# Please be carefull



## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

Just a note to my fellow LJ's to remember safety. I was ripping some rough stock on Friday afternoon to make a simple storage box for my dovetail jig. While cutting the 3/4" pine planks for the box sides to lenght a piece binded on the tablesaw and went flying. It hit me in the stomack and took me down! completely knocked the wind out of me and still had enough momentum to clear mine and my neighbours driveway. And I wasnt doing anything wrong; the piece was long, the cutt-off side was correct, fully supported, new and sharp blade. It just binded. BE CAREFULL OUT THERE!!! I consider myself very lucky.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Wow!! Glad it was no worse.
Have ya ever thought about gettin' your belly hair waxed? (Well, there's gotta be something funny about this…...........)
Bill


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

LOL! I think its those that cushioned the blow!! lol.

On a more serious note. I tried that once. Would rather get hit by flying wood again. It hurts!


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

There's a good possibility that you didn't push the piece straight as you finished the cut. I've had to work at it, but I always continue a STRAIGHT push until the workpiece clears the saw blade.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

thats funny … even your tablesaw rejects pine! hope ya heal up and thanks for the safety reminder.

Also .. no belly shirts for you.


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## willd (Mar 9, 2011)

I have made the same project and I'm sure a lot of LJ have too. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/57167


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## blackcherry (Dec 7, 2007)

Invest in a after market riving knife or a splitter these will stop the board from tailing away from the fence. It just like throwing a freebie if the board tail away from the fence the teeth on the backside of the blade grabs hole and well you know the rest. http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2005067/29397/micro-jig-18-kerf-steelpro-mj-splitter-kit-blue.aspx Also I have this one on my unisaw it called the shark guard….http://www.thesharkguard.com/1videos.php Hope you take a look at the shark guard great product. Take care …BC


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

That's scarry. Glad that you weren't hurt worse. I've had one kickback but fortunately the piece missed me. It did knock my fingers numb for a while.

helluvawreck

https://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## jdmaher (May 4, 2011)

Stay off the saw for a while. Maybe 'til your gut heals. So long as you're staying off - I'll bet beer helps you mend.

In the meantime, please do try to figure out what happened, because something DID happen. As mentioned, if you don't have a riving knife, get one. If you weren't using a miter, should you have? If you didn't push through, should you have?

I don't know what went wrong, but I'm confident you'll figure it out. Let us know . . .


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## Bob817 (Nov 17, 2011)

O U C H !! I too am glad nothing worse happened,Thanks for posting.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Ripping? looks like a cross-cut. Hey, you weren't trying to use your fence and miter gauge at the same time, were you? Seems to be a piece of the puzzle missing here. Tell us about your saw, whether it has a riving knife, kickback pawls, etc…because there's nothing to be learned here except that somebody had a kickback incident.


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## Milo (Apr 24, 2009)

I'm putting that riving knife back on PRONTO! Yikes!


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

I dont have a riving knife. Yet. I was pushing thhrough towards the end of the cut. The board has a slight bow in it and I suspect it lifted just a tad at the rear and caught on a tooth. was not using the miter gauge. And it was a rip in the grain direction. Taking of about 4" of a 12" board.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Something that us left handers don't have to worry about too much….. standing directly behind the blade.

Maybe you right handed sawyers could use a lesson in standing out of the way. I have a piece of 1/4" ply behind me that catches the free flying stuff if I do dumb stuff.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow that's got to smart. If at all possible it's best to have short pieces on the fall off side of the saw blade not between the fence and the saw blade.


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

And thats exactly how I had it Jim.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I guess it's a lesson for all of use no matter what ,accidents can happen. There's always another way like a sled with a shield across it, but I have to confess I probably wouldn't grab a sled for a piece like that. I guess if you had a chop saw you would have used it? I'm not trying to second guess your approach just trying to help new folks from having the same problem. Tokolski is there another way you would approach this cut next time?


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thanks, *Tokolosi!* I understand what happened. A bow in a board can move toward the blade if you cut through the cupped area, for sure.
On a related note, I'd like to see what Saw-Stop proponents would have to say about this type of potential injury.


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## doughan (Apr 22, 2011)

It's just a flesh wound and a lesson…....after any accident on a table saw just count to ten and thank god!(unless you only had nine or eleven to start off with


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I'm a Saw Stop proponent and as I've posted earlier *I guess it's a lesson for all of use no matter what ,accidents can happen.*Just the same as seat belts and air bags don't save everyone in a auto accidents ,Saw stops technology can't prevent all accidents it's just a tool that can help prevent some injuries and it has many many people, many of them have posted here on Ljs.
Just my 2 cents


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## foneman (Mar 11, 2007)

Ok here are my thoughts on the situation.. The board in your first post is the one you were ripping with the grain. You were cutting 4" off a 12" wide board. I never rip boards that are wider than they are long and definitely not longer than the saw blade diameter. In those situations I use my homemade sled to cut the boards. In my opinion your situation you are showing is an accident ready to happen. Don't ask me how I know that either!! Those are the rules I live and learned by in my shop.

john


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## MoshupTrail (Aug 11, 2011)

Also, it's good practice to NEVER run anything through the table saw that hasn't been jointed first. (Should be jointed on two sides - the one on the table and the one facing the fence) Okay, not everyone has a jointer, and in construction situations no one joints the boards. But three mistakes are becoming evident in this post:
1. No riving knife
2. Ripping a board shorter than it's width.
3. Slight bow in board - board was not jointed first.
I do ALL ripping of un-jointed boards on a band saw now. It's actually faster and whole heckuva lot safer.

