (Mar 24, 2010)

I also find it interesting the side of the blade that the fence is on. I occasionally use my fence on the other side, but usually only for bevel cuts. Oh well, leave it to the likes of us to be picky


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## LeTurbo (Jan 22, 2014)

Ripthorn's comment gets me thinking - my machine has a left-mount guard that I stand behind, so I work from the side of the machine. I wonder, if I ever have to change, whether I'd be comfortable working on the right. It seems so … foreign. (Actually, I don't think I've ever stood directly in front of my machine. That also seems a weird place to be.)


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

On my Sawstop (as I'm sure most table saws) you can put the fence on either side of the blade. However, I think most put it to the right side of the blade. My extension table is on that side so for bigger cuts I wouldn't have a choice. So I stand on the opposite side of the blade from the fence, and whenever possible I try and make sure I'm not in front of the material where a kickback would get me in the stomach, but you can't always avoid that depending on how big the material is.

The reason this photo caught my eye is because I in fact tested my Sawstop using my thumb and it worked just as advertised. That seemed to me the best way to learn how to be safe around the table saw is to screw up one time and it really gets your attention. If I didn't have the Sawstop I'd only be cable of giving one thumb up right now instead of two thumbs up!


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

When I look at that picture it drives me crazy too. The fence is on the wrong side of the blade, and nobody that actually uses a saw works like that. I'm sure the ad agency uses a photographer to set up the shot w/ models, lighting experts, etc. neither of whom know anything about woodworking so that is the result. A totally fine photograph that has great artistic composition, perfectly exposed and lighted , perfect depth of field but doesn't make any sense to the users of the product.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

Maybe the fence is on the right side of the blade, but he's on the wrong side of the saw and blade guard is mounted backwards.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

It does not look to me like the board would contact
the blade at the present fence setting.

I will admit to marking a board, and setting the
fence to the mark on some of the saws I've
used which lacked scales or had sliding rails
that needed recalibration when moved.

That sort of set-up visual checking sort of 
looks like what's going on here.

Anyway, it clearly doesn't represent a real
working method. I think it's just a compositional
posturing of the model and saw to fit the
ad layout.


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## verdesardog (Apr 2, 2011)

The advertising company flipped the photo….


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

I thought of that too, but I couldn't decide if when reverses it would look right. Guess I should have held it in front of a mirror.


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## Nubsnstubs (Aug 30, 2013)

How about if the user is left handed, his postition and board placement would be correct, but limited in width because of the limited left side fence placement. Other than leaning on the table, I see nothing wrong with what he's doing. He's clear of a kickback, and doing what would be natural for a lefty.
Sometimes I'll make raised panels on my saw using a tall fearther board set up on the right side of the blade. The fence is on the left of the blade as my it tilts right. Being right handed, I don't like it at all. An audible sigh of relief is emitted when the last cut is made. ...... Jerry (in Tucson)


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## InstantSiv (Jan 12, 2014)

I think they flipped the photo because the watch is on his "right" arm. Most people wear watches on left arm.

Also who said he's making a cut? Maybe he's adjusting the fence… looking to see where the blade is in relation to his mark?


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

Maybe that's the pretty side of his face.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

He appears to have a watch on both wrists.


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

A beard might have lent him some credibility.


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## GregInMaryland (Mar 11, 2010)

He is wearing plaid, so he is Norm approved.

Greg


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## splatman (Jul 27, 2014)

2 watches = Probably lives at/near a timezone boundary. So one watch is an hour ahead of the other. Left watch for the timezone west of the boundary.
I have a watch that has a second timezone feature; I use it for DST.


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## skatefriday (May 5, 2014)

> The advertising company flipped the photo….
> 
> - verdesardog


bahahahahahahahahahahaha


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

OK, so we have a metrosexual version of Norm, who lives at the intersection of two time zones, trying to set up a cut on, but not actually using, his table saw, in what appears to be an old barn or something.

Interesting marketing technique.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I think he would be more comfortable at a pool table.


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

Good one Ed! I was having a good time reading where this thread has gone to from my original comment of leaning on the saw with your hand in front of the blade didn't look safe!

I was once participating on another Internet forum and I was interested in learning how to weld. I just wanted to do little things like build a gate and other small projects like that. So I asked a question about the best type of welder for those projects and where to learn how to use it. By the second day I was getting advice on how to get work doing underwater welding on oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico!!!


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

*Mark*, if you didn't get to underwater overhead welding, you were lucky!
*Ed*, If it was a real barn it would have had the nails put in evenly.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

> *Ed*, If it was a real barn it would have had the nails put in evenly.
> - Dallas


Not if the dude in the picture built it. Imagine him with a nail gun.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Bwahahahaha! I agree Ed. It looks like something my ex boss would do.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

The guy is posing for a picture for advertizing purposes. The saw in not even turned on in. Totally safe.


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## cdaniels (Apr 16, 2014)

this is what happens when you lose america's next top model…they feed you to a jet


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

Similarly, the footwear displayed here is probably not the safest choice for driving the auto:


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## dusty2 (Jan 4, 2009)

Are any of you "left handed"?

This photo does not depict how I use the table saw and the fences but I do not believe doing what is shown here is "wrong" except that the operator appears to be leaning into the table.

I also believe that the board is wide enough to reach from the fence to the blade. Look at the board back where the operators' left hand is; board appears to be 6"-8" wide.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

Way to be a debbie downer, dusty! We're all having fun with this, try not to take it too seriously.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

Maybe the blade guard is on backward.


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

Do Dusty aside from leaning on the table with his hand directly in front of the blade, what he's doing is safe? Isn't that pretty much what the problem is that I originally pointed out??


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## JohnEinNJ (Dec 22, 2011)

Blade guard is on backward? Maybe not - maybe he's really clueless, and standing at the back of the table!

It's almost certainly been mirror-flipped. Look at the shirt tails - a men's shirt has the part with the button holes on the left side.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

> Blade guard is on backward? Maybe not - maybe he s really clueless, and standing at the back of the table!


Wait, hang on…you're not supposed to be standing behind the saw? All this time I've been pulling board through the saw and nobody's told me.


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

Ever had a studio photo made?? The photographer say turn your head this way now hold your chin up and your ears down. Okay now act natural. Can't do all that a look natural. This guy in the saw photo appears to be set up to be a sword swallower. Or a wood sliver swallower anyway…....


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## powlusr (Sep 2, 2014)

He's obviously just a model, as woodworkers are always chubby older guys with facial hair.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

*powlusr*, I resemble that fact!


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

Like y'all have mentioned…pool player and image flipped for composition.


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

Powlusr, that is not true. I'm clean shaven so you only got two out of three on me.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

Maybe he is cutting from the out feed side of the saw. 
maybe SawStop sent him there to further their cause..


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## cdaniels (Apr 16, 2014)

i haven't graduated to overweight facial hair stage yet but one day i'm aspiring to be there


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## cdaniels (Apr 16, 2014)

has anyone pointed out that they're not really sure if that's a guy?


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## dusty2 (Jan 4, 2009)

> Do Dusty aside from leaning on the table with his hand directly in front of the blade, what he s doing is safe? Isn t that pretty much what the problem is that I originally pointed out??
> 
> - Mark Smith


Sorry about that. Sorry I even commented. Won't happen again.


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## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

Come on guys… do you really think this guy has ever made a cut on a TS in his life.

It might mess up his hair.


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