# An eye-opener.........



## 45acpbuilder (Aug 9, 2009)

I was trimming some 1/4 thick hard maple, taking 1 1/2 inches off a 2-inch wide piece on my 3-hp TS. The blade hooked the waste piece and shot it across the table. It hit me so hard it tore a hole in my blue jeans and drew blood! I was amazed at how much damage that tiny little piece did. Now I am the proud owner of a leather apron. I can't imagine how deep a hefty piece would have gone.


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## Walnut_Weasel (Jul 30, 2009)

I was never really that concerned with a tablesaw until I actually saw video of just how fast a piece of kickback really moves! I have a heavy denim apron. Perhaps I should change the lower pocket (tablesaw height) out for a leather pocket!


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## jussdandy (Aug 14, 2009)

yuppers, ive seen that a lot of times, I always TRY to stand to one side so it just blows by me, But what scared the bejeebers out of me, was a thickness planner. the wood had a bow in it. I thought it might not go through because of it loosing its grip inside the bow, wow was it a missle when it got loose, a LOT more respect now. I wont do that again.lol, I was standing off to the side as is my habit.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

I learned my lesson early on when I had a similar thing happen. Luckily, I was standing to the side. The piece that kicked back ended up lodged in the sheetrock wall about 15-20 ft. behind the saw!


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

My turn hit me in the belly tearing my shirt and giving me a very large bruise. Bounced off my belly and through the curtain and window on the door. I don't stand there anymore. LOL


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## djwong (Aug 2, 2009)

When these kickback accidents occurred, where any of you using a blade guard, splitter, or riving knife? Any kind of safety devices?


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Many times this type of kick back occurs when cutting a thin piece between the fence and the blade that's why it's best to have the thin part of your cut as the fall off.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

In my case it was bad technique. I made a newbie mistake by trying to rip a bit off a very short piece, so, in effect, it was almost like a crosscut with the workpiece trapped between the blade and the fence (not good at all).


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## GFYS (Nov 23, 2008)

what's bad about a TS is the table height is just the right height to ruin your love life!


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

I was using the miter gauge and the small cut off end was thrown back at me. Yes the blade gaurd was on the saw, I only remove it to use my crosscut sled. I was working and standing to the left side, just not quite far enough left. The next thing I did was make some zero clearance inserts.


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## Berg (Aug 31, 2009)

For the thin stuff I use a push "stick" that I cut with a profile something like a jack plane, handle and all, from 1x scrap. The heel has a cleat that pushes the piece through while the length of the push stick holds the piece down. The heel is a consumable. When it gets eaten up I cut another "stick". Actually the whole length is consumable. No way for the sliver to kick back. AND I always stand to one side. Every cut, every size, every time. The first time was by fortune the rest by choice.


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## 45acpbuilder (Aug 9, 2009)

I did the "newbie" thing during a serious bout of cranial flatulence. "Just take the end off this piece and I'll be done" got me! It was the drop piece that shot back at me. I've cut 6" lengths of old HEAVY tie-down strapping and sewn 14" worth (7) of doublers across the middle of the leather apron. I don't like the "plane profile" push sticks - they let your hand get close and over the blade. I use the old-fashioned "hold-it-in your-hand-and-it-sticks-w-a-y-out-front" style. If I had been using a plane-style push stick, I may have gotten my thumb into the blade as I recoiled in horror. WIth the long-style push stick, my hand was still short of the blade.


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## Durnik150 (Apr 22, 2009)

I just had a similar experience yesterday. I was putting a groove on the inside of some box sides so there would be a slot for the bottom. I was using purpleheart.

I had to remove the balde guard and riving knife since I wouldn't be making a though cut. I had done two of the three pieces. On the third I must have flinched slightly or something. It happened so fast I honestly don't know why it happened. It pulled the piece out of my hand, cutting a small bit into my right middle finger and left a blood blister on my right thumb. The piece bounced off my left hand, leaving my left pinkie sore and bruised.

Luckily, that was all the damage aside from the work piece which was trashed. I wasn't using a push stick because I didn't think it could push against the rip fence tight enough. Silly me. Luckily I only got some bruises and knicks. Scared me to death though! The mailman was just pulling up to the house to deliver the mail and he jumped almost as far as I did. It sounded like a gun shot!