About #2, if you do this kind of cut frequently, I'd suggest buying a cheap band saw and using that. Then clean up the cut with a hand plane if necessary.

Looks like you're hurtin' for certain. Hope your post gives you some ideas for future safety,


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks to all for the humor and interest. And to clear it up; The board was 12' *LONG*, about 8 inches wide. I guess its confusing because the long side is not parallel to grain. It was an off-cutt from a previous project. I was cutting it down to 8 or 10"" long and 8" wide (I cant remember). I had 8" between the rip fence and blade with the smaller piece 'falling off' on the cut side. I pushed through the entire board (hence the square cut) Somehow the board lifted and caught a tooth. My best theory is that the bow in the board in conjunction with a possible release of downward pressure at the end of the cut caused it to lift and snag a tooth.

Blackcherry, I looked at your link and will see about investing in a riving knife. Thank you for that informative comment. The riving knife that came with my contractor grade saw is more dangerous than using the saw without it as it is flimsy and tends to snag on pieces.

Just wanted to show how fast something bad can happen. Be safe out there.


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

And for some weird reason this ad (for some t-shirt company) keeps popping up every time I get on LJ's today


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

I had a piece of plywood turn into a frisbee in my shop and the bottom showed the same arc as yours. I now raise my blade higher as it seems safer to me as the wood has to 'climb' higher to get on top of the blade and take off. I now try to always have the bottom of the gullets at least 1/4" above the workpiece.


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## Doss (Mar 14, 2012)

I once read somewhere that raising the blade as high as possible (for the piece you're working on) is recommended. You want the front edge of the blade that meets the workpiece to drive the workpiece down into the table top.

Think about it. If you have just about 1/4" of blade above the table, the blade's contact area is exerting its force toward you (the faces of the teeth are perpendicular to the force vector). If you raise the blade up higher, the force vector begins to angle downward (but still toward you) more and more.










That being said, I have had some pieces fire back at me (kickback) for no known reason. It happens fast and all you can hope for is that you don't get hurt.


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## ShipWreck (Feb 16, 2008)

Tokolosi….. been there and done that! I am glad that you are ok.

I got a double whammy on my last kickback. The wood hit me high in the chest and then spun to the ceiling and came down and hit me in the head. It took out a 4"X4" hole in the ceiling as well. My wife was in the shop when it happened. She was really shocked at first, but when she looked up at the ceiling she said:........ Its a good thing we do drywall eh? I was hurting like hell, but I had to laugh at her reaction.

Ever try to laugh when the wind is knocked out of you?


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## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

I second the recommendation to not rip cut (with the grain) a board that is wider (accross the grain direction) than it is long (with the grain direction)

I've had my SCMS longer than I've had a TS, so I've never been in the habbit of making cross cuts (or super short rip cuts) on the TS. So I would have made that cut on the SCMS.

Not trying to be critical… just making a recommendation.


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## joebloe (Feb 13, 2012)

Tokolosi,I had about the same thing happen about 6 months ago .It knocked the wind out of me ,put my fat butt on the floor.So I know what your talking about.Let us know how many different colors your stomach turns with that bruse.


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks for all the input. I am trying to take it all to heart so I dont have to take it to the gutt again. And that bruise went through the entire color spectrum John. Even ones I havent ever seen before!!

Thats a great graphic Doss, Thanks.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

Wow - glad it was your belly and not your face. Table saws scare the crap out of me and I usually rip a board half way through then flip it over and rip from the other direction so I don't need to get my hands anywhere near the blade. The shop is a relaxing place to be, just can't relax our guard.


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## generallee (Jan 14, 2011)

sorry about your luck. i had an incident much like you but i'm really tall and when the board flew back it hit me in the groin and i got a huge welt.. if it was towards the right by an inch well my baby making day would have been finished


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Sleds are the best for this, especially with longer boards. I have one sled that goes most of the way to the edge on the left side and is almost a foot past the wing on the right side. Really helps to keep the longer wood flat to the table by supporting it more and square to the blade. I built it after having a cut like yours jamb and kick back, it cleared my basement and had enough force to take a chip out of the concrete block, made me really glad I wasn't in its way.


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