# Guard removed for clarification



## Gunny66 (Feb 10, 2010)

It has been a year since I went out to my shop, burned out from my job and stressed out about all the work needed to renovate my 90 year old house, and proceeded to mangle my left hand on my table saw. It was all my fault and I have corrected my behavior and mindset about personal responsibility for safety.

I do feel however that we are setting bad examples when we air all those woodworking, renovation and remodeling shows on TV showing no guards being used on table saws. Often times it's announced that the "Guard removed for clarification". We are visual human beings, if we see it we believe it. If all those experts can work with out safety guards then we can too. Please give yourself a chance and leave the damn guard on unless it's absolutely necessary then put it back on. You don't want a constant reminder of that day!!!

On the bright side I'm back in the shop doing what I love….............Safely.

Gunny66


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## dbhost (Jul 20, 2009)

You said a mouthful. I have had table saws with guards that are painfully obvious why people yank them off, but my BT3100 fitted with the Shark Guard is NOT one of them. The SG is a breeze to use, and well worth the effort.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

Amen to that!


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## DanLyke (Feb 8, 2007)

Another "Amen" here. I just helped my wife work up a speech on tool safety for a class she's taking, and in the process ended up reading a whole bunch of medical studies and CPSC documents on tablesaw safety.

Every picture of a tablesaw with the guards removed should come with a big ol' explanation as to why.


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## Moyer (Jul 25, 2010)

I would like to add that there is room for improvement in the design of most guards. I just watched a great video the other day of a shop made blade guard. Instead of some gaudy, double flip contraption he made a simple stacked frame design that sat off the left side of the blade and attached to the table with turn magnets. The bottom from was simply the base to house the magnets and to elevate the guard. The second frame sat over and extended beyond the blade. He then covered the top of the frame with plexiglass.

This set up covered everything imho. The device was safe. It provided great visibility for his cut. It attached and dismounted quick and easy. All these things add to the safety of the device because it's ease makes it much more likely someone will actually use it. Who hasn't removed the blade guard to do run a quick jig and just ignored hooking everything back up to finish the rest of their cuts? While a factory blade guard may be effective, unless it's easy and effecient…it is less likely to be used.


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