I plan on using the push stick no matter what. I count myself lucky for not getting seriously hurt and won't do that again.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

And my story is I stupidly located the outfeed end of my 6" belt sander about 2 feet from a window. Actually there's no outfeed. It's just the end that is the direction the belt is going. Lose the wood and it heads for the glass. Which it did. My genius solution that should have been obvious? Turn the sander around.


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## jussdandy (Aug 14, 2009)

most of mine are from using the ts to make rabbits or the big one is I made a jig to make the panels for raised panel doors, I have a right tilt unisaw,I usually tilt it about 13degrees, when I make the cut it drops the scrap between the blade and the jig, maybe I should rethink my jig, but I usally just stand to the left no I have no saftey equipment on my saw, but I am firm in my push sticks, will not put my fingers over the red.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Sorry to hear abour your accident. Glad that all pieces are still attached.


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## rustfever (May 3, 2009)

I once had a kickback that ended up out the door. Found is over 120 feet from the saw. And it hit me before flying that 120 feet. 
I now use greater safe proceedures, and safety equipment.
Ira


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## Tinyshop (Sep 1, 2007)

As a newbie I was cutting a chunk of oak using the fence when I should have been using the miter gauge. One second I was cutting and the next second I was stumbling back like a hammer hit my just below the ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and stunned me so much that I thought I was gonna freakin die! The resultant bruise was eight inches across and three inches wide, all red and black and blue and hurt like you wouldn't believe. I was sore for weeks and gained new respect for those three horses under the trunnion!


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## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

Quite a while back I had a kickback that really shook me up. It was a 1" slice from a board and went across the room hitting the wall real good. Huge amount of respect from me since then; always push sticks, feather boards when possible and stand to the side. Guess I am just accepting it will happen again.

I chalked it up to my pitiful smaller craftsman TS at the time, but reading here, that isn't it.

What is(are) the root cause(s) to a kickback?

A walk away first kickback seems to be like my doctor told me one time, if you survive the first heart attack the chances are you will change your behavior much better than any amount of advise or recommedations before hand.

Steve.


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## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

Great discussion of table saw kickback

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_saw


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I was cutting a small piece of cherry for a drawer front using my 3 HP TS. The cut off side fell from the wood and slowly slid toward me. I stepped to the right to let it go past and land on the floor. When I did that, I must have turned the piece as I was pushing it past the blade. The next thing I heard was the piece I was cutting hit the floor in front of me. I didnt have any feeling from my chest to my belt line. I also had the wind knocked out of me. After stumbling around the shop trying to figure out if I was still alive, and if I should make a dash for the emergency room, I finally got the feeling back, but there was a cut from my mid chest to my belt line. My push stick was also cut off on the end. Thats when I learned to pay attention, and to use the riving knife. It took 6 months for the mark from the cut to go away.


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## navyman (Jan 28, 2009)

sorry to hear aboout that, I try to stand to one side I love my lether apron. be safe.


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## BTKS (Nov 30, 2008)

Excellent safety review. My moment of cranial flatulence as 45 ACP Builder so aptly put it, was a sheet of utility board. The sheet was rotating and gone before I even knew it was moving. It had huge arc cuts across the face where it skipped across the top of the blade gaining speed for it's flight to the rear wall. Was standing left and extremely lucky. Better technique and much more respect now.
Thanks for bringing up all these reminders. BTKS


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

I once had a slow-motion kickback cutting a piece of Homasote on the TS. It was a fairly big piece, nearly square (2 to 3' or so), so I was standing in line with the fence, off to the right of the blade, and feeding with my left hand. I must have been pushing too close to the fence, which caused the piece to rotate counterclockwise and catch the back of the blade. It rose up and continued rotating CCW around its right rear corner until it fell off the table. This took maybe half a second, which is a long time in kickback terms. The underside had the classic arc-shaped "archipelago" of gouges. The only reason it happened slowly was that the Homasote was soft, which prevented the blade from getting "traction".


